National conference on Technology innovation in Mechatronics,Energy Management and Intelligent communication(NCTIMEMIC-2017)

International Journal of Advanced Scientific Technologies , Engineering and Management Sciences (IJASTEMS-ISSN: 2454-356X) Volume.3,Special Issue.1,April.2017

Analysis and Design Updation of Aerial Monocable

Ropeway Conveyors for Eliminating Recurring
Failures and Downtimes
Sivaram s, Biju I K

Abstract— The skyscraping buildings in today’s modern era have already been accepted as breath taking engineering
wonders. All of these have been raised only because of reliable raw materials which mainly include the quality cement.
MALABAR CEMENTS situated at Walayar is considered as one of the pioneers in cement production since 1978 in
Kerala. Lime stone is one of the most essential raw materials in the production of cement which is carried from mines to
the processing factory using aerial monocable ropeways at MALABAR CEMENTS, Walayar. The reliability & failure
issues of this aerial monocable ropeway conveyors with detachable grips which play an integral part in the cement
manufacturing process is a matter of prime concern in the industry. Considering the terrain slopes and ridges over the
total span of 6.5km through which it is conveyed, it is hard time for the foremen and related workers to ponder over the
frequently occurring failures. A survey was done on the failures over a period of five years for each part of the carriage
and bucket system. The parts which are wearing out frequently are noted. And the parts which are closely related to
downtime are found out and preliminary failure analysis is done. The survey shows that the most frequent failures occur
as slipping of grips from the rope especially at the steeper towers. This causes large downtimes for the operations
especially during the night hours when maintenance and repair are nearly impossible considering the terrain &
unavailability of labour. This occurs due to the deficiency in gripping forces provided by the Belleville springs under the
influence of gravity and carried load. The present study concentrates primarily on changes in Belleville spring
configurations as the cost and downtimes involved in major design updations cannot be accommodated in the present
scenario. The existing Belleville series spring configuration on clamping force analysis using ADAMS reveals that it is
just sufficient to support the existing load and may not be sufficiently adequate at higher inclinations. Different
configurations of Belleville springs were analyzed and series-parallel configuration was found to be more effective than
the existing series configuration. The possibilities of geometry modification of grips to enhance the gripping behavior is
also considered. Proposals for design updations was done.
Index Terms— Aerial Monocable Ropeway conveyors, Detachable grips, Bucket failures, Failure analysis, Design
Updations .
I. INTRODUCTION The material handling systems play an important role
The competitive environment in today’s modern world in the cement production plants and failure of such systems
has put the manufacturing companies under immense and equipment will adversely affect the productivity.
Among the different conveyor systems such as belt
pressure to produce and deliver their products in a timely
conveyors, chain conveyors, bucket conveyors, rope
manner. Although a major share of the capital is spent on conveyors etc. that are used in the industry aerial rope
buying and installing the machineries and subsystems that conveyors are preferred. The reason behind this preference
support the production, only very little attention is given is the consideration of distance and the terrain through
on design updations and maintenance procedures to meet which the load or raw materials need to be carried. In a
up with the ever increasing demand and production of cement plant the limestone which is the most important
their products. Considering the design limitations and lack raw material is carried from the quarries to the production
unit using aerial ropeway systems.
of proper maintenance procedures that cause the
The aerial ropeway systems although well developed as
machineries and subsystems to deteriorate easily in the passenger carrying ropeway systems is in the need of
harsh working conditions, the productivity of the whole further improvement as a material handling system in the
plant is affected very badly. industrial environment. The reliability and maintainability
Urbanization in the modern world has led to arising of such systems are of prime importance for the
need of development of infrastructure. This has in turn lead manufacturing plants and industries utilizing them. And it
to increasing demand for cement which is met by the is high time to make some improvements in order to
cement production plants working round the clock reduce the failure rates and improve efficiency of these
everyday every year. These plants have machineries and systems. The timely design updations need to be given
subsystems which require timely design updations, extreme importance so that the energy utilization in these
maintenance and replacement of parts to improve energy systems can be optimized by preventing failures and
efficiency so that the production continues uninterrupted thereby improving the productivity.
and thus enhancing the productivity and efficiency.

