Description

More and more, a rope is regarded as a machine, for example Machine Directive (2006) of the European Union requires ropes used in many lifting applications to have the CE mark. From a technical point of view ropes particularly multi strand multi layer wire ropes and fibre ropes are much more complicated than what people of other disciplines may think. These ropes are probably less understood technically than many parts of a passenger car. To make a good quality rope one must combine constructional design of the rope, selection and optimisation of all rope constitutes including axial and non-axial load bearing components besides manufacturing process and equipment. To ensure a safe and satisfactory service life, rope condition must be monitored and maintained and the other mechanical/electrical engineering systems (winches, pulleys, sheaves, etc.) that work with ropes must be designed by taking ropes into consideration. In many cases ropes must be terminated properly.