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R Gigasense Crane Safety Monitor.
makes it easier for example to train staff, or to analyse efficiencies in operation.” Typical applications, he says, would be in bulk material cranes, waste recycling, or feeding of incineration lines. “It can be a virtual crane cab for cranes that operate in unfavourable ambient conditions. “Experience has shown that this new
type of remote crane control not only increases crane productivity and reduces costs. Cranes operated by ROS also operate with a very high level of safety and low risk of damage because the operator always has the best view of the process and can work in an ergonomic and comfortable environment.” Sway control and anti-collision devices
are not confined to the fairly light loads typical of the automotive industry. In heavy industry they are if anything more vital. Stefan Dahlman manages the international sales of Swedish manufacturer Gigasense. “We normally work within the heavy duty industry; our products are developed to meet conditions when it is hot and dirty” he says. That is where the safety requirements, like the environments, are extreme. “We are talking of loads of 300 or 400 metric tonnes – full buckets of molten metal for example; so very high levels of safety are required. “Laser distance-sensors can work in
such environments, but they need frequent maintenance and in these situations reliability is everything. A shut-down in a steel plant in Europe can easily cost €100,000 euros an hour. In the US I am told it can be ten times that amount. So operators require absolute reliability. “We have a microwave anti-collision
system that works in these very dirty environments, and it is maintenance-free. Also, it has a safety feature that many competing systems lack. The unit on one crane sends out, say a 10Ghz signal – the frequency varies in different countries. “Most systems simply listen to the echo from the other crane to work out how far
34 | November 2021 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
away it is. But the echo could be from any metallic object that happens to be in the way, so you cannot be certain that the distance you are measuring is actually the crane-to-crane one,” adds Dahlman. “In the Gigasense system a unit on the second crane modulates the echo with 16 kHz, then the first unit recognizes the signal as a “fingerprint echo”. That way you can be sure that it is actually the signal from that second unit, not a stray reflection, that the first unit is hearing.” Gigasense also makes overload
protection systems. for its customers. “The sensor can be a wire rope mounted
transmitter that works by measuring the deflection of the rope as it straightens under load; they are very easy to fit, installation time is also important for our
customers,” explains Dahlman, “We strive to make sure our products plug & play as much as possible..” The overload protection system can be
linked to an angle-measuring sensor, and in that way you can combine the load sensor and the angle sensor, in this way, a side pull protection function is achieved to protect the crane from wire rope wear. “All these devices work automatically, in the background; the aim is to ease the operator’s task, not to overburden him with information. “The overload protection system will
stop the lifting action of the crane if it is overloaded, or the anti-collision system will slow the crane if it gets near the opposite crane or wall, and then stop it if it gets too close,” he says. ●
S Gigasense Boom Angle Control.
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