Although standard suspension control devices are still attached to many industrial cranes, remote control devices have become ubiquitous in almost every industry. Simon Hastro reports.

Crane control systems have always facilitated the remote operation of cranes, whether they are pendants connected to the crane by cables, or wireless control systems.

When cranes or cranes must be controlled from a greater distance, wireless control is useful in industrial plants, which may be due to safety reasons or environmental conditions, such as temperature or air pollution, or if the structure of the building does not allow safe operation In the case of tethered control, transport objects overhead.

Oliver Meister, Marketing Manager of HBC Radiomatic, said: “In general, the wireless control of crane systems has become a standard in almost all industries for many years. As a global technology leader, we continue to develop our radio system and our service range, so we Always be able to provide our customers with future-oriented products with the most advanced technology while ensuring maximum system availability. A good example is the continuous expansion of our product portfolio in available fieldbuses and serial interfaces.

In this way, we can ensure that our control system is optimally adapted to the latest crane technology. "

This does not mean that pendants are a thing of the past: they still provide simple, ergonomic and easily transmitted control commands such as "up", "down", "left", "right" and "stop". The simplest pendant is only used for up and down movement, while other models also allow lateral movement.

The enclosure type of the pendant controller may be different, such as IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, oil and acid resistance.

Other special enclosures contain seals sold as explosion-proof, which is particularly important for cranes and cranes in the petroleum, heavy metal, and mining industries. Some pendants can also be used as primary and secondary operations. This provides the possibility of directional movement at different speeds. When changing between the different speeds of the horizontal and vertical control commands, the two-level control usually has tactile feedback.

Moreno Mozzati, Sales Area Manager of Coel Industrial Solutions, said: "Our suspended workstation series X-Touch has now obtained CLASS I DIV 1 certification for the North American market and the development of Zone 1 and 21 ATEX IECEX standards." in Italy.

"The new X-Touch series button station for auxiliary control incorporates Coel's long-term experience in manufacturing electromechanical components. All materials in direct contact with the environment can resist atmospheric factors, oil, temperature changes and shock. X-Touch is designed to Ensure that it is completely dust-proof and waterproof, and meets the IP65 protection level."

"X-Touch button station offers 5 different sizes, ranging from 4 to 16 button devices, each type can be installed with various controls and switches. All shells are made of aluminum, and the switches have silver alloy self-cleaning sliding Contacts."

But for some installations, it is not enough to control the elevator through the direction buttons; in the era of interconnection and Industry 4.0, the control system can receive data from the hook and send commands to the crane. We talked to three companies about the various remote systems available: HBC-Radiomatic, Columbus McKinnon and Cervis.

Peter Stipan, Global Director of Automation at Crane Solutions Group (part of Columbus McKinnon) said: “Automation, analysis and diagnostic systems are becoming more and more popular as factories are looking for more ways to increase productivity and increase operational safety. Through evaluation The measurement data continuously monitored by our crane control solution can improve equipment performance and productivity.

"Semi-automatic and fully automatic systems provide precise positioning capabilities, repetitive motions, and built-in safety features to prevent operator injury and equipment damage. Especially now, with Covid-19, it is possible to report information to remote areas and limit communication between operators. Contact to maintain social distancing is a growing trend in many of our automation projects.

"Data collection from Magnetek AC and DC motor control can be automatically collected through the DataLogger Series 4 Drive Support Tool (DLS4). DataLogger monitors the performance of more than 50 items, such as hours, voltage, current, etc. Data viewing, including operation, alarm and The fault history, drive parameters and drive trend data can be scrolled through the LCD display or connected to a PC for viewing. The drive trend data is compatible with the PC, and graphical data is generated to help check the drive's operating status."

Dan Beilfuss, Sales Director, Crane Solutions Group Americas, said: “Columbus McKinnon continues to find ways to solve customer challenges and areas where we can improve equipment operations and provide crane information that customers want. This includes capturing and tracking data and status information, which can Enable predictive maintenance, speed up repair time, and facilitate fault detection.

"As part of our upcoming development work, Magnetek Intelli-Connect diagnostics and analysis will be added to the company's Intelli-Crane automation solution series.

Diagnostic solutions make programming, maintenance, monitoring and troubleshooting of the entire system (from controls to gearboxes) fast and simple. Information can be transmitted to laptops, smartphones, tablets or human machine interfaces (HMI) in real time to help manage devices 24/7 from any location. System analysis and diagnosis, including the transfer of information such as positioning and movement, equipment status, and energy usage, help simplify maintenance, troubleshooting, and operations. "

Speaking of remote data collection options, Kevin Hadley, Cervis’s sales, service, maintenance engineering and marketing director said: “We do provide such products in engineering systems, but not standard packaging, which means that when applications require data collection and demonstration At the time, we have the tools to meet the requirements. Usually, the data is captured through analog or digital input or possibly through data bus monitoring. Once the data is collected, we can present it to the customer in various ways.

"We do this with onboard memory retention that requires user access and deletion. In addition, we also wirelessly offload data to a central data collection point for user access. In addition, we have developed a dedicated data transmission WiFi and Bluetooth radios. These radio links are separate from our crane control radio links and provide users with the potential to access data via portable electronic devices or WiFi links."

As with all other areas of the industry, trading conditions have been challenging, but every company we interviewed has a positive outlook.

"The U.S. market has been full of challenges this year, mainly due to Covid-19. While important companies are investing, capital expenditures in many industries have been delayed or shelved. As more and more states return to work, medicine and food Activity levels for beverages and consumer staples have begun to pick up. Entertainment-related businesses and consumer discretionary products are still weak,” said Stipan of Crane Solutions Group.

"The sales performance in 2020 is better in some areas than in others. We did not experience regional acceleration or lag like the general industry lags we have seen. This lag bottomed out in midsummer and has been steadily rising since then. Of course, capital expenditures Limited, but the service industry has been very active,” added Hadley from Cervis.

In particular, when it comes to new developments in the industry, including recently launched products and upcoming products, each company has proven that the market is hardly stagnant. Stipan said: "We recently released two products that enhance the safe lifting and movement of cranes and cranes.

The Magnetek Intelli-Protect system is a pre-packaged no-fly zone system that prevents cranes from hitting obstacles in the working cabin.

Another new automation solution is the Magnetek Intelli-Lift system, which can identify and prevent the use of cranes to pick up loads eccentrically. This safety function reminds the operator that the load is not directly under the crane and prevents it from lifting off-center loads.

This prevents the load from swinging immediately after leaving the ground, thereby reducing personal injury and equipment damage.

"MagnePulse Digital Magnet Control (DMC) Series 2 combines advanced safety and performance features in an easy-to-use control that can effectively control DC lifting magnets and provide system monitoring and control that can be easily accessed from anywhere in the facility. Diagnostic information. Digital control of magnet demagnetization current enables the magnet to clean the load faster and more consistently, helping to increase facility throughput.

"The OmniBeam function allows customers to achieve any combination of up to ten magnets to precisely match each load requirement.

Over-temperature protection uses the resistance of a magnet to determine its temperature, preventing damage to the magnet and increasing life expectancy. In addition, efficient energy use can reduce magnet heating by up to 50%, thereby minimizing the need to replace magnets and reducing downtime.

“MagnePulse is ideal for operating industrial lifting magnets in heavy-duty applications. The new diagnostic function of MagnePulse DMC Series 2 improves the communication between the drive and the operator and simplifies the process of accessing the drive and its performance data. Immediate access to critical equipment and System information helps improve the safety, uptime and productivity of the facility."

Meister from HBC-radiomatic said: “HBC now has their latest spectrum transmitter with a newly developed 5-inch vivid color display. The larger display allows clear and well-structured arrangement of more valuable information, and provides Contains common images and symbols for custom screen configurations. In addition to important error messages and warnings, the high-resolution screen ensures that the most diverse notifications and data from the machine, such as engine speed, are presented in an attractive and configurable way , Oil pressure and load weight.

The extended range of soft keys combined with the radio iCON navigation controls allows easy and intuitive operation of the display screen, which can also be configured and optimized to meet the exact needs of the operator.

"Another innovation of HBC is the radio photon real-time camera assistance, which transmits real-time video images to a radio-controlled color display. With this clever feature, even in areas with limited vision or blind spots, the operator can see clearly To machines and work environments. HBC has recently expanded their Radiant Photonics product portfolio with new features, including two switchable camera options and mobile solutions for portable cameras."

Hadley of Cervis mentioned the company’s OP-SYNC operator to synchronize tandem crane control: “Generally speaking, when the same operator needs two cranes to operate at the same time, OP-SYNC is used.

The operator selects the crane and communication control to be used in series, and reports the confirmation of RF integrity to the operator.

"From a safety point of view, this means that if the radio frequency signal of one of the cranes is interrupted, its main line contactor will open and start to stop operation. At this time, the second crane controlled in series will also respond to the stop condition. Traditional series The system does not have this built-in safety function, and in a series scenario, one system may stop operating while the other system will continue to operate, thereby affecting the load.

"There is nothing to remind the operator that one crane is stopping while the other is running at full speed. If the operator is not paying attention to the movement, one can predict what will happen to the load (compression or extension) between the cranes. It is important to pay attention, This is done without the need for expensive auxiliary systems that may require licensed radio frequencies-this is an embedded function of the Warrior Tandem system."

When discussing Cervis's HHMS transmitter, Hadley added: "This is one of the most innovative developments in the crane and crane handheld device market over the years.

Specifically, it is a button that can provide redundant two-step, three-step, arbitrary step and continuously variable speed commands. The two-step version of the switch provides an unparalleled level of redundancy because when commanding the first and second steps, the first and second steps are completely redundant, using four dedicated contacts.

"The three-step version provides redundant switch closure for the first step, with additional second and third steps. We are using arbitrary step and stepless sensory changes to provide display for multistep and stepless drive control. Improved variable speed control. This is a 100% non-contact switch. Because there are no wearable switch contacts, it has an unparalleled service life. The switch 5M drive test did not fail."  

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