1

Steps in Design of a Hoisting System

Dr. B. C. Paul 1999 major revision 2012

With Credit to Dr. H. Sevim for Original Book

Steps in Design of Hoisting

System

Determine the performance requirements

Usually means production
can also involve figuring acceptable stopping
distances - number of levels to be served under
what conditions

Select hoist type to meet constraints

Once Upon a Mine

Dark Black coal mine will produce 3 million

tons of coal from a single level. The hoisting
distance from loading pocket to dump bin is
1000 ft. The mine operates 250 days per year
3 production shifts per day with 7 hours of
operation each production shift. The peak
production will be about 5000 tons per shift.
The average production is 4000 tons per shift.
3

Your Mission Jim, Should you

decide to accept it

Design a hoisting system for the Dark Black Coal

Mine.

First Step is to establish the performance

requirement.
The fundamental Capacity Equation is

Q=P/T
Q is requirement in Tons Per Hour
P is Production per shift
T is the average shift production time
4

Which Production Number Do

We Use?

Actual production is a distribution - not an

average number
If we design on average then all the numbers
above the mean will go past capacity - well
loose our high values and not meet
production
If we design on a peak that is seldom
achieved well pay big bucks
5

Decision Criteria

If peak approaches 2 times average - need to

consider cost of work stoppage vs. take work
stoppages
If peak is somewhat close to average then
design for the peak
In example the peak is 125% of the average,
which is not considered a significant
deviation. Design for the Peak!
6

What if Life had not been so

Kind?

Calculate the cost of a production stoppage

May be cost of lost production
May include penalties on contracts
May include idle labor cost

Calculate the amortized cost of the next

increment of production capacity
Check multiple points and go for minimum
total cost.

Pick production capacity

Apply formula
714 tph = 5000 t/shift / 7 hours prod time

Other design decisions need to be made

Is this a Keope or a Drum Hoist?
One Level so Keope wont be too tricky

Input My Hoist Distance and

Production Rate Target
My Spreadsheet is
Opti-Hoist.

Next Lets look at some fixed

Cycle time elements

Elements

How Long will it take for the ore pocket doors to

open and drop a load into the skip?
Once the Skip is in position how long will it take
to deposit the load into the dump point chute?
About 8 seconds to load
10 seconds to dump is reasonable
Your load and unload times may depend on other
design elements of the system.
10

Creep Time

Hoists and Elevators slow to near

stop as they line up with a set level
Pull away fromthe loading point
Or line up with dump point
Will Usually take a bit more time to
line up with the unload point
2 seconds to pull away from load and
4 to line up with dump is reasonable.

A fowl Beast

11

Now We Need to Pick a Peak

Speed and a Rate of Skip
Acceleration

The maximum speed we lift at is safety related. For men there are regulations.
For materials there are guidelines (shown in pink)

12

Considerations

This is a Keope Hoist

The rope is just sitting over a friction wheel
If I peel out and the rope starts to slip I have
a major hoisting accident

High speed and high acceleration increase

production
But they also cause a big increase in motor size
and energy bill.
13

Im going to go for modest speed

and particularly modest
acceleration

14

Geometry Considerations
Two Skips

Skip and Counter-weight

15

Stopping Considerations

Loading chute
If my controls miss
Stopping the skip at
The dump point how
Far do I have for an
Emergency stop before
The over-wiend turns
Into a disaster?

Dump
Chute
Shaft Bottom

16

Getting Our First Estimate

Using a Nordberg approximation of the cycle time the program estimates the size
Of skip that will be needed to achieve the production target using the distance,
Speed and acceleration conditions specified.
(This part of the spreadsheet is independent of whether the hoist was a Keope or
A drum hoist).
17

Our Next Task is to Get Our

Exact Cycle Time
The only missing
Piece of information
Was what is the
Creep speed (2 ft/sec
Is reasonable).

(I wants you money for my fake

Global warming initiative)

18

Next We Must Balance Skip Size,

Weight, Rope Diameters and
Wheel Sizes

19

First We Need to Pick A Skip Size

We have already been given a first guess skip size. We try about that size
And then check the actual hourly production achievable in the red box (we
Now have figured the exact cycle time too).
As can be seen a 16 ton skip will get me my 720 tons/hour.

20

Next Ill Go for Skip Weight

In general a skip heavy enough to handle the banging of ore loading and
Unloading will weight about 75% of the load weight.
Opti-Hoist estimates this for us but leaves us a yellow blank to choose the
Weight. A higher weight usually means we are just adding weights to our
Skip.