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International Journal of Advanced Scientific Technologies , Engineering and Management Sciences (IJASTEMS-ISSN: 2454-356X) Volume.3,Special Issue.1,April.2017

The challenging task for any engineer working with the improvement of productivity and energy efficiency of
suggesting an optimized solution or updations for an the same. A case study is done at Malabar cements Ltd,
existing system is the cost effectiveness and feasibility of Palakkad, Kerala at the ropeway system. A model for
the suggestion. It should be in such a way that the improving the design of the system has been proposed.
suggestions or updations can be merged into the existing
system without requiring a replacement of the existing II. PROBLEM DEFINITION
system as a whole by a new system. Updations done with The productivity of a cement plant depends immensely on
such a concept in mind can reduce the economic burden the efficiency of material handling systems which carry
which may be inflicted otherwise on the industry to a large the raw materials and finished products in the production
extent. plant. The efficiency of such systems depend up on their
The works in the field of design and development of ability to work without failure using optimized amount of
aerial ropeway transportation systems are only very few. energy used by them. The aim of this project is to conduct
The amount of results and data available from these failure analysis of the system and suggest design
resources have been small yet useful in the progress of this updations to improve efficiency by reducing the failure
project. One of such earliest of these literatures is a rates of the ropeway conveyor system and thus enhancing
textbook named Aerial or wire rope-ways, their the optimum energy utilization and production capabilities
construction and management by A.J. Wallis Taylor [1] in of the plant.
early 1900’s. This book describes the different components The specific objectives of the work are as follows,
and their functioning along with their management 1. Analyze the existing design in detail and identify the
procedures during those times. Walter G. Booth [2] in his frequently failing components.
thesis the design and application of aerial ropeways in 2. To develop an alternate cost effective design for
1965 investigated the different types of aerial ropeways updating the existing system.
used along with the load behavior of the different types of
3. Analysis and comparison of the alternate design with
support towers. James M. W. Brown John [3] in 1997
the existing one to prove the effectiveness
investigated the dynamic vibrational behavior of the
system and concluded that the behavior of the system at The failures relating to electrical failures and human
start-up and shutdown depends on the dynamics of the errors are not considered. The work is focused on cost
entire cable system including the cabins, suspension and effective updations of the existing design, thus it is limited
haul rope as well as the performance of the motor and to the operation phase.
friction effects. Jacques Dubuisson and Michel Cantin [4]
III. THE AERIAL ROPEWAY SYSTEM
investigated the Slipping resistance of monocable aerial
ropeway carrier gripsunder various conditions of Aerial ropeway systems are considered among one of
loading.Andreas Pichler [5] studied the dynamic behavior the simplest & powerful yet cost efficient mode of
of the grip and the terminal equipment of a detachable transport for transporting man or material in today’s
monocable ropeway at the terminal entry. Mark Löhr [6] modern world. The ropeways overcome the conventional
conducted an Adams simulation for ropeway technology modes of transportation in many ways such as
based on passenger ropeways having detachable cabins geographical and economic factors considering the time
and investigated the loads and stresses occurring at the taken and the amount of load carried by them. The aerial
entry trumpet at station entry. Stephan Liedl [7] ropeway systems can be classified as follows
investigated the Motions and forces in the rope system of
1. Based on number of ropes operating in the
aerial ropeways during operation based on a reversible
system.
bicable ropeways using mathematical and computational
program techniques which was later validated using a real a. Monocable ropeway system
time ropeway system. Alexander Borisoff Kazakoff [8] in
2012 published his work and experience in design of lift b. Bicable/Tricable ropeway systems.
transportation systems and this investigation relates to In a monocable system, one rope serves to both support
design, manufacturing and mounting of different rope way and control the carriers in transit. In a bicable/Tricable
transportation systems Marta Knawa and Danuta Bryja [9] system, separate ropes serve the two functions: a static
investigated the Modeling problems of steeply inclined support rope or "track cable" and a moving "haul rope".
cableway subjected to moving load in 2009 based on
bicable ropeways. Danuta Bryja and Marta Knawa [10] in 2. Based on type of grips
2009 investigated a Computational model of an inclined a. Fixed grip type
aerial ropeway and numerical method for analyzing
nonlinear cable-car interaction based on bicable aerial b. Detachable grip type.
ropeway systems. H.K.Dubey and Dr. D.V. Bhope [11] A fixed grip is one that permanently connects a
conducted the stress and deflection analysis of belleville carriage vehicle to the cable. Because of this direct
spring using ANSYS- FEA for various ratios of D/d and connection, stopping or slowing a fixed grip vehicle
h/t.KIRAN S [12] conducted a reliability evaluation and involves stopping or slowing the entire system. A
risk based maintenance in a cement plant at Malabar detachable grip is one that can separate itself from the
Cements Walayar in 2015. cable. The detachability allows a cabin to slow or stop
This work focusses on suggesting the design updations within a station, without disrupting the flow of the entire
to the existing material handling system which may lead to system. Upon approaching a stop, a mechanism located at

