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Crane control systems are changing – and changing much faster than the cranes they control. Julian Champkin reports.
Cranes are big and robust – and generally expensive – pieces of equipment. Being largely made of steel they can be expected to last a long time. With the systems that control them, though, it is quite otherwise. Digital technology has made huge strides in the last decade – even in the last couple of years; a crane that was state-of- the-art when it was installed even five years ago – let alone a decade ago – is now well outmoded in the way that it is operated. Large process cranes were
typically installed with cabs mounted high on the bridge, where the operator sat isolated and lonely and perhaps cramped and little shielded from weather. Today spacious and comfortable glass-panelled control rooms overlook the area of operation, and cameras capture close-up views of the hook, the load, the destination, and everything in between, from whatever angle and at whatever magnification that is wanted. Indeed, even the control- room is becoming obsolescent: Demag Crane & Components' ROS (Remote Operating Station) system does away with it altogether and lets the operator do his job from an office, from another building, or even from home, while screens show him what is happening at the end of the crane.
36 CRANES TODAY Demag’s ROS
system can operate a crane from a living room
It is as true for small machines
as it is for the largest. Pendant controls were standard, and in many applications still are, for light-capacity industrial overhead lifting systems. “But radio control is now just as reliable, no more expensive, and much, much safer,” says Michael Ainsworth, sales and marketing director of Irugasa,
which has been distributing and installing remote controls for 20 years.
“If the operator doesn’t have to hold the pendant he can stay much further away from the load. And he can move around to the other side of it, to get a better view. It is more efficient, it is more economical, above all it is very much safer.”
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