Improving the Safety of Operation of Overhead Cranes with Welded Modular Construction Based on the Analysis of Their Accidents

Introduction. The article presents an analysis of the destruction of welds that occurred during the operation of modular overhead cranes. Measures are proposed to prevent the occurrence of such defects in the future, reduce the likelihood of accidents and improve the safety of operation of overhead cranes with a welded modular construction. The relevance of the work is due to the fact that in the Russian Federation approximately 65% of the lifting cranes registered with Rostechnadzor have fulfilled the standard service life.The work objective is to improve the safety of operation of modular overhead cranes and the reliability of their welded metal structures. Achieving the objectives of the work, based on the analysis of the destruction of metal structures of overhead cranes, a diagnostic map of welded joints of metal structures of end beams with modules of travelling wheels of overhead cranes was compiled. The use of the proposed diagnostic card in a production environment will significantly improve the quality of diagnostics of welded joints.Materials and Methods. Investigations of accidents of load-bearing metal structures of cranes by methods of technical diagnostics of destruction of welds that occurred during the operation of overhead cranes of modular design have been carried out. This made it possible to develop a number of measures to prevent accidents of overhead cranes initiated by the destruction of their welded modular structures.Results. Based on the analysis of accidents, a diagnostic map of destructing welded joints of metal structures of end beams with modules of travelling wheels of an overhead crane has been compiled. The use of the proposed diagnostic card will increase the reliability of welded metal structures and improve the quality of diagnostics of welded joints in production conditions.Discussion and Conclusions. As a result of the analysis of structural failures of modular overhead cranes, a number of measures are proposed to prevent the formation of such defects, the occurrence of accidents due to them, and to improve the safety of operation of overhead cranes.