DESIGN ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF CRANE PLATFORM BASE ON COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL SANDWICH PLATE

The demand has increased for various types of load carrying platforms and panels for various applications. Applications include various types of lifts, crane loading platforms, areal access platforms etc. The idea behind sandwich panel is to produce efficient panel to support the load of an object at minimum weight at reasonable cost. First we can reduce the weight of the material thereby reducing the cost of the material. However the cost of manufacturing may increase, thereby offsetting some part of the benefit which we have obtained by reduction of weight. Secondly, when we lift material by using platform, support structure carries the load of the platform in addition to the actual load on platform. This makes the support structure heavier and also requires heavier capacity of drive system thereby increasing overall cost. Or, if we use lighter platform then with same drive system and support system we can go for more actual load. This makes the design of such low weight panels is advantageous. A structural sandwich consists of two thin face sheets made from stiff and strong relatively mild steel material welded to a thick light weight material called core made up of same material. This construction has often used in lightweight applications such as aircrafts, marine applications and wind turbine blades.