Yan 7-96 Grip

POL-X West, Inc.

Engineering Services for the Transportation & Amusement Ride Industries

Yan 7-96 Detachable Chairlift Grip Design and Development

Yan 7-96 Grip

CAD Drawing

Following a series of failures on Yan detachable chairlifts, POL-X West developed and manufactured a grip which, although completely different in the way it develops gripping force compared to the old Yan grip, still operates in the same terminal mechanism.

This provides a functional and safe alternative for ski areas with Yan lifts. Rather than scrap the entire lift and build a new one, the new grip provides safe and code compliant operation while retaining virtually all of the original lift structures.

The design made extensive use of ALGOR Finite Element Analysis, as well as SOLIDWORKS 3-D Solid Modeling. Each part was designed and analyzed in order to maximize performance while keeping weight to a minimum.

The grip was also subjected to a thorough testing program including field tests of the component strains (using strain gauges) and gripping force. Various tests were also required by the Canadian authorities to verify resistance of the grip to being pulled off of the cable or sliding on the cable is adequate. All of these tests were passed successfully.