Custom Lift Assist Equipment Helps Productivity and Protects against Operator Injuries

Ergonomic Partners was recently approached to design and provide custom lift assist equipment for a global safety equipment manufacturer. After several near misses on major injuries due to dropped and mishandled parts the customer was looking for a new way to handle their parts. In addition the operators were risking shoulder and back injuries due to awkwardly having to place the heavy discs into the lathes. The operators were manhandling the parts from a cart in the horizontal position like a pancake and setting on edge to then roll the part into the lathe. This was a risky move as the operator had to balance the part on edge and adjust the chuck, then muscle the part into place.

After an onsite review and consultation with the operators Ergonomic Partners provided a custom lifting device to assist operators loading and unloading the discs of lead up weighting to 100 pounds. The operators can now grip the part from the cart in a horizontal position and pitch the part 90 degrees. The tool is suspended from a balancer so the operator can float the part into the chuck for the final positioning. The operators can now do their job with greater efficiency while not worrying about injury.

Video of the tool can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q-d_931hXI .

For more information contact Ergonomic Partners at 314-766-4578 or email at sales@ergonomic partners.com

Custom Lift Assist for Large Pump Inspection

Many companies need to inspect their parts for quality but how about a 1200# pump. Well Ergonomic Partners was asked to design and build a custom lifting device to rotate the customer's parts in all axes so they could check the parts for manufacturing defects and further assemble parts on the pump. In addition the customer wanted to have optimum control of the pump.

Ergonomic Partners design integrated a 90 degree tilt function as well as continuous 360 degree rotation so the part could be inspected in all axes. To accomplish the control the customer wanted, Magnetek Flux Vector VG+ variable frequency control was supplied which provided the customer with 1000:1 control ratio. The part can be moved so slow it is barely noticeable to the eye. This type of control is widely used on the most severe and precise hoisting applications in aerospace, steel fabrication, nuclear facilities, clam shell and bucket cranes. The unit is controlled with a Magnetek 3 speed SPB2 pushbutton station.

A full video of the custom lifting device can be seen at http://www.ergonomicpartners.com/video/Pump-Inspection-Inverter.wmv