Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Gantry Cranes'

In this thesis a class of robust non-linear controllers for a gantry crane system are discussed. The gantry crane has three degrees of freedom, all of which are interrelated. These are the horizontal traverse of the cart, the vertical motion of the goods (i.e. rope length) and the swing angle made by the goods during the movement of the cart. The objective is to control all three degrees of freedom. This means achieving setpoint control for the cart and the rope length and cancellation of the swing oscillations. A mathematical model of the gantry crane system is developed using Lagrangian dynamics. In this thesis it is shown that a model of the gantry crane system can be represented as two sub models which are coupled by a term which includes the rope length as a parameter. The first system will consist of the cart and swing dynamics and the other system is the hoist dynamics. The mathematical model of these two systems will be derived independent of the other system. The model that is comprised of the two sub models is verified as an accurate model of a gantry crane system and it will be used to simulate the performance of the controllers using Matlab. For completeness a fully coupled mathematical model of the gantry crane system is also developed. A detailed design of a gain scheduled sliding mode controller is presented. This will guarantee the controller's robustness in the presence of uncertainties and bounded matched disturbances. This controller is developed to achieve cart setpoint and swing control while achieving rope length setpoint control. A non gain scheduled sliding mode controller is also developed to determine if the more complex gain scheduled sliding mode controller gives any significant improvement in performance. In the implementation of both sliding mode controllers, all system states must be available. In the real-time gantry crane system used in this thesis, the cart velocity and the swing angle velocity are not directly available from the system. They will be estimated using an alpha-beta state estimator. To overcome this limitation and provide a more practical solution an optimal output feedback model following controller is designed. It is demonstrated that by expressing the system and the model for which the system is to follow in a non-minimal state space representation, LQR techniques can be used to design the controller. This produces a dynamic controller that has a proper transfer function, and negates the need for the availability of all system states. This thesis presents an alternative method of solving the LQR problem by using a generic eigenvalue solution to solve the Riccati equation and thus determine the optimal feedback gains. In this thesis it is shown that by using a combination of sliding mode and H??? control techniques, a non-linear controller is achieved which is robust in the presence of a wide variety of uncertainties and disturbances. A supervisory controller is also described in this thesis. The supervisory control is made up of a feedforward and a feedback component. It is shown that the feedforward component is the crane operator's action, and the feedback component is a sliding mode controller which compensates as the system's output deviates from the desired trajectory because of the operator's inappropriate actions or external disturbances such as wind gusts and noise. All controllers are simulated using Matlab and implemented in real-time on a scale model of the gantry crane system using the program RTShell. The real-time results are compared against simulated results to determine the controller's performance in a real-time environment.

The main objective of this work is to design robust, fast, and practical controllers for gantry and tower cranes. The controllers are designed to transfer the load from point to point as fast as possible and, at the same time, the load swing is kept small during the transfer process and completely vanishes at the load destination. Moreover, variations of the system parameters, such as the cable length and the load weight, are also included. Practical considerations, such as the control action power, and the maximum acceleration and velocity, are taken into account. In addition, friction effects are included in the design using a friction-compensation technique. The designed controllers are based on two approaches. In the first approach, a gain-scheduling feedback controller is designed to move the load from point to point within one oscillation cycle without inducing large swings. The settling time of the system is taken to be equal to the period of oscillation of the load. This criterion enables calculation of the controller feedback gains for varying load weight and cable length. The position references for this controller are step functions. Moreover, the position and swing controllers are treated in a unified way. In the second approach, the transfer process and the swing control are separated in the controller design. This approach requires designing two controllers independently: an anti-swing controller and a tracking controller. The objective of the anti-swing controller is to reduce the load swing. The tracking controller is responsible for making the trolley follow a reference position trajectory. We use a PD-controller for tracking, while the anti-swing controller is designed using three different methods: (a) a classical PD controller, (b) two controllers based on a delayed-feedback technique, and (c) a fuzzy logic controller that maps the delayed-feedback controller performance. To validate the designed controllers, an experimental setup was built. Although the designed controllers work perfectly in the computer simulations, the experimental results are unacceptable due to the high friction in the system. This friction deteriorates the system response by introducing time delay, high steady-state error in the trolley and tower positions, and high residual load swings. To overcome friction in the tower-crane model, we estimate the friction, then we apply an opposite control action to cancel it. To estimate the friction force, we assume a mathematical model and estimate the model coefficients using an off-line identification technique using the method of least squares. With friction compensation, the experimental results are in good agreement with the computer simulations. The gain-scheduling controllers transfer the load smoothly without inducing an overshoot in the trolley position. Moreover, the load can be transferred in a time near to the optimal time with small swing angles during the transfer process. With full-state feedback, the crane can reach any position in the working environment without exceeding the system power capability by controlling the forward gain in the feedback loop. For large distances, we have to decrease this gain, which in turn slows the transfer process. Therefore, this approach is more suitable for short distances. The tracking-anti-swing control approach is usually associated with overshoots in the translational and rotational motions. These overshoots increase with an increase in the maximum acceleration of the trajectories . The transfer time is longer than that obtained with the first approach. However, the crane can follow any trajectory, which makes the controller cope with obstacles in the working environment. Also, we do not need to recalculate the feedback gains for each transfer distance as in the gain-scheduling feedback controller.
Ph. D.