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International Journal of Advanced Scientific Technologies , Engineering and Management Sciences (IJASTEMS-ISSN: 2454-356X) Volume.3,Special Issue.1,April.2017

the station opens the grip and the vehicle is slowed by ropeway conveyors in the cement plant. The special type
another mechanism. Passengers / load get on and off, the monocable ropeways with spring-loaded grips are used for
vehicle is re-accelerated to line speed, and while departing carrying the crushed limestone which is as shown in
the grip is re-engaged. Generally fixed grip systems can Figure 1. The rope conveyors connect the span of 6500
achieve greater speeds but have other limitations such as meters between the limestone mines and the processing
longer wait times and reduced capacities, as compared to factory. The conveyor contains almost 200 buckets over
detachable grip systems. its entire span to transport limestone from mines to
A. The Components of Aerial ropeway system processing industry. The technical details of the ropeway
is as given in Table 1. The buckets are linked to the steel
The major components of the aerial ropeway system ropes by a carriage system. The carriage system is
are as follows,
attached to the rope by means of detachable grips as
a. The stations shown in Figure 5.2 with the force provided by the
Belleville springs. The 6500 meter span between mines
Minimum two stations are necessary for a ropeway
and factory is a geographically complex terrain. Many of
system as one is situated at the starting point and one at the
end of it. the adjacent towers have steep variation in altitudes, and
thus the ropes are inclined at certain angles relative to the
b. The Drive system horizontal. It is high time to be aware of the frequency of
Depending on the requirements of the installation, the failure of the conveyor systems used in these kind of
drive system can be installed at the bottom or top station, cement plants.
designed as overhead or underground drive and used as The carriage and bucket systems consists of 32
drive or drive-tensioning station. It is composed of the components as furnished in Table 2. The failure rates of
drive, the service brake, safety brake and the gearbox. these components have been found out based on available
data and represented along.
c. The Towers
This monocable ropeway system consists of the following
The towers are built in a robust manner as they have to components
bear the weight of the vehicles with passengers/loads. The
towers need a transverse construction so that the cabins can a. Towers
travel on both sides of the tower. Support towers are made
of steel in a tubular construction. These designs are useful The towers are mild steel latticed structures provided along
especially in inaccessible area, where they are divided into the entire length of the ropeway at designed intervals for
small pieces and transported by helicopter and reassembled the purpose of supporting the carrying hauling rope. These
on site. are in total 62 towers. The towers are provided with cat
heads, pedestals, trestle mounts, sheaves, spindles and
d. The Rope depressor mounts.
Steel wire ropes lent their name to the ropeway
systems. Ropes are made of strands that are twisted around Table 1 Technical details of the ropeway
the center of the rope core.
Type of ropeway Monocable detachable
e. The roller batteries
The roller batteries function as the correct guiding of
the carrying hauling rope along the line. They are Capacity of ropeway 200 buckets
composed of rollers. The quantity of rollers depends on the
load that the rope is carrying. Speed of the line 0.3 meter/sec
f. The vehicles and grips
Material conveyed Crushed limestone
The vehicles carry the passengers/loads along the ropes
between stations in a ropeway system. The vehicles are Spacing between buckets 65 meter
attached to the ropes by using fixed grips or detachable
grips.
Net weight in bucket 900 kg
g. The control system
The control system monitors the security of the Gross weight in bucket 1300 kg
installation and its passengers/loads. The control panel
provides real-time data and information necessary for the Drive rating 125 Kilo Watt
operation of the ropeways installations. This enables the
immediate regulation of the service if necessary either
manually or by automated mechanisms.
IV. A CASE STUDY AT A CEMENT PLANT
A case study has been done at Malabar Cements
Ltd, Palakkad, Kerala. The study is focused on the

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The present case study deals with the understanding of

the existing system and suggesting cost effective updations
for the design and optimum preventive maintenance
schedule of the system to reduce the frequency of failures.
A. Factors leading to failure
The ropeway system can fail in many ways; Bucket
breakdown, tower breakdown, rope failure etc. To improve
the efficiency of the system it is essential to minimize the
frequent modes of failure. From the survey, it has been
found that the bucket failures are the frequent mode of
failures that mainly contributes to the termination of
process. The bucket failures are due to the slippage of the
carriage-bucket assembly in the ropes. The fishbone
diagram as shown in Fig. 5.6 clearly illustrates the failures
leading to grip slippage.
Previous studies in the field along with the failure data
and stoppage time data collected over a period of nearly 3
years show that the failure of the system due to slippage of
Fig. 1 The aerial monocable ropeway system carriages arises due to inadequate gripping forces provided
at the grips. The fault tree for the inadequate gripping
forces [13] can be represented as follows,
From the failure data in Table 2 and fault tree analysis
for inadequate gripping forces it is seen that Belleville
spring is the most vulnerable component to failure. So the
design modification of these springs which provide the
gripping forces is to be considered for further analysis.
The possibility to improve gripping by providing
modifications to the geometry of the moving jaw is also
considered in the further analysis.
V. MODELING, SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS
Fig. 2 The carriage & detachable grip of the ropeway A. Tools Used
system The aerial monocable ropeway carriage system is
modelled, simulated and analyzed using the following
b. Loading station tools.
The station is ground level reinforced concrete cement a. CATIA V6
framed structure housing all the structures for supporting
the main and parking rails, chain haulage track and bucket CATIA (Computer Aided Three-Dimensional
loading structures. The main drive is located at this station. Interactive Application) started as an in-house.
A 1000 metric tonne bunker stores the crushed limestone. CAD/CAM/CAE software in 1977 by French aircraft
At the bottom of the bunker are two openings which feed manufacturer Avions Marcel Dassault, to develop
two volume controlled chutes through pneumatically Dassault's Mirage fighter jet. It was later adopted in the
controlled gates. Further the loading station comprises of aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, and various other
braking devices, pneumatic compressors, trolley, sprocket industries.
drive coupled to the brake sheave shaft, locking and CATIA enables the creation of 3D sketches, 3D parts,
unlocking module sheet metal composites, and mechanical assemblies. The
c. Unloading station software also provides advanced technologies for
mechanical surfacing and tooling design. It provides tools
The unloading station consists of locking module, to complete product definition, including functional
unlocking module, launching device, parking rail for tolerances as well as kinematic definitions.
parking buckets.
In this project CATIA has been used to create the 3D
d. Bucket carrier system. model of the carriage system used in the aerial monocable
The bucket carrier system consists of a set of spring ropeway The part and assembly drawings collected from
twin detachable grip, Bucket hanger connected to the rope. the Malabar Cements have been used to create the various
parts and their assembly using CATIA software. The
e. Telecommunication. actual photograph of the carriage system has been
f. Remote control. illustrated in fig. 5 while the CATIA models are as shown
in fig. 6 and fig. 7.