21

Next We Go For Rope Sizing

Keope hoists usually have multiple ropes in even numbers, 2, 4, 6, and 8 being
Common. Where that 12 came from is unsure.
We need to consider both hoisting ropes and tail ropes. Sometimes tail ropes
Are used and worn-out hoist ropes which can cause tail ropes to be the same
As hoist ropes.
22

My First Guess is 4 ropes

(This is a relatively modest depth)

The red box estimates that I will need a 1.064 inch rope to reach needed
Safety factors for this depth.

23

From Here I Need to Go And

Enter My Rope Properties

I enter my rope size, its weight and its strength. (I have the advantage of
Having an estimate of what size rope to try).
The spreadsheet then compares the achieved factor of safety to what is required
24

Where Do I Get These Rope

Properties
The spreadsheet has a
Rope properties table
Right below for me to
Look things up on.

Im looking for 1.064

Flattened strand
I go for 1.125
Weight 2.28 lbs/ft
Strength 57.9 tons

25

Enter My Rope and Check My

Factor of Safety

A 7 factor of safety clearly meets a 6.5

26

I Wonder If I Could Get Away

with a 1 inch rope

Eeee one inch rope is a nope.

27

What if I Use High Strength

Steal?

Oh so close but still nope to the rope

28

With Hoist Rope Selected I can

now pick the Wheel for My Hoist
Frame

I need a 7.5 ft wheel (see pick recommendation) to avoid bending my rope to

Sharp. (You can see why I wanted a smaller rope it would have allowed me
To use a smaller lower inertia wheel).
29

Now I Need to Deal with Tail

Rope
Simple case is to get used rope
Also easiest to have just one tail rope so
have less swinging and tangling.
Number of tail ropes is commonly less than
number of hoist ropes.

30

Im going to try straight across

Using my worn-out hoist ropes
for tail ropes.

31

Now Ill Check Conditions at My

Keope Wheel

T1 is the weight of the heavy loaded side. T2 is the weight of the lighter empty
Side.
Remember only friction stops the rope from slipping. The ratio of T1 to T2
Must therefor not be more than 1.5
Of course 1.95 is greater than 1.5 so life is sucking right now.

32

Another Parameter is Tread

Pressure

Keope wheels are normally lined with a leather like frictional material. Since we
Dont want the ropes to cut the material to pieces we need to limit the load to
About 300 psi or less.
Well at least one thing worked.
33

So What Do I Do Now

Either T1 is to big or T2 is too little

I could look at rope weight but the rope weight
shifts back and forth from T1 to T2 depending on
where we are
The T1 and T2 ratios are picked by the spreadsheet to be
worst case

I could make my skip lighter

But a light duty skip could get beat to pieces
And a lighter skip would also reduce T2
34

Idea

If my skips were heavier then the skips would

account for a higher percentage of the weight.
Since skips are the for T1 and T2 making it a
larger proportion will even the ratio
(I could make a similar argument for picking
heavier ropes but ropes are expensive and big
ropes for larger higher inertia wheels).

35

Putting 8 tons of Dead Weight on

My skips made it more even
Of course Im still not there yet.

36

Ok Adding 15.5 dead weight

tons to the skip did it!!!

Oh boy did it do it take a look at that tread pressure.

37

So What Can I Do With My Tread

Pressure
I cant change my T1 and T2
But I can spread the load over a greater area

That unfortunately would mean getting a bigger

Keope wheel

38

There A 10 ft Wheel Spreads

the Load

I know the inertia situation sucks.

39

Come to Think About It The

Factor of Safety Sucks Too

How profound I put more weight on the rope without strengthening the rope
And I get into safety factor trouble.

(Where the
Money Goes)

40

Take A Little Weight Off the Skip

and Put A Little More On the
Rope

41

Time to Pick Out Our Motor

42

Looking at Hoist Duty Cycle

Hoist doesnt always run at a single speed

Initial acceleration - time it starts to move but its by the loading pocket so we dont
floor it
Creep 1 - carefully creeps past the loading
area to avoid tearing something up
Main acceleration - after clear of loading area
- hit it up to full speed
43

Hoist Duty Cycle

44

Duty Cycle Continued

Run at Full Speed - until you get close

enough to the top that youd better slow down
or you'll put the skip up someplace interesting
Main Deceleration - slow down to creep
speed before you take out the dump bin
Creep 2 - move slowly into dump position
Final Deceleration - stop to dump
45

What Size Motor?

Required horsepower for motor varies
greatly through hoisting cycle
Adjustments are made by calculating the
Root Mean Squared (RMS) Horsepower
requirements
This requires taking horsepower duties at
multiple points through the hoisting cycle

46

The Spreadsheet Does Your

Calculations
The Motor Sizing is
A function of something
Called EEW what is
that.?

47

The Mystery of the EEW Term

EEW stands for equivalent effective weight

Hoist contains motors, gears, and large
wheels that contribute inertia to the system
during acceleration
Could go through long hand and calculate
inertia of everything (if youre sadistic
enough)
Alternative is to use manufactures tables that
reduce inertia to an equivalent load on a rope.
48

Nordberg Equivalent Effective

Weight Chart

49

Reading the Chart

We know it is
A Keope hoist
So I will use
The Keope line.

