Telescopic cranes are designed both as slewing cranes and as suspension crane systems. A telescopic crane offers the advantage of working past obstacles such as walls, shelves, other machines or traffic areas. The arm consists of two parts. When telescoped together, the boom can thus be moved past obstacles and then extended again. The length of the telescope, whether mounted on a boom or a crane bridge, can be up to 3m.
The telescopic mechanism ensures that the telescope is only extended when the load wants to leave the area of the fixed jib or bridge. When retracting, the telescope is retracted again first before the load is moved into the fixed crane area. This special mechanism is the only way to prevent the telescope from colliding with structures or vehicles.
As a slewing crane variant, the crane can be rotated up to 270°.
This picture shows a telescopic slewing crane being used to prepare pallets for order picking in confined spaces.
In a narrow passageway, nested stacks of pallets are deposited. The individual pallets are then picked up, turned if necessary and deposited at the point of use. In the pallet pick-up area, there is space for a slewing crane with a reach of 2m. In the area of use, however, a reach of 3m is required. A telescopic slewing crane is particularly suitable for this application. Its movement is controlled by the telescopic mechanism in such a way as to prevent it from bumping into the wall when picking up the pallets. When moving into the area of use, the undercarriage of the crane bumps into the end of the boom, unlocks the telescope and reaches the desired location without effort. When moving back to the pallet stack, again the telescope first retracts, locks and releases the movement of the trolley.
Alternatively, an knuckle boom crane could be used in this application. However, due to space constraints, the operator of an articulated boom would always have to ensure that the elbow joint bends in the appropriate direction. With the telescopic boom, this is not necessary; the crane follows the intuitive movement of the operator without the possibility of a collision.
The crane system in the picture is equipped with two telescopic bridges that pick up material in the area of the warehouse and forklift traffic and then feed it to production.
In the area in front of the rack, containers with different materials are removed from the rack by forklifts and made available. Due to the height of the rack and the forklifts, collisions would occur with a permanently installed crane system. As a solution, the two crane bridges were equipped with telescopic cranes that reach the material staging area, pick up the material, and then leave this area again to clear the travel path.
Telescopic crane systems and slewing cranes allow access to work areas that cannot be reached with conventional cranes. They are therefore always tailor-made and adapted to the intended use and the environment. This effort is worthwhile, as work flow and productivity are improved compared to the use of standard cranes.
Technical data:
Length of telescope: 3m with 6m outreach.
Payload: max. 500 kg