Winch crowd vs cylinder crowd are the most common systems to move the rotary table up and down the mast. Hence the description crowd cylinder system or winch crowd system. As with everything, there is no one size fits all and both options present advantages and disadvantages. Below, we will explain reasons for choosing any of these two systems:
Advantages of Cylinder Crowd System
Price
When it comes to price, the Cylinder crowd version is the most cost effective. Approximately 5 to 10 % cheaper depending on the brand.
Maintenance
The Cylinder crowd system requires significantly less maintenance than the winch system. The cylinder only requires some greasing, as part of the daily/weekly pre-start procedure. Whereas the winch, requires rope maintenance and oil replacement every 500 or 100o hours (depending on brand and amount of usage).
Also having a cylinder instead of a winch doesn’t require rope maintenance and/or replacement and allows for less things to go wrong with the machine.
Rig up/down procedure
Having no ropes through or on the mast, the cylinder has significantly less things to worry about. In some larger machines, the pin connecting the rotary with the cylinder piston is required to be removed. However, most times the piston rod stays connected with the rotary during transport.
Advantages of Winch Crowd System
Stroke
The winch crowd system has the ability to travel with the rotary through the entire length of the mast. Therefore, significantly more stroke of the rotary. While a cylinder crowd system has between 4 and 8 meters stroke, a winch crowd system has between 10 and 15 meters stroke.
Conversion to other technologies
Ability for easier conversion to other technologies. For instance CFA.
Crowd/pulling force.
On average the Winch crowd system has approximately 50 to 90% more pulling/pushing capacity.
Case driving
Having a winch crowd system allows for longer casing segments to be driven in the ground. Approx 6 to 8 meters long segments, whereas the cyclinder crowd system only allows for usually 3 metres long casings.
While it’s clear that both systems offer advantages and disadvantages, some machines, for instance the IMT A215 can be easily retrofitted at a later stage with both systems, without a large investment from the contractor.
TerraQuip offers both these proven and reliable systems on the IMT Drilling and Piling Rigs.
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