Overhead Hoist Vs. Overhead Crane | Cranes And Hoists Comparison

What's the difference of overhead hoist & overhead crane? Check overhead cranes and hoists comparison to get right crane and hoist for your use. Read on.  

Overhead Hoists and overhead cranes are both types of lifting equipment that are used in the industrial, manufacturing, and construction industries to transport and lift big items on the job site, but they differ greatly in terms of their usage and design. They can improve site security as well as the ability to move big, heavy things.

Although the terms overhead crane and overhead hoist are occasionally used synonymously, they are fundamentally distinct.

Choosing the right lifting solution for a given situation might be challenging. Our article will assist you in discovering and comprehending the distinctions between a crane and a hoist so you can decide which option is greatest for the demands of your particular site.

What is an overhead crane?

An overhead crane is a overhead material handling system (which also has an overhead electric hoist) is used to lift and move big objects like supplies, products, and machinery. If a building structure is available, the overhead bridge crane can be either freestanding or attached to it. An electric overhead crane system is a sophisticated material handling equipment that raises, lowers, and moves large or heavy cargo. Overhead cranes can provide multidirectional mobility. The overhead hoist, trolley, and crane bridge work together to full cover your of your workshop  floor.

Overhead cranes come in a wide variety of designs that are suited to various applications and lifting needs. Each is composed of a unique combination of parts and components , however some of the most typical ones are as follows:

Figure 1, main components of overhead crane, the  NLH series of double girrder overhead crane with capacity of 3 ton to 80 ton 

Types of Overhead Cranes

The type of electric overhead crane you have determines what your overhead electric  hoist will work  for you. The most common types of  overhead cranes are as following:

• Top running overhead crane  -- The bridge moves atop a pair of rails mounted on the top of the runway beams , allowing for heavy loads to be lifted and moved.
• Underhung overhead crane-- The bridge travels along the bottom flange of two beams. With adequte bearing force, your buildings’ construction or roof structure can be used to support the ceiling overhead crane.
• Overhead gantry crane-- A single or double girder attaches to a pair of supporting legs , enabling the overhead gantry crane to operate with freestanding design.The overhead gantry cranes can be grouped into rail travelling gantry & roller or wheel travelling gantry crane. The rail travelling gantry will be running on the rails or tracks embedded on the ground. The roller gantry crane is a small type of portable gantry crane, and rubber tired wheel gantry crane is type of heavy duty gantry crane. Both the portable gantry crane and rubber tyred gantry crane provided higher flexibility than the rail travelling gantry cranes.
• Overhead Monorails -- Simplly, on the overhead monorails, the  monorail hoist is connected to a trolley by a single rail that travels in an oval or serpentine pattern around the facility. This is useful for navigating a complicated space.

The overhead monorail is a light lifting device that can move both horizontally along the monorail beam and vertically (up/down) on the X-axis. A lifting hoist on the monorails is referred to as a monorail hoist if an additional trolley is added to allow it to move horizontally. A customized hoist trolley that can travel along and monorail beams either in straight  or curved . This gives us the ability to build an unending path or an ongoing monorail system. A monorail is frequently used to transport cargo in confined spaces and in settings where continuous procedures are necessary, like the painting area.

What is a Overhead Hoist?

An overhead hoist is a piece of equipment that excels in one specific task: lifting and lowering a load on a vertical plane (Figure 1, Motion 3). Overhead crane hoists are positioned atop the crane's main horizontal beam, also known as the bridge girder. When the crane hoist and trolley are attached (Figure 1, Motion 2), the electric hoist can move back and forth over the bridge girder.

An overhead hoist is a specially designed hoisting device that raises or lowers loads using a system of pulleys, chain, or wire rope. An overhead  hoist must be mounted to something, such as a crane girder,  A frame, or other piece of rail, and other supporting structrure or equipment, due to the weight it carries in order to function securely and effectively. Crane hoists are most frequently used to raise heavy objects repeatedly or to precisely position heavy, bulky equipment during a production or maintenance procedure.

Overhead Crane Hoists contain a number of features, including as speed control, variable lift speeds, limit switches, and load brakes, that enhance safety and lifting performance.

Types of Overhead Hoists

The lifting medium, power, and suspension are the defining characteristics of an overhead crane hoists.

 Lifting medium of crane hoist

The flexible material that joins the load hook to the hoist's overhead body is known as the lifting medium. It could be a rope, metal cable, chain with welded links, or chain with roller loads.

