An air winch is powered by compressed air and used in heavy-duty manufacturing facilities for lifting and moving large parts. It creates lifting force through reduction gears, but produces noise and condensation. It comes in different sizes and can be cost-effective in larger manufacturing infrastructure.
An air winch is an electric winch that is powered by compressed air instead of electricity. Using an air line, air pressure is supplied by an air compressor to the air winch drive motor. When activated, the air hoist’s drive mechanism or drive motor powers the cable drum, effectively raising or lowering the attached load. The typical air winch creates lifting force through a series of reduction gears in the winch drive housing. This allows air to power the drive mechanism at a high speed, while the final drive gear ratio creates a powerful, albeit slow, cable lift and lower speed.
Commonly found in manufacturing facilities, the air hoist is a useful component in heavy-duty manufacturing facilities. Used to lift and move large parts and assemblies from one job site to another as required by the assembly process, an air winch provides the required lifting power without using excess electricity. The air power used in winch operation is typically already compressed and supplied by a compressed air system already in use for other tasks. One drawback to using an air winch over a similarly sized electric winch is the additional noise the air device makes throughout the job site when it is activated.
Unlike an electric winch, the pneumatic version makes a very high-pitched whistling noise when air passes through the winch motor-drive mechanism. This can also produce condensation, abundant in most compressed air systems, which can cause water to drip onto objects under the winch. Placing large water filters and traps in the air line leading to the winch will help control this dripping condition. Oil sprayers are also needed in the overhead line to prevent rust and corrosion within the winch drive motor.
An air winch can be used for small lifting tasks as well as heavier tasks, and winches come in many different sizes, from the largest winch systems for overhead trolleys to small workstation-sized units used by a single employee. to move smaller components along the assembly line. While not as cost-effective as the electric winch in smaller home shop applications, the typical pneumatic winch scales easily into the larger manufacturing infrastructure. Leveraging compressed air that is already in use throughout the plant, the air winch can often cost no more to operate than a manual winch in many applications.
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