A grab overhead crane is an overhead lifting machine equipped with a grab bucket. It is widely used in ports, docks, station freight yards, mines, and other places for loading various bulk cargoes, round logs, minerals, coal, sand and gravel, earth and rock, etc.
Current Working Modes
Its current working modes are remote fully automatic, remote semi-automatic, remote manual, on-board semi-automatic, on-board manual, and remote control mode.
The application of intelligent and automated technologies in grab overhead cranes is of great significance for improving the efficiency and safety of lifting operations. The introduction of intelligent technology can not only effectively enhance the operational efficiency of grab overhead cranes but also reduce errors caused by manual operation, thereby ensuring the safety and reliability of the operation process.
In practical applications of intelligent control technology on grab overhead cranes, the system intelligently identifies material density and grabs the maximum amount of materials without overloading, which in turn improves loading and unloading efficiency and extends the service life of overhead cranes. In addition, the system enables the automatic opening and closing of the grab bucket with simple operations, reducing the labor intensity of operators and shortening the cycle of grab bucket operations.
The automatic control system intelligently records the weight of the grab bucket each time and adjusts the torque of the supporting rope to control the grabbing capacity when the bucket is closed, ensuring that the material grabbed each time is close to the rated load. This not only improves the working efficiency of the crane but also effectively addresses potential safety hazards such as unbalanced stress in crane applications.
By utilizing advanced intelligent controller technology, a complete set of control systems for unmanned overhead crane operation, real-time parameter monitoring, and intelligent manufacturing is established. The system scans the shape of the stockpile in the yard in real time, automatically identifies the stockpile, generates 3D simulated stockpile data, and optimizes the grabbing scheme automatically, realizing full automation in the processes of material digging, feeding, and raking.
The key technology enabling the unmanned operation system of grab overhead cranes is the 3D Stock Pile Modeling System. It acquires data by combining fixed and mobile radars: fixed radars can measure most areas, while mobile radars supplement detailed data for specific regions.
Also known as the 3D Stock Yard Shape Modeling System, it deploys laser radars on overhead traveling cranes, material inlets and outlets. Edge computers analyze and calculate a large amount of basic data to finally generate a 3D stock pile model. Through pre-set zoning and grading processing of the system, the travel path planning and stock pile planning of overhead traveling cranes are optimized compared with manual operation. The entire stock yard pile is divided into three major areas: the feeding area, storage area and discharging area, which effectively solves the problems of chaotic stock piles in the yard and low production operation efficiency.
1. Optimized control of overhead traveling crane operation process: Coordinates production, truck unloading, site leveling and other work, intelligently adjusts work priorities, plans travel paths rationally, improves work efficiency and shortens the travel distance of overhead traveling cranes. The system can set priorities according to signals such as material consumption, downstream equipment operation and flow rate, and issue instructions automatically to realize full automatic operation of the system. Meanwhile, the instruction system is equipped with a manual input interface, including material type, operation type (feeding/transferring/discharging) and required quantity (cycle operation times/weight). Each material pool in the joint stock yard is divided into three areas: feeding area, storage area and discharging area.
2. Materials enter the feeding area through material inlets (truck inlets or belt inlets).
3. According to the material level of the discharging bin, the system arranges the traveling crane to discharge materials irregularly to ensure the material level of the discharging bin, meet the requirements of continuous production and prevent abnormal situations such as material breakage.
4. Materials are transferred from the feeding area or storage area to the designated position in the storage area. High and low material levels are set for the feeding area: when the material level is higher than the high level, feeding is stopped and materials are transferred from the feeding inlet; when the material level is lower than the low level, feeding is allowed and the traveling crane is prohibited from transferring materials from the feeding inlet.
5. Coordinated optimized control of traveling cranes: When the production task is heavy, two overhead traveling cranes work collaboratively with optimized task allocation and operation area division to avoid task conflicts between the two overhead cranes. When the task load is light, the batching in the subsequent planned tasks can be transferred to the vicinity of the discharging outlet in advance, facilitating faster batching in case of emergency tasks.
6. Proportionate material grabbing: Grabs materials in a matched manner according to the grade and proportion requirements of raw materials to ensure the stability of raw material properties.
7. Unloading management: Identifies truck unloading outlets and controls the access control system to open and close the rolling shutter doors.
8. Intelligent fault analysis: Analyzes faults in combination with the status of yard equipment.
9. Safety management: Combines with the intelligent monitoring system and safety monitoring equipment to set no-lifting areas automatically or manually and designate safe paths automatically, managing the production safety and equipment safety of the stock yard.
10. Material inventory calculation: Calculates the volume and weight of materials according to the material height for easy inventory taking.
11. Report, alarm and data recording: Records data such as operation processes and fault alarms for easy inquiry.
The intelligent system of grab overhead crane significantly improves production efficiency and production safety. However, due to its complex structure, it requires professional technicians for maintenance. Manual operation of grab overhead cranes is prone to collision accidents with high risk coefficients, and also leads to high labor and equipment costs. If you have any inquiries, please feel free to contact us.
