ISO/TS 23624:2021 pdf download – Cranes — Safe use of high-performance fibre ropes in crane applications.
4 HPFR performance considerations 4.1 Responsibilities Where a HPFR is installed in a new crane, the crane manufacturer is responsible for the rope drive design, selection of the rope and instructions for use and maintenance. The rope manufacturer is responsible for providing correct and complete information regarding the rope characteristics and providing information regarding maintenance and inspection of the rope in use. When a steel wire rope originally installed in a crane is intended to be replaced by a HPFR, an evaluation of the crane design in general and the rope drive components shall be performed by the crane user, with the support and approval of the crane manufacturer, to ensure that all the provisions given by the HPFR manufacturer and this document are fulfilled. The same principle applies when an existing HPFR is replaced by another type of HPFR. The crane user is responsible for ensuring that the crane is used and maintained as instructed.
4.2 Risk assessment Prior to approval for use of HPFR on a crane application, a risk assessment considering the intended use and any reasonably foreseeable misuse shall be carried out by the manufacturer of the crane application, identifying potential risks that can impact the safety of the rope in operation (see ISO 12100:2010). The risk assessment should cover the entire life cycle of the rope including installation, maintenance, storage and disposal, rope drive, potential environmental conditions and specifics of the application, including all reasonably expected risks of contact with objects external to the crane. This document shall be reviewed jointly by both the rope manufacturer and the crane application manufacturer (or other applicants), in order to identify potential operational and system risks that can affect the safety of operation. Critical interactions during operation between the rope drive system and HPFR identified in this analysis shall be documented in the technical files to ensure they are in line with the requirements of this document and provide suitable safety as determined for mitigation in the risk assessment process.
Qualification testing of the HPFR shall cover identified critical wear modes to validate that discard criteria provide the required safety factor. The safety factor shall take into account residual breaking strength (RBS) in relation to maximum rope pull (MRP) and residual lifetime required at discard condition of the HPFR. Where either the HPFR or the rope drive system is intended to change, the risk assessment shall be reviewed to ensure that critical safety considerations are not changed. The limits of the machinery and the remaining residual risks, which can result from the risk assessment analysis, shall be added in the crane’s manual. 4.3 Rope 4.3.1 Types of ropes The base element of a HPFR is the load bearing fibre. There is a variety of high-performance fibres available to rope manufacturers, each with different attributes that affect characteristics of the final rope. Typical materials utilized in HPFR design include amongst others: a) aromatic polyamide (aramid); b) high modulus polyethylene (HMPE); c) polyarylate (liquid crystal polymer, LCP); d) polybenzoxazole (PBO).