Wire rope and an assembly comprising such wire rope

Abstract

A wire rope for face shovels or draglines, comprising: a core, said core is made from a plurality of core strands a plurality of outer strands laid on said core, a plurality of separator strands located in the interstices between said core strands and said outer strands, a plastic jacket around said plurality of outer strands, said plurality of separator strands and said core strands, wherein said plurality of separator strands extend from said core strands and in-between each pair of said plurality of outer strands so as to produce and maintain gaps between said pair of said plurality of outer strands; wherein said core strands are compacted, and the gap between said core strands is less than 0.4% of the diameter of the core strand.

Claims

1. An assembly of comprising a drum and a steel wire rope for face shovels or draglines, wherein the steel wire rope is wound around the drum, wherein the drum has a diameter of D, the steel wire rope has a diameter of d, and the D/d ratio is between 20:1 to 40:1, and wherein the steel wire rope comprises: a core, the core being made from a plurality of core strands, a plurality of outer strands laid on the core, a plurality of separator strands located in interstices between the core strands and the outer strands, and a plastic jacket around the plurality of outer strands, the plurality of separator strands, and the core strands, wherein said plurality of separator strands extends from the core strands and is in between each pair of the plurality of outer strands so as to produce and maintain gaps between the pair of said plurality of outer strands, wherein the core strands are compacted, wherein a gap between each of the core strands is less than 0.4% of the diameter of each of the core strands, wherein the core, the plurality of outer strands, and the plurality of separator strands are made from steel, wherein each of the core strands and/or each of the outer strands has a central wire, a first layer of wires around the central wire, and a second or more layer of wires around the first layer of wires, wherein a gap between each of the outer strands is in a range from 4% to 8% of the diameter of each of the outer strands, wherein a lay length of the core is shorter than a lay length of the outer strands, wherein the elastic modulus of the separator strands is lower than the elastic modulus of the outer strands, and the elastic limit of the separator strands is higher than the elastic limit of the outer strands, wherein the elastic limit of wires forming the separator strands is at least 10% higher than the elastic limit of wires forming the core and outer strands, wherein the rope has eight outer strands, wherein the outer strands are compacted, wherein the outer strands have a Warrington Seale construction, and wherein the outer strands have a 36 wire construction (1,7,7+7, 14), a 31 wire construction (1, 6, 6+6, 12) or a 49 wire construction (1, 8, 8, 8+8, 16).

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the D/d ratio is 24:1.

3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the plastic jacket around the plurality of outer strands, the plurality of separator strands, and the core strands is deformed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES IN THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will be better understood with reference to the detailed description when considered in conjunction with the non-limiting examples and the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of the wire rope according to the present invention.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(3) A construction of the wire rope of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The wire rope has a diameter of 72 mm and a configuration of EP8xK36WS+IWRC (1,6,8+8). Herewith, EP refers to the wire rope covered with a polymer. The wire rope has 8 compacted outer strands having 36 wires in combined parallel lay, indicated by 8xK36WS. The core is an independent wire rope (IWRC). The entire rope construction is shown as 1+6+(8+8) and there are two kinds of cords for the outer layers, one being large and the other being small, i.e. it is a parallel lay strand construction having an outer layer of alternately large cords and small cords.

(4) As shown in FIG. 1, the wire rope 10 has an independent wire rope core (IWRC) 12. The independent rope core 12 is a steel wire rope made from seven strands 14 having same rope construction. Each of the core strands 14 is compacted. In addition, the gap between said core strands is less than 0.03 radius of the core strand but in rope design, the gap between the core strands 14 is set to zero.

(5) There are placed 8 separator strands 16 and 8 compacted outer strands 18, which are made from steel, laid on the independent rope core 12. The separator strands 16 are provided in-between the compacted outer strands 18 so as to create a gap between each pair of compacted outer strands 18.

(6) The wire rope 10 is enclosed with a plastic jacket 19. Preferably, the plastic jacket 19 is made of polypropylene and more preferably produced by extrusion. The plastic jacket 19 is extruded to extend over the periphery of the wire rope by a thickness in the range of 1 mm to 2 mm, i.e. 1.50 mm.

(7) Such a wire rope can be wound on a rope drum having a diameter as low as 1700 mm. The wire rope used for face shovels or draglines approves a considerably prolonged lifetime.