Extend the Life of Your Lifting Equipment with Inspection Programs

Author: Asmita Lokhande

The article mentions the importance of crane inspection and maintenance programs to extend the life of the equipment. There are lots of tests done by experts in the industry, find the best entity by evaluating their services and expertise.

Professional preventive maintenance and inspection programs are not a secret. It is quite obvious to schedule regular maintenance and care of lifting equipment. In order to have a safe and reliable performance from your lifting equipment, you need to do every possible thing to avoid a mechanical failure.

If you avoid going for regular inspection and maintenance to save your time and money, some day you will have to face severe damages and loss and that too without any prior warning signs. It’s better to steer clear of such misfortune by:

-Investing in quality products

-Following safe usage instructions

-Seeking professional assistance for inspection

From a safety standpoint, it is essential to adhere to scheduled maintenance programs, besides if you want to make most out of your investments, professional inspections can help you extend the life of your expensive equipment.

Types of Inspections

There are three categories of crane inspection that apply to lots of other lifting equipment, plants, and machinery. The categories are initial, periodic and frequent inspections. Moreover, there are destructive and non-destructive inspections, along with proof load testing.

The most important inspections to be undertaken to improve the lifetime of your equipment are listed below have a look:

Magnetic Particle Testing

A well-established method to detect flaws and cracks in welds made from the ferrous material is the Magnetic Particle Testing. It is often incorporated in proof load and routing overload testing of lifting equipment and cranes. MPI is a critical inspection program so make sure to hire experts from a dedicated company.

Load Testing

Normal crane inspection can be done with load testing. In order to establish the integrity of the crane, a load of suitable proportions is applied. Besides, any kind of lifting gear can also be checked with the help of this testing method.

Eddy Current Testing

The test is similar to MPI testing and used to detect flaws. The best part about Eddy Current testing is that there is no need to remove the surface preparation for inspection, which indeed preserves warranties on coatings while still checking the critical welds.

Thickness Gauging

Corrosion can drastically shorten the life of equipment which is why lots of companies are going for Thickness Gauging. This test is an advance method to externally test the internal corrosion. Ideal for lots of equipment like pressure cylinders, tanks, and pipe work, and many more, the technique is suitable for checking equipment without opening them. The most convenient part of this inspection is that you don’t need to remove the surface preparation.

Dye Penetrant Testing

With the method of Dye Penetrant testing, it is easy to detect the surface flaws like cracks. The method is done by using a chemical ink and a developer and best suited for profiled surfaces such as gear teeth.

Welding Inspection

The fusion of metals used in welding makes welding inspection a critical test, and it is always advised to have a qualified weld with the assistance of certified welding inspection personnel. Due to the varied parameters incorporated in modern day welding technology, a proper monitoring has become a greater challenge. So, make sure to seek help from certified, highly trained, experienced and qualified inspection professionals.

So, if you want to extend the life of your expensive investments, start evaluating the service providers to get the initial and periodic inspections done. Dutest is a reliable entity in the UAE offering inspection services for cranes, lifting equipment and lots of other machinery. You can rely on its expertise to meet the criteria for maintenance and inspection of your equipment.