This thesis presents an analysis of the kinematics of a mobile rubber tyred gantry crane (RTG Crane), as typically used for container handling operations, for the ultimate purposes of research into automation. Dynamical models are proposed for the crane based on a simplification of the structure into the gantry frame, the overhead trolley, and the cable mounted spreader slung below the trolley. The underlying trolley/spreader cabling geometry for commonly encountered designs has been analyzed, and novel mathematical relationships have been established for the first time. Full three dimensional motion is encompassed in the dynamical equations of motion, and various movement scenarios are examined. As an adjunct to the geometrical modelling a new phenomenon, described herein as geometrical extension, is defined in its role as an inherent anti-sway property in multi-cabled spreader suspension systems. The phenomenon is explained and investigated using pure geometry and a numerical method to assess its effect in practise. The final section of the thesis uses the single and multi-cable dynamics to evolve an accurate, and generic, fuzzy logic control and simulation for the RTG machine. Various performance scenarios are highlighted for typical freight manoeuvres. This work is now ready for experimental testing and evaluation in an allied project, thus the remit for the theoretical work of this thesis has been completed.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2008.
Thesis Advisor(s): Royset, Johannes O. "March 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on May 5, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-40). Also available in print.

Cranes are increasingly used in transportation and construction. increasing demand and faster requirements necessitate better and more efficient controllers to guarantee fast turn-around time and to meet safety requirements. Container cranes are used extensively in ship-to-port and port-to-ship transfer operations. In this work, we will extend the recently developed delayed position feedback controller to container cranes. In contrast with traditional work, which models a crane as a simple pendulum consisting of a hoisting cable and a lumped mass at its end, we have modeled the crane as a four-bar mechanism. The actual configuration of the hoisting mechanism is significantly different from a simple pendulum. It consists typically of a set of four hoisting cables attached to four different points on the trolley and to four points on a spreader bar. The spreader bar is used to lift the containers. Therefore, the dynamics of hoisting assemblies of large container cranes are different from that of a simple pendulum. We found that a controller which treats the system as a four-bar mechanism has an improved response. We developed a controller to meet the following requirements: traverse an 80-ton payload 50 m in 21.5 s, including raising the payload 15 m at the beginning and lowering the payload 15 m at the end of motion, while reducing the sway to 50 mm within 5.0 s at the end of the transfer maneuver. The performance of the controller has been demonstrated theoretically using numerical simulation. Moreover, the performance of the controller has been demonstrated experimentally using a 1/10th scale model. For the 1/10th scale model, the requirements translate into: traverse an 80 kg payload 5 m in 6.8 s, including raising 1.5 m at the beginning and lowering 1.5 m at the end of motion, while reducing the sway to 5 mm in under 1.6 s. The experiments validated the controller.
Master of Science

Rotary Cranes (Tower Cranes) are common industrial structures that are used in building construction, factories, and harbors. These cranes are usually operated manually. With the size of these cranes becoming larger and the motion expected to be faster, the process of controlling them became dicult without using automatic control methods. In general, the movement of cranes has no prescribed path. Cranes have to be run under dierent operating conditions, which makes closed-loop control preferable. In this work, two types of controllers are studied: fuzzy logic and time-delayed position feedback controllers. The fuzzy logic controller is introduced first with the idea of split-horizon; that is, to use some fuzzy engines for tracking position and others for damping load oscillations. Then the time-delayed position feedback method is applied. Finally, an attempt to combine these two controllers into a hybrid controller is introduced. Computer simulations are used to verify the performance of these controllers. An experimental setup was built on which the time-delayed position feedback controller was tested. The results showed good performance.
Master of Science

Thesis (MScEng (Civil Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electric driven overhead travelling bridge cranes (EOHTC) form a vital part of industrial plants where heavy objects require moving. Overhead travelling cranes aid in production by allowing an uninterrupted work process on the ground while heavy loads are moved to their required locations. Various factors need consