3 Smart Features Your Lifting Equipment Should Have

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Mary's Heavy Construction Equipment Blog

Welcome to my corner of the internet. My name is Mary, and this blog is going to be focused around heavy construction equipment. Years ago, my husband and I ran a construction company together. Now we're semi-retired, and for the last ten years, we have been doing a bit of freelance work. I miss the big machines, and I decided to start a blog about it. If you work with heavy construction equipment on a regular basis, I plan to have tips and ideas in this blog that are designed to help you. I invite you to grab a cup of tea, get comfortable and explore these posts. Thanks for reading!

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3 Smart Features Your Lifting Equipment Should Have

12 February 2018
 Categories: , Blog


People who are planning to buy or rent lifting equipment need to know the latest features that such equipment should have to enhance productivity and safety. This article discusses some of those desirable smart features that you should look for in any lift equipment, such as overhead cranes.

Hook Centering

Equipment life can be prolonged while averting safety hazards if the lifting equipment has an intelligent ability to detect and correct loads that aren't properly positioned. The hook centering feature kicks into action when the operator of the equipment enters a command for the load to be lifted vertically. The hook centering feature delays the vertical lift until the load is properly centered by an automatic adjustment of the bridge and trolley over the load. In this way, component wear is lessened since the load will be distributed evenly. The safety hazards caused by the excessive sway of non-centered loads are also averted.

Shock Load Protection

The lifting equipment can also wear out quickly in case the operator attempts to start the lift at full speed while the rigging gear is still loose. The shock occurs when the rigging gear becomes taut and jerks up the materials that are being lifted. Shock load prevention ensures that the speed of the hoisting mechanism will be slowed down automatically until the load has been lifted gently off the ground. The speed can then increase to the desired level once the danger of shock loading has been averted.

Operating Limits

Some accidents can occur when the lifting system of a crane strays into an area with other equipment or personnel while moving a load. Operators have to stay alert and monitor the work environment to take corrective action when the risk of hitting workers or other objects is detected. Some cranes come with a smart feature that allows operators to set limits beyond which the crane will be unable to stray during its operations. For example, you can create a virtual fence to control the radius within which the hoist can move. Appropriate limit switches will then be activated to stop the hoist each time it reaches the boundary of that virtual fence. This feature reduces how much the operator has to keep an eye on during their shift.

Visit several suppliers of lifting equipment and find out what modifications their equipment has. This firsthand information will enable you to select the lifting machines whose smart features are best suited to your application.