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Table 2 Components and their failure rates

Sl Failure rate
no. Part no. Part name Failures ( per day)
1 64111425 BELLEVELLE SPRING 4350 4.67
2 5006308 BEARING 6308 177 0.19
3 64111399 BOXHEAD FOR BUCKET CARRIAGE 31 0.03
4 64111490 BRIDGE FOR BUCKET CARRIAGE 222 0.23
5 64111200 BUCKET 62 0.06
6 64111210 BUCKET HANGER 12 0.03
BUSH FOR BUCKET HANGER SP.DIA
219
7 64111485 45 0.23
8 64111365 BUSH 1 FOR MOVING JAW( BIG) 530 0.56
9 64111370 BUSH 2 FOR MOVING JAW (MED) 650 0.69
10 64111371 BUSH 3 FOR MOVING JAW (SMALL) 930 1
11 64111496 CATCH ARM 38 0.04
12 64111380 DRAWBAR FOR DETACHABLE GRIP 184 0.19
13 64111405 DRAW BAR PIN FOR CARRIAGE 39 0.04
14 64111360 FIXED JAW 194 0.20
15 64111211 HANGER BEARING 87 0.09
16 64111390 HINGE BLOCK 25 0.02
17 64111395 HINGE BLOCK PIN 106 0.11
HOLD DOWN ROLLER WITH
18 64111410 SPINDLE (CASTLENUT) 260 0.27
19 64111475 JAW PIN 279 0.3
20 64111400 HINGE PIN BUSH 0 0
21 64111222 LOCKNUT FOR CARRIAGE ROLLER. 0 0
MAIN ROLLER BEARING HOUSING
22 64111319 113 0.12
WITH NUT
23 64111318 MAIN ROLLER NUT 86 0.09
24 64111355 MOVING JAW 100 0.10
25 64111426 MS PLATE WASHER FOR CARRIAGE 264 0.28
26 64111398 PART FOR BOXHEAD 30 0.03
27 64111320 SIDE ROLLER BEARING HOUSING 105 0.11
28 64111205 SPINDLE FOR BUCKET HANGER 105 0.08
29 64111220 TONGUE 512 0.55
30 64111298 TONGUE PIN 1245 1.33
31 64111471 D-SHACKLE FOR BUCKET 510 0.54
32 48740095 CIRCLIP INTERNAL B95 1S3075 260 0.27
a. ADAMS better assessment of how they vary throughout a full range
of motion and operating environments.
` ADAMS (Automated Dynamic Analysis of
Mechanical Systems) is the most widely used multibody The carriage system modelled in CATIA is simulated
dynamics and motion analysis software in the world. in ADAMS and the clamping forces provided by the
ADAMS helps engineers to study the dynamics of moving various Belleville spring configurations are found out so
parts, how loads and forces are distributed throughout that the grip slippage does not occur in the system. The
mechanical systems, and to improve and optimize the simulations are carried out in the ADAMS software
performance of their products. module known as ADAMS VIEW.
ADAMS multibody dynamics software enables c. ANSYS
engineers to easily create and test virtual prototypes of ANSYS (Analysis System) is a computer-aided
mechanical systems in a fraction of the time and cost engineering software (CAE) which provides
required for physical build and test. Unlike most CAD comprehensive finite element analysis (FEA) tool for
embedded tools, ADAMS incorporates real physics by structural analysis, including linear, nonlinear and
simultaneously solving equations for kinematics, statics, dynamic studies. The engineering simulation product
quasi-statics, and dynamics. Utilizing multibody dynamics provides a complete set of elements behavior, material
solution technology, ADAMS also runs nonlinear models and equation solvers for a wide range of
dynamics in a tiny fraction of the time required by FEA
mechanical design problems. In addition, ANSYS offers
solutions. Loads and forces computed by ADAMS
thermal analysis and coupled-physics capabilities
simulations improve the accuracy of FEA by providing

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involving acoustic, piezoelectric, thermal–structural and

thermo-electric analysis.
In this project ANSYS has been used for conducting stress
analysis in the gripping system between the clamp and
rope. The CAD model created in CATIA has been
imported in .stp format to ANSYS workbench interface to
carry out the stress analysis.
B. Simulation and analysis Procedure
The simulation was carried out using ADAMS. The CAD
model of the carriage created using CATIA was imported
into the ADAMS in parasolid format. The constraints and
joint motions were given using ADAMS. Few parts
irrelevant to the mechanism of the system were disabled
to reduce the complexity that may occur during simulation
and analysis due to redundancy of constraints used. The
parts used in the analysis are
1. Boxhead
2. Fixed jaw

Fig. 3 Fish bone diagram of the slippage of carriages in rope [13].

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3. Moving jaw
4. Drawbar
5. Belleville spring
6. Main roller
7. Hold down roller with spindle
8. Hanger bucket assembly
9. Rope
The material properties and constraints and relative
motions among these parts were given in ADAMS. The
simulation was run for and the clamping behavior between
the rope and the jaws were studied with various spring
configurations with a pay load of approximately 800
kilograms as per the real time data obtained from the
actual system. The maximum inclination of the ropeway is
found to be 30 degrees which occurs between the
towers13 and 14 as per the data obtained from Malabar
cements limited. The rope friction coefficient between the
wire rope and grips is assumed as 0.18.
The stress analysis on the rope to check if the rope will
withstand the clamping forces is carried out using ANSYS
with various spring forces as inputs. The input data of
forces is obtained from the ADAMS simulations for the
three different configurations of springs.
C. The clamping force analysis using different Belleville
Fig. 5 Actual photograph of the Carriage assembly
configurations
The clamping forces are investigated by simulation using
ADAMS software and by calculating them manually. The
spring data based on DIN 2093 standards is as follows.
 Material = 51CrV4
 Outside diameter = 70.00 mm
 Inside Diameter = 30.00 mm
 Height = 5.20 mm
 Thickness = 3.00 mm
 Young’s modulus = 206000 N/mm2
 Poisson’s Ratio = 0.30
 Deflection of single disc spring = 0.70
mm
The Belleville spring stack configurations are as follows
and is shown in fig. 6.6.
Configuration 1 (Series)
Fig. 6 CATIA Model of the
ThisCarriage assembly
configuration that is currently being used contains 34
packets of 1 spring each arranged in series.
a. Configuration 2 (Series-Parallel)
This configuration consists of 22 packets of 2 springs each
arranged in series parallel order.
b. Configuration (Parallel)
This configuration consists of 58 packets of 1 spring each
arranged in parallel.

i. Clamping forces –By simulation

The post processed data provided after simulation
indicates that the clamping force provided by the
different
configurations are in the increasing order as 1, 2, and 3
respectively with the force of configuration 3 being
enormously large when compared to the other two. The
slipping behavior of the configurations were tested by
using higher loads. The clamping force data is as shown in
figure 9, figure 10 and figure 11.
Fig. 7 CATIA Model of the important parts in the Carriage assembly

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Fig. 8 Belleville spring configurations used

Fig. 8 Belleville spring configurations used
From the plots above we can see that in all the The results of spring forces obtained from
cases the clamping force increases gradually till the grips ADAMS is used for stress analysis using ANSYS.The
come in full contact with the rope and there after it shear stresses occurring at the rope during gripping were
remains constant. Also we can see that the clamping analyzed and following results were obtained.
forces vary with the difference in configurations where the The maximum allowable shear stress for the wire rope is
configuration 1 gives the lowest while configuration 3 obtained as 105 Mpa and is obtained as follows,
giving the highest. Here the configuration 2 with an Yield strength = 210 Mpa
average value of 13900 N per stack seems to be the most Maximum allowable shear stress,
suitable and cost effective alternative for the configuration
= = 105 Mpa
1 with an average of 5800 N per stack. The configuration
3 may be conveniently ignored because of the enormously From the analysis using ANSYS, the values of maximum
high average value of 1.8 e+05 per stack which may cause shear stress obtained for the various configurations are
damage to the rope material. The results of simulation for listed in Table 4.
configuration 1 and configuration 2 are consolidated in Table 4. Maximum shear stress
table 3.
Spring configurations Maximum Shear Stress (Mpa)
Table 3. Simulation results for configuration 1 and
configuration 2 Configuration 1 35.34
Configuration 2 84.68
CONFIGURATION CONFIGURATI CONFIGURATI
ON 1 ON 2 We can clearly see that the values obtained through
Assumed Friction ANSYS simulation for configuration 1 and configuration
0.18 0.18 2 does not exceed the theoretical values. This indicates
Coefficient
Inclination of that the usage of configuration 2 as replacement to
30 30 configuration 1, which is the existing configuration, is
Ropeway(Degrees)
Rope diameter(mm) 40 40 safe considering the material damage for the rope due to
gripping.
Weight of Carriage
350 350
system(Kg)
i. Clamping forces –Calculated Values
Pay Load (Kg) 800 800 The Belleville spring calculations are done manually
Maximum pay load using the equations given below and the calculated spring
960 2500
possible (Kg) data is represented in Table 5.

The configuration 2 can be used for withstanding a

maximum load of approximately 2500 Kg using the pair
of grips in the carriage system.

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Fig. 9 Clamping force of configuration 1

Fig. 10 Clamping force of configuration 2

Fig. 11 Clamping force of configuration 3

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Fig 12 Application of Forces and constraints using ANSYS Workbench

Fig. 13 Meshed Geometry

Fig. 14 Shear stress distribution in configuration 1

Fig. 15 Shear stress distribution in configuration 2

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Table 5. Calculated spring data

CALCULATED DATA Configuration 1 Configuration 2 Configuration 3
force per stack of spring (N) 6348.9 14014 2.1 e+005

spring rate (N/mm) 7417 7417 7417

spring rate of stack(N/mm) 218.914 924.95 444745
spring work of stack(N mm) 2275.55 4688.64 135970.45

The grip contact surface is modified by inducing

2 degrees of taper to the jaw contact surfaces. This is done
to modify the line of action of the gripping force which is
(2) expected to provide increased gripping by reducing the
slippage. The schematic of the modified jaw is as shown
in figure 17.
(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)
Fig. 17 Inducing taper to contact surface of the Jaws

D. Modified clamp The modified grip on simulation using ADAMS showed

i. Inducing roughness to the contact surface slight improvement in gripping behavior of the system.
The grip contact surface is modified by inducing The simulation carried out as flexible assembly showed
roughness using 1mm grooves to the moving jaw contact that the system was able to withstand an approximate
surface. The modified grip is as shown in figure 16. maximum load of 980 Kg with the current inclination of
30 degrees. With the modified grip and the spring
configuration 2 used together, the system was seen to
The modification by inducing roughness using withstand an approximate maximum load of 2545 Kg.
1mm grooves to the moving jaw contact surface showed
only a slight improvement in gripping behavior of the VI. CONCLUSIONS
system. The simulation using ADAMS showed that it can Quality cement is one of the most important raw
materials in the creation of sky-scraping buildings which
withstand a load of upto 820 kg with current inclination of
are considered as the engineering marvels of modern era.
Lime stone is one of the most essential raw materials in
the production of cement and it is carried from mines to
the processing factory using the aerial monocable
ropeways at MALABAR CEMENTS, Walayar. The
reliability & failure issues of the aerial monocable
ropeway conveyors with detachable grips which play an
integral part in the cement manufacturing process is a
matter of prime concern in the industry. The aerial
ropeway conveyer system studied here spans over a length
of 6.5 Km with steep terrain slopes and ridges which
makes it difficult for the foremen and related workers to
ponder over the frequently occurring failures.
Fig. 16 Inducing Roughness to contact surface The survey done here based on data available on the
failures over a period of five years for each part of the
30 degrees. carriage and bucket system shows that the most frequent
failures occur as slipping of grips from the rope especially
ii. By tapering the contact surface of the jaws at the steeper towers. This causes large downtimes for the
operations especially during the night hours when