• Welded link chain, - Similar to an anchor chain, welded link chain is made up of numerous similar metal loops that are joined together to form a string.
• Roller load chain - In order to create a line that easily engages with a toothed sprocket, roller load chain, like a bike chain, is formed of alternating roller links and pin links.

Wire rope hoists are the best option for loads of 5 tons or more, while chain hoists are good for lifting loads below 5 tons with little maintenance required. A single rope is used on the rope drum in single-reeved hoists, while two ropes are used on a single drum in double-reeved hoists to achieve real vertical lift. On a single-reeved hoist, little hook drift—or lateral movement of the hook—can be accomplished with bigger diameter rope drums. The initial stage will be to comprehend the distinctions between a wire rope hoist and chain hoist. There are several things to take into account when choosing the most suited hoist for your unique requirements.

Power of overhead hoist

The power source for overhead hoists might be pneumatically, electrically, or manually. A pulley is used in manual hoists to increase the pulling force of the operator.

A hoist motor can also be activated by air or electricity. Pick what is most accessible. Air power might be more convenient in factories with plenty of air tools.

Suspension

An overhead hoist's suspension method is determined by its intended application.

When all you need to do is raise a weight straight up, like when moving a load from a truck to a trailer, a stationary hook-mounted hoist is an easy solution. However, higher loads can be handled using a hoist that is fastened to a beam.

You can lift up and move around the facility by mounting a hoist to a trolley that is moving along a beam or a rail.

You may move in three dimensions with overhead crane and  gantry cranes. You can lift up, move the crane hoist along the rail, then move the crane itself wherever you need it.

What is a Trolley?

The crane's trolley is the device used to move the hoist along the bridge girder. To position the hoist above a load, it is moved horizontally along the top or bottom of the bridge girder (Figure 1, Motion 2). Low headroom, regular headroom, and double girder trolleys are the three different categories of trolleys.

General use trolley hoist,                    low headroom trolley electric hoist,                                     double girder trolley hoist 

What is a bridge?

Overhead bridge cranes rely on end trucks to transport the bridge (electric hoist, trolley and girder beams) along the runway rail (Figure 1, Motion 1).The overhead bridge motion adds the third leg of the multi-directional mobility to the electric crane, giving full hook coverage over the range of your building.

Crane electrification: How does a crane run?

The wiring and support system known as a festoon is what powers a crane trolley and overhead hoist across the bridge. The primary bridge panel, which powers all of the crane's electronics, receives electricity from the runway busbar. The electric hoist panel and the bridge drives, which power the crane hoist, trolley, and bridge drive, are then reached by festoon cables. Most operators use a pendant or radio to control the crane's movement for best productivity and safety.

Main Differences Between Overhead Hoists and Cranes

Overhead Hoists and cranes are very different from one another. Their range of motion is one o the main differences. The overhead cranes can move loads both up and down as well as side to side, but overhead hoists can only move loads up and down. The latter allows for horizontal movement with the help of a trolley and a bridge, while vertical movement is provided by an overhead electric hoist.

The way that crane hoists and overhead cranes are classified is the other key distinction. Crane Hoists are often categorized by their lifting medium, power type, and suspension, whereas overhead cranes are typically grouped by their design and construction (e.g., top running, bottom running, gantry, and monorail).

Wrap it up,

 In general, an overhead crane can be thought of as a tool or machine that is used to transport objects that can move along the three axes of X, Y, and Z. That’s to say, an overhead crane can move up, down, right, left, forward, backward, and in a radius on the X-axis when hoisting, traversing, or spinning.

The overhead electric crane is equipped with a hoist and trolley that allow it to move up, down, and to the right or left along the girder like an overhead traveling crane or along a boom like a jib crane. The jib crane has two bearings inserted between the pillar and the boom that allow it to rotate 360 degrees.A pair of saddle or end carriages are attached to the overhead gantry  crane to allow for forward/backward movement down the runway.

While overhead hoist can be understand as a part of the crane system. One of the part or components of the overhead crane that moves up and down.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the three objects' capacities for mobility vary. Each can be utilized separately or combined to expand the capabilities of a system. Which one are we going to pick? of course the best fit for the needs of the situation. That's a brief explanation of the hoist, monorail, and crane. I hope it will be helpful.

Overhead Hoist and Crane are frequently used interchangeably, and people sometimes refer to a whole hoisting mechanism as a hoist. The issue is that this doesn't fully or accurately describe what is being used. Finding the ideal lifting solution for your workstation might then be challenging.

We can assure you that there is a hoist or crane system out there that is ideal for your requirements.