If the clinker crane at Giant Cement Co.'s Harleyville, S.C., plant had been causing a few problems, it could be forgiven.

After all, the big crane had been moving raw cement material every day for the last 44 years. But with Giant's plans for a significant production increase at the single-kiln, dry-process, 840,000-tpy-capacity Harleyville facility, critical upgrades were needed on the venerable old crane. Front and center on the list of needs were safety enhancements and an upgrade to the electrical control equipment. Once the clinker crane upgrade project was approved, plant management called in The Electric Controller and Manufacturing Co., LLC (or EC&M) to provide a similar product solution to one that had been implemented in 2004 on a successful upgrade of Giant's marl crane.

With only a limited amount of downtime scheduled for the numerous clinker crane upgrade projects, the Giant project team, working with EC&M engineers, installed the manufacturer's newest product, the Endeavor AC Drive along with three rugged EC&M magnetic drum brakes. After all the equipment was removed and new equipment was installed, EC&M came on site, and within four hours the clinker crane was operational. The results: elimination of the electrical maintenance problems on the bridge and trolley, a new set of ultra-reliable brakes, and a smooth-running crane.

“EC&M not only solved our safety concerns — like sticking contacts in the mag amp controls and brakes not holding — but they added a whole new dimension to the way we use the crane now,” said Terry Childress, Giant's electrical supervisor. In addition to solving basic issues with new controls and brakes, the AC drive's powerful software added new crane-specific application options.

This allowed Childress and his colleagues to set up, monitor, and change crane functions whenever necessary. They could also take advantage of torque proving on hoist applications, on-board diagnostics and fault history, and multiple-level parameter security. The result has been an increase in safety and efficiency and a dramatic decrease in crane downtime.

“This new drive has really changed the way the crane operates,” Childress said. “We not only alleviated safety concerns, we also reduced the maintenance of the bridge and trolley control by 99%. And we're saving a lot of wear and tear on our brakes.”

A long-time mainstay of the South Carolina industrial community, Giant Cement is one of the largest producers of cement on the east coast. Its project managers could have looked anywhere in the world to find the expertise to solve the crane problems at the Harleyville plant. “We had a huge maintenance issue with that marl crane,” Childress explained. “At one point, we would lose up to six weeks of operation in a year due to electrical problems. Since EC&M installed new drives on that crane, we've had very few maintenance issues and hardly any down time.”

Engineered with state-of-the-art technology backed up by more than a century of company experience, the Endeavor AC drive is the newest member of the EC&M line of AC and DC drive control systems and traditional electromechanical contractor control products. Meanwhile, the company's application engineering team — known in the industry as the “Crane Gang” — has more than 500 years of combined experience.

The article was adapted from materials supplied by The Electric Controller and Manufacturing Co., LLC, (+1) 800-240-1230, www.ecandm.net