Winding Rope Life and Safety on Incline Winders*

This paper addresses the broad issues governing the life and safety of the winding ropes in incline shafts. It focuses on the operating environment and in-service loading as well as peak loads that can arise and the risk of abnormal damage. Features of incline systems – primarily the ‘rope-way’ running down the incline – that present a harsher service environment for a winding rope compared to vertical winding are highlighted. The benefit of the incline in reducing the effective static weight of the rope and the loaded conveyance are well known. However the inherent disadvantages of the inertia loads constituting a higher fraction of the rope breaking strength than would be the case for a vertical winder are demonstrated by means of a full discussion of in-service dynamic loading.

Author: M.E. Greenway