Friction hoist

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The most commonly used mine hoist globally

What is a friction hoist?

Friction hoists, also referred to as Koepe winders, serve a dual purpose: facilitating the transportation of materials, equipment, and personnel for both production and service operations. Their optimal range extends from depths of 150 to 2000 meters, with the most cost-effective performance observed within the 150 to 1800 meter depth range.

These hoists can be either tower-mounted or ground-mounted, offering versatility in deployment. Typically employing two to six ropes to bear the load, friction hoists operate on the principle of friction, with hoist ropes traversing the system without being stored on drums.

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Key features

  • Friction hoists require motor power only for the weight of the ore payload
  • The use of balance or tail ropes means that in skip/skip configurations, it’s only the weight of the ore payload itself that requires motor power as the rest of the system is in balance
  • As the friction hoist pulley does not have to store the entire rope or ropes on the pulley, the pulley diameter can be smaller for a friction hoist. Smaller pulley diameters mean lighter hoists with lower inertias – allowing for smaller motors and drive systems and less hazardous emergency braking efforts

Our offering

As a partner in complete mine hoist systems, ABB is perfectly equipped to supply the complete friction hoist scope from planning and design to commissioning and maintenance. Our offering includes all electrical and mechanical component as well as shaft equipment. 

A solution tailored to your needs

ABB’s in-house mechanical hoist design capability makes it possible to optimize hoist design between electrical and mechanical components in a most effective way. This mechanical capability makes ABB capable of designing every mechanical component for all types of mine hoists.

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ABB has been a leader in developing world-class hoisting solutions for over 130 years. Powered by electricity with the possibility to run off renewable energy sources, hoists are very much a future forward solution for enabling the sustainable transformation.

To date, ABB has delivered over 1 000 hoisting solutions globally. As the sole supplier of complete mine hoist systems, customers can benefit from low life cycle cost, high reliability and system availability, short project execution time, and a single source of supply for complete systems, including service and spare parts.
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