The TRUscan rope testing system is a revolution in rope monitoring

FAROtune is an evaluation tool originally developed for selecting the optimum rope for an installation in terms of total cost of ownership. Fatzer started developing the tool eight years ago. In the meantime, FAROtune has matured and now has greatly expanded capabilities. On the basis of installation and operating data, FAROtune can perform the calculations needed to predict rope service life. It can also be used to specify the splice renewal date. FAROtune is a pure engineering solution (software). In combination with TRUscan, it guarantees operators maximum availability of their Fatzer ropes at a known total cost of ownership.

Matthias Stacher, Regional Sales Manager Latin America, describes the benefits for customers as follows: “With FAROtune we can provide a cost analysis for various types of ropes under the same conditions based on the operating data. That gives us the results for our ‘basic’ Stabilo haul rope, for example, compared with our high-performance Compacta and our long-life Performa rope. And customers also see how often the various rope types will need to be re-spliced and what they can expect in terms of service life. This gives them a sound basis for decision making.” In South America, Fatzer always uses FAROtune, according to Matthias Stacher, with the result that Fatzer’s Performa rope is chosen in almost all cases. The Performa rope construction, as is well known in the industry, was developed with the aim of eliminating strand-induced vibrations in haul ropes and carrying-hauling ropes. This is done by incorporating plastic sections between the strands. These sections almost completely fill out the surrounding circumferential area, separating the individual strands and stabilizing them in their respective positions. Thanks to the almost cylindrical outer surface of these ropes, they run practically silently and without vibrations over the rope sheaves and round the bullwheels. They are above all the rope of choice on installations with high transport capacities – and wherever vibrations and noise would impair the quality of the ride and well-being of passengers, residents, and passers-by.

TRUscan in South and Latin America

In the case of urban ropeways in particular, with their long daily and annual hours of operation compared with mountain installations, constant monitoring of the state of the rope is of exceptional importance. In keeping with the principle of predictive maintenance, the required work on the rope must be precisely scheduled in order to minimize disruptions to public services. So it is not surprising that numerous urban ropeways in South and Latin America are already equipped with TRUscan (see table). In these locations there is another reason why TRUscan makes such good sense, and that is the frequency of lightning strikes there, which obviously pose a serious risk for the integrity of the haul ropes. TRUscan’s high working speed – compared to other systems – of 6.0 m/s makes it is possible, after a night of intensive lightning activity, for example, to quickly inspect the rope for possible lightning strikes before restarting operations in the morning.