Gantry Crane Overview: Types of gantry cranes and selection Tips

 One or two beam is supported on steel legs, on beam, there is a trolley to lift and move across, and the whole structure seems like a big gate, we call it Gantry Crane.

Application of gantry crane

This gantry crane travels on rail on ground, mainly used in outdoor yard, storage, dock, power station, port, railway station and so on. Its function is to lift heavy thing and move to other place, load & unload truck, train, ship, and install some equipment crane manufacturer.

General features of gantry crane

• Gantry crane has same lifting mechanism, cross and long travel mechanism as overhead crane.
• Because of the large span, Crane traveling mechanism mostly adopts respectively drive, in order to prevent skewed operation and increase the resistance, or even accident.
• Hoisting trolley running on bridge, some lifting trolley is a jib type crane. Legs on either side of the bridge are generally rigid leg;
• If span length is more than 30 meters, one side is rigid leg, but the other side it is flexible leg, which makes the gantry frame statically determinate system, it can avoid outer load under the action of the additional stress due to the lateral thrust, also can compensate bridge longitudinal temperature deformation.
• The gantry crane wind area is large, in order to prevent the slide and overturned under strong wind, Equipped with a sonde and rail clamping device.

Types of gantry crane

According to differenets standards, gantry cranes can be grouped in to different types. Geneally the types of gantry cranes are as following: 

Full gantry crane vs. Semi gantry crane

First, normally, gantry cranes are divided into full gantry crane, semi-gantry crane, gantry crane with cantilever, gantry crane without cantilever. Their functions are as below:

•  Full-gantry crane types: The main beam has no overhang, and the trolley is carried out within the main span.
• Semi-gantry cranes types: The height difference of the legs can be determined according to the site construction requirements.

Single girder gantry crane vs. Double girder gantry crane

Second, according to the main beam form

• Double girder gantry crane types: The most common form of structure, its structural force and the effective use of the site area are reasonable.
• Single cantilever gantry cranes types: This type of structure is often chosen by site constraints.

Single girder gantry crane

The single girder gantry crane has a simple structure, is easy to manufacture and install, and has a small mass of its own. The main beam is mostly an off-track box-shaped structure. Compared with double-girder gantry cranes, the overall stiffness is weaker. Therefore, when the weight Q≤50t and the span S≤35m, this form can be used. Single-gantry gantry cranes have L-shaped and C-shaped door legs. The L-shape is easy to manufacture and install, and the stress conditions are good. The quality of the L-shape is small. However, the space for lifting cargo through the legs is relatively small. The C-shaped legs are made to be inclined or curved so as to have a large lateral space for the cargo to pass through the legs.

Double girder gantry crane

Double girder gantry cranes have strong bearing capacity, large span, overall stability, and many varieties, but their own quality is larger and their cost is higher compared with single-girder gantry cranes with the same weight. According to the different main beam structure, it can be divided into two forms of box beam and truss. At present, generally more box-shaped structure.

Thirdly, according to girder design, the gantry cranes can be grouped into truss gantry crane type and box girder gantry crane types. 

Truss type

The structural form welded by angle steel or I-beam has the advantages of low cost, light weight, and good wind resistance. However, because of the large number of welding points and the defects of the trusses themselves, the truss beams also have the drawbacks of large deflection, low rigidity, relatively low reliability, and frequent detection of welding spots. Suitable for sites with low safety requirements and low lifting weight.

Truss type gantry crane - Dongqi types of gantry crane

Box type

The use of steel plates welded into a box structure, with high safety, stiffness and other characteristics. It is generally used for gantry cranes with large tonnage and oversized tonnage. As shown in the right figure, MGhz1200 has a lifting capacity of 1,200 tons and is the largest gantry crane in China. The main beam adopts a box girder structure. The box girder also has the disadvantages of high cost, heavy self, and poor wind resistance.

Box girder gantry crane - Dongqi types of gantry crane

Fouth, types of gantry cranes also can be grouped  in terms of gantry designs, including:

Adjustable Gantries

Adjustable gantry cranes is designed for warehousing applications, where the movement of materials is required to go through aisles, doorways, around obstacles, and over or under obstructions. Adjustable gantry crane is often used to lift parts and equipment into position in welding shops, fabrication shops and etc.

Adjustable gantry crane - A type of crane of Dongqi Crane

Portable Gantries

Portable gantry crane is flexible, which can be replaced and relocated, which is featured as fast, easy movement to and from a work site.

Portable gantry crane and movable gantry crane - Gantry crane type

Rail Mounted Gantries

Rail mounted gantry crane is used for transferring heavy loads, manually or motorized, over a fixed route.

Rail mounted gantry crane -  A type of gantry crane of Dongqi Crane

Fifth, according to the use and application environment, the types of gantry cranes is classified as following:

Gantry Crane Overview: Types of gantry cranes and selection Tips