I know I have
A 10ft wheel
So I start at
10 and read up
To the Keope
Line
50

I Then Read Over to the

Equivalent Effective Weight
Ill be conservative
In my reading and
Call it 36,000 lbs

51

Enter the Number and Get Motor

Sizing

Of course understanding
What all these HP1, HPA
And TSL stuff is would
Add a lot of understanding

52

The Horsepower Demand of a

Keope Hoist Over Time Looks
Like This

Keope Hoist

53

Understanding Keope Duty

Cycles

Q - Why is there a steady flat line for Horsepower required in a Keope

Hoist Duty Cycle

A - Horsepower is an energy output per unit time. It takes energy to

lift the skip load up the shaft as it travels at full steady speed.

54

Keope Duty Cycles

Q - Why is there a sloped line leading upward from when the hoist starts

A - When the hoist is operating at less than full speed the load is
transported a lesser distance per unit time and thus the energy output per
unit time is less. The line has a linear slope because the acceleration rate is
55
a constant.

The Keope Duty Cycle

Q - Why is there a peak that drops sharply to the flat line for
Horsepower to run the Keope

A - You must add additional force to accelerate the load. At the end
of the acceleration period the additional force is no longer needed.

56

Keope Duty Cycles

Q - Why is there a big drop in horsepower at the end of the full speed run
for the hoist

A - When the hoist decelerates, the momentum of the load provides part of
the energy to keep the load moving up the shaft.
57

Keope Cycles
Q - Why does the line slope down at the end of the Hoist
Cycle

A - The load is slowing down and accumulating less potential

58
energy per unit of time.

Keope Cycles
Q- Why the funny dashed lines that show more power
being used at the start and less being recovered at the end.

A - Frictional losses

59

Approach to Attacking the RMS

Horsepower Requirements

We will calculate components of Horsepower

requirements
HP1 will be the horsepower to accelerate the load
HP3 will be the horsepower to move the load at full speed up
the shaft
HP2 will be the horsepower recovered from momentum when
the load is decelerated
HP6 will be the horsepower still required to lift the load after
deceleration starts
HP4 and HP5 will cover frictional losses
Keope Hoist

60

You Can See Those Horsepowers

Calculated.

61

Horsepower #1 (For Keope

Hoists)

HP1 = TSL * V2 / (550 * g * Ta)

Where TSL is the Total Suspended Load

V is the Velocity
g is the acceleration of gravity
Ta is the acceleration time to get the hoist to full
speed and includes time to accelerate to creep speed
(initial acceleration t1) and then to accelerate to full
speed (t3)
Ta = t1 + t3
Keope Hoist

62

Total Suspended Load

TSL = EEW + 2000 * SL + 2*(2000*SW) +

Rope Weight (both sides)
SL and SW are the skip weight and load in tons
R is the rope weight
Because of tail rope there is a full length of rope on
both skip sides

Keope Hoist

63

Horsepower #3 - Power to Lift a

Loaded Skip at Full Speed

HP3 = V * 2000 * SL / 550

Note that the skip weight term is missing
I have a skip going down to balance a skip
coming up

Keope Hoist

64

Horsepower #2 - Negative
Horsepower from Momentum
During Deceleration
2

HP2 = - TSL * V / (550 * g * Tr)

Where Tr is time during deceleration

Keope Hoist

65

Horsepower #4 - Losses in Gears

and Drives
Derived empirically rather than by physics
fundamentals
HP4 = 0.111 * (2000 * SL * V / 550)

Keope Hoist

66

Approach to RMS Horsepower

Continued

We will add the different fundamental components

of horsepower to get the horsepower needs at
various cardinal points during the lift
We will label these cardinal points A through E
Example D is the peak power required at the height of
the acceleration phase

We will put the horsepower values at the cardinal

points into the RMS horsepower equation and use
that to size the motor.
Keope Hoist

67

Calculate Horsepower at 3
Cardinal Points

Point A - Peak of the Acceleration Phase

HPA = HP1 + HP3 + HP4
Point B - During Full Speed Run
HPB = HP3 + HP4
Point C - At Initiation of Deceleration
HPC = HP2 + HP3 + HP4

Keope Hoist

68

Yip There are the values

69

One More Monster Power Sink

These Big Motors have an Armature to Sink
a Battleship! - takes a lot of inertia to spin
the thing up or down
HP5 (to spin it up) = 0.75 * HPA * 1.2 / Ta

HP6 (to spin down) = -0.75 * HPA * 1.2 / Tr

Keope Hoist

70

Those Calculations are Done Too

71

Correcting Cardinal Points for

Armature Acceleration
Point D is the revision of A peak of
acceleration
HPD = HPA + HP5