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International Journal of Advanced Scientific Technologies , Engineering and Management Sciences (IJASTEMS-ISSN: 2454-356X) Volume.3,Special Issue.1,April.2017

maintenance and repair are nearly impossible considering for analyzing nonlinear cable-car interaction, (Elsevier)
the terrain & unavailability of labour. Some of the International Computers and Structures 89, pp.1895–1905
suggested design updations and improvements in the [11] H.K.Dubey and Dr. D.V. Bhope (2012)Stress and
preventive maintenance schedule is summarized as Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring, IOSR Journal of
follows. Mechanical and Civil Engineering Vol2 pp. 01-06
The Belleville spring configuration 1 (Series) [12] Kiran S (2015) Reliability evaluation and risk based
when changed to configuration 2 (series-parallel) may maintenance in a cement plant, Mtech Thesis, Government
lead to increased gripping force and load capacity of the engineering college Calicut
system. The gripping force was found to increase to an [13] Hand book of Disc Springs , Schnorr Corporation
average value of 13900 N from 5800 N per stack of spring (2003)
and this improved the load capacity to almost 2500 Kg [14] Disc springs theory and practice ,CB Disc springs
from 800 Kg without slippage during simulation. While (2006)
considering the material capabilities the stress analysis [15] Manual for the Rope conveyor systems, Ropeway
using ANSYS reveals that the configuration is safe for department, Malabar cements, Walayar, Kerala.
usage without damaging the rope material. The geometry [16] IS 4240 : 1984 Glossary of conveyors terms and
modification by inducing roughness in the jaw contact definitions[MED 6: Continuous Bulk Conveying, Elevating,
surfaces using grooves was found to improve the gripping Hoisting Aerial Ropeways and Related Equipment], Bureau
behaviour only marginally. of Indian Standards (1984).
The geometry modification by inducing 2 degrees of taper [17] IS 8730:1997 Classification and codification of bulk
to both the jaw contact surfaces which modifies the line of materials for continuous material handling equipment
action of the gripping force was also analysed .It was seen [MED6: Continuous Bulk Conveying, Elevating, Hoisting
Aerial Ropeways and Related Equipment], Bureau of Indian
that the maximum load capability increased to 980 Kg and Standards (1997).
this jaw modification when used along with the spring
configuration 2 was able to withstand a load of 2545Kg [18] IS 9706:1997 Code of practice for design and
construction: Aerial ropeways for transport of material,
without slippage during simulation. Bureau of Indian Standards (1997).
These design updations may prove cost-effective
and advantageous for the improvement of the system
[19] IS 5229:1998 Code of practice for design and
construction: Aerial ropeways for transportation of
which can be implemented without much change in the passengers- continuous movement mono-cable with
existing system. automatic grips, Bureau of Indian Standards (1998).
[20] IS 5228:2003; ‘Code of practice for construction:
VII. REFERENCES Continuous movement mono- cable ropeways with fixed
grips intended for transportation of passengers, Bureau of
[1] A.J. Wallis Tayler (1911) Aerial or wire ropeways –Their Indian Standards (2003).
construction and management, Crosby Lockwood and Son,
London,1911
[2] Walter G. Booth (1965) The Design and Application of
Aerial Ropeways, Master of engineering thesis, M C
University ,1965
[3] James M. W. and Brown john (1998) Dynamics of an
aerial cableway system, (Elsevier) Engineering structures,
Vol 20 pp.826-836
[4] Jacques Dubuisson, Michel Cantin (1993) Slipping
resistance of monocable aerial ropeway carrier grips,
OITAF congress in Barcelona
[5] Andreas Pichler(1999) Dynamic Behavior of the Grip and
the Terminal Equipment of a Detachable Monocable
Ropeway at the Terminal Entry
[6] Mark Löhr, Adams simulation for ropeway technology,
Thesis at Institute for Material Handling, Technical
University of Munich.
[7] Stephan Liedl, Motions and forces in the rope system of
aerial ropeways during operation, Thesis at Institute for
Material Handling, Technical University of Munich.
[8] Alexander Borisoff Kazakoff (2012) Advances in
engineering software for lift transportation systems, Journal
of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Vol 42 pp.3-22
[9] Marta Knawa and Danuta Bryja (2009) Modeling problems
of steeply inclined cableway subjected to moving load,
PAMM Proc. Appl. Math. Mech. Vol 9,pp.263 – 264
[10] Danuta Bryja and Marta Knawa (2011) Computational
model of an inclined aerial ropeway and numerical method

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