Today, crane construction is developing rapidly, both in Russia and abroad. Each manufacturer of special equipment offers to the market machines with different design features, but the unifying element is the presence of a drive in all cranes.
However, there are 3 types of drive, which differ in certain characteristics. The vast majority of the first truck cranes had a single-engine mechanical drive. In such truck cranes, all mechanisms were driven by the engine of the basic automobile chassis. At the same time, the mechanical transmission is the element through which the motion is transmitted to each working mechanism. Unlike the first truck cranes in the production of modern cranes, as a rule, hydraulic drive is used. The essence of the hydraulic drive is that each working mechanism is powered by separate, independent motors.
The advantage of this type of drive is that it makes it possible to smoothly and easily control both crane mechanisms and outriggers. All crane operations can be performed both slowly and quickly, while precise overlapping of working cycles is also possible. Many well-known manufacturers of truck cranes, for example, such as liebherr, base the production of machines on hydraulic drive, because it is a complex, but also the most perfect mechanism
In electrically driven truck cranes, each working mechanism is also powered by an individual, in this case electric motor. This type of drive is as good as hydraulic drive in terms of performance, and in some cases even better, because the principles of their operation are virtually the same. The electric drive is an AC or DC electric motor.
The motor is connected to the working mechanism directly or through an intermediate gear. This type of drive is the most reliable and easy to operate. The type of drive is not the only parameter by which the crane is selected. Special attention should be paid to such characteristics as lifting capacity, boom outreach, and of course - the cost. The exact choice of characteristics should be made by specialists providing the service of renting a crane. As a rule, it is an engineer or a crane operator.