Point E is revision of C initiation of

Deceleration
HPE = HPC + HP6

Keope Hoist

72

And the Calculations Are There

73

RMS Equations Depend on

Motor Type

For AC Motor
HPrms = [ ( HPD2 * Ta + HPB2* Tfs + HPE2* Tr)/
( 0.5 * Ta + Tsf + 0.5 * Tr + 0.25 * tr) ]0.5
Where
Ta is acceleration time
Tsf is full speed time
Tr is deceleration time
tr is the rest time

Keope Hoist

74

RMS Horsepower for DC Motors

Numerator is the same as AC
Denominator is changed to
( 0.75 * Ta + Tsf + 0.75 * Tr + 0.5 *tr)

RMS HP DC = [ Numerator/
Denominator]0.5

75

Looks Like I Need About 1200

HP

76

Time to Pick the Motors

I need to choose the number and size of motor and the inertia of the rotor

77

Consider Picks

Id rather go AC with frequency control. Id like to do 2 600 hp motors but

With a 10 ft diameter Keope wheel Ill still need gear reduction so I would
Only get about 94% transmission My pick a 1250 two pole AC

78

Plug-In My Motor Parameters

and Gear Reduction Efficiency

Ok That seems to work

(Note that there are limits to how much you can turn down the speed of
A motor with variable frequency drives)

79

Our Last Task is to Size the Brake

80

We Want Two Things From Our

Brake
Hold the maximum possible ubalanced load
with a 1.5 factor of safety
If a full speed load passes the ore dump
speed it must perform an emergency stop
before the skip crashes into the top of the
headframe.

81

Next Step is to Design the

Braking System
During Clutching Operations the Brake must hold the
load so it doesn't go to the shaft bottom
Design practice is to rate the brake and clutch to hold
the maximum load plus 50%
BR = CR = (D/2) * ( 2000*SL + 2000*SW + H * Wr *
n) * (1.5) {Units are ft-lbs}

D is drum or wheel diameter

BR and CR are Brake and Clutch Ratings in ft*lbs torque
Note this is the load on one side of a drum hoist if the other is
clutched
82

The Spreadsheet Runs the

Calculation

I need to set my brake rating to at least this size.

83

I Fill In the Numbers

Brake rating comes from the recommendation

Mass of the rotor came from the motor specification list
The gear ratio and speed were worked to get a workable
Ratio and a motor speed that was within the turn-down
Limit for the motor.

84

Another Factor is Brake

Performance During an
Emergency
Stop
Design is done on worst case scenario
maximum unbalanced load traveling at full speed
discovered with a minimum tolerance distance
before you ride into the head frame or crash into the
bottom

Must either design for a tolerance distance your

brake can stop in or size up the brake for the
tolerance you have.
85

Design Concept

Assume the Brake must fight against the

maximum unbalanced load
Subtract unbalanced load from brake capacity
This leaves the net force available for the emergency
stop

Use Newtons Second Law

Know the net force available
Know total mass in motion
Solve for the deceleration rate

Calculate the time and distance to stop

86

Formula

Look at Maximum differential load

W = (T1 - T2) * 2000
T1 = Max load = SL + SW + (H * Wr * n/2000)
T2 = Min Balancing Load = SW

87

The Spreadsheet Applies the

Formula to Get the Differential
Weight.

88

The Mass that must be Stopped

To use Newton's Law to get Force Requirements

the load must be in mass
Means we must use slugs - some how a system made by Kings using slugs
sounds wrong

M = [ ( EEW * R2 + WR2m * GR2) / R2 + T1 *2000

+ T2 * 2000 ] / 32.2

Where R is the Drum or Wheel Radius D/2

WR2m is the inertia of the motor rotor in ft 2
GR is the gear ratio of the motor to the drive
Note that the R2 terms are needed to convert rotating inertia to equivalent
mass
89

Solving for the Deceleration Rate

DR = ( B - W ) / M

DR = Deceleration Rate
M = Mass to be stopped
W = Net unbalanced load (T1 - T2) * 2000
B = Brake Rating in lbs linear force
Get B = BR / R
BR is the Brake Rating in Ft*lbs

Applying the Deceleration Rate

Time to Stop = T = V / DR
Braking Distance = S = (V/2) * T

Check Braking Distance Against Available or make

sure you have the distance
90

The Gear Ratio Problem

GR = VM / VD
VM is rpm of motor at rated travel speed
VD is rpm of Drum

VD = V / (pi * D ) { remember I need rpm}

Keope Hoist

91

Solving for the Mass to be

Stopped

Keope Hoist

92

Check Out Our Stopping

Distance

Yup We Appear to Be OK

93