CONTROLS | TECHNOLOGY REPORT


R Konecranes Agilon digital system, in use by a customer in Finland.


crane or with the push of a button from an operator in a semi-automated system. Crane controls today can also integrate with the business systems of the entire factory, linked in with the supply chain, the stock inventory, the customer demand data, and so on. For example, the crane could ‘know’ from that data how many units to deliver to the red paint shop and how many to the blue and could work out the most efficient order or route of doing it. How far you go down that road depends a lot on what areas is the most critical at the time of investment. The best part about automating a crane is that you do not have to do it all at once. You can budget and plan out different modifications and upgrades over months, quarterly, or years. “Installing this technology is getting a lot


easier and simpler. It is getting to the point where the customer or end user can set it all up themselves. On some of the newer automation systems, there is a predefined


32 | November 2021 | www.hoistmagazine.com


logic on your crane, and you log into it with your cell phone or tablet and set it all up remotely. So, for example, if you have an office in the middle of the facility floor, you can use your phone to tell the crane ‘Here are the four corners of this office, don’t ever go there’. And it is easy to alter if you change your plant floor layout as well. “If you have been in the industry for two


or three decades you may find it amazing that you can set up and maintain a crane from your phone. If you are a 20-something just entering the industry, you grew up with smartphones and video games and it would blow your mind if you couldn’t log in to the crane from your phone. This generational shift helps with adopting the technology, and it helps with attracting young people to the crane industry as well, which is nice.,” adds Cummins. “Magnetek has a product called Intelli- Connect which does exactly that. It uses a Wi-Fi signal on the variable-frequency


drive of your crane, which is usually 20 to 100 feet up in the air, and you can log into it with your phone or tablet and monitor or configure your drives from down on the floor. So, if you need to change anything, you don’t have to climb up there, and you don’t have to take your crane out of commission just to change one parameter – which is the main premise of Intelli- Connect. “Another important safety control is


vertical lift or off-centre pick prevention. If the hook is not directly above the load when it starts to lift, it will drag the load sideways along the ground, which will cause it to swing dangerously. Again, this development came from the automotive industry. They came to us and said ‘Hey, a lot of people are being injured every year because they’re lifting these heavy dyes for stamping car parts, and they lift them at an angle because they’re in a hurry or cannot align the hook and the load.


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