Trolley Car I Beam

We're going to need more information. Are there any nameplates with manufacturing information anywhere? Your pictures show very little technical information

Sorry Mike

It a used equipment from Spain. I couldn't find the name plate.

Please elaborate, what are your concerns?

https://www.machinemfg.com/h-beam-vs-i-beam-steel/

https://www.columbusmckinnon.com/en-us/products/crane-systems/enclosed-track-rail-crane-systems/steel-track-trolleys/steel-track-trolley/

https://news.thomasnet.com/search?q=trolley+crane+beams&searchsource=insights&searchterm=trolley+crane+beams

I am concern about the trolley when it make a turning with the turning radius of 914mm. Base on autocad drawing it should not a problem but weather the trolley car wheel will able to make a smooth turning with H-Beam instead with I-Beam. With I-Beam the trolley car wheel have some flexibility for swinging as the I-Beam has a slop of maybe 2 to 3 degree slop where the H-Beam are flat.

You might actually get better wear with a flat flange (WF section) as it will be easier to get line contact between the rollers and the flange, rather than likely point contact with the angled rollers for the S section. I don’t see why a flat configuration would track any worse than angle, providing your turn radius is large enough to keep the trolley from contacting the web of the section while in the turn.

Two driving wheels at the same speed on the same axle location will end up digging up the rollers & beam flange as you make the corner. One driving wheel may not get you the friction you need.

I worked for 8 years in a paper mill with a similar size beam (S section) carrying 5000lb rolls of paper with one 90 degree bend. The trolley had an electric hoist Shawbox, and it really needed to be replaced twice in that time, the rail, that is. The hoist would need to be rebuilt twice a year, maybe 30 trips per day. I think the hoist drove two wheels, the turn was always chewed up badly.

How quickly does the beam wear out?

Perhaps a hardened serviceable insert is all you need for the existing beam

Basically, I just join this company 3 month ago and I dont have any history or record of the I-Beam problem. Future more, there may be some modification works carry out on the trolley car wheel and causes the I-Beam to worn out by previous maintenance people. The I-Beam last about 3 years only.

How fast, how frequently and with how much load do these trolleys move? 3 year seems like an incredibly short lifetime for the rail. We have a trolley that is only used occasionally, carrying a ton or less load, at very slow speed, on a single supporting rail that also makes a U from one side of the shop to the other. I have NOT gone up to inspect it, but it has been there for over 50 years, and is still in use.

The trolley car move at the speed of 46 meter per minutes. The estimated load of the car with gloves former is about 1.3 ton. It run and stop at few of the latex tank. It operate 24 hours. Only the inner rail track is the driving track and the outer track is just a follower. The trolley car wheel thickness is 22mm and I am proposed for a 35mm trolley wheels.

I like to look for failures, and what the reasons were....in crane wheels it's failure to keep the wheels square on the beam surface such that the hoist skews and causes wheel and beam wear because of misalignment....So I would use some modeling software program like solidworks, and run simulations to make sure your drive mechanism keeps the carriage and wheels in alignment with the track ....

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1350630717303989

https://www.engineeredlifting.com/blog/tapered-wheels-for-top-running-cranes/

https://www.engineeredlifting.com/blog/

https://acculift.com/track-beams-i-w-s-beams/

I would think on trolley's that go around corners you would have some sort of guiding wheels system...but I don't see any examples....

This is for monorail...

Thanks for your suggestion. I am also design some guiding wheels to guide the driving wheel so that those wheels are maintain the same distance during making the turning at the 914mm radius turn.

https://www.xtek.com/en/guide-rollers/

Can't seem to find an image representing my thoughts exactly...but the wheels facing in to ride on the vertical surface of the beam with a coated surface for noise reduction would act as a steering mechanism...

This is the idea I have....

New X- beam design...

Thanks for the Idea. I have design a set of guide rollers as picture attached.

It might be worth designing a fog/mist water spray system for lubricating those tight bends - unless one already exists, of course.

Great, let us know how it works....

Doesn't the profile of the I beam aid in the self centering ability of the wheels as they run along the beam. After all the railways long ago went from flat wheels to shaped wheels to aid in the centering action of the wheel on the rail. Whereas in your case the wheel profile and I beam profile would keep the carriage centered because as one wheel moves closer to the flange the other moves away and the forces drive the closer wheel back towards the equalised position.

That's true but the sloped contact surface also promotes wear in both the wheels and the supporting surface...

http://www.rail-fastener.com/train-track-safety-steel-rail-wear.html

Thanks for the advice. The only problem is the name and contact details of the manufacture of this trolley car was not available. This trolley car equipment are from Spain and has been install to this factory for about 6 to 8 years ago. It is not a new machine but it is used equipment. The previously maintenance personal may have change something or did some modification for this trolley car but there is no record or report to refer back. Most of them had resigned. l try to search from the internet hopefully I can found the manufacture but can not found it. The only hope is to get some advice from this forum.

Not everything is on <...the internet...>. What isn't can be obtained over the telephone with some effort.

The advice of the equipment's Insurance Engineer/Surveyor would be worth having, and this individual's name and contact details will be on the periodic inspection reports, probably stored in a General Register by the maintenance area of the facility.

Try using some charm and "get digging" (so to speak), perhaps?

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Looking at your setup I would think that with a turnaround point as sharp as that, it would be better to drive the outside wheel. For a starter irrespective of what way you go with the beams it may be an option to turn the cars around to accomodate the drive wheel on the long traveling path on the turning point. From you photos it seems that there is only one load bearing wheel on each side. A nearby photo of the load bearing wheels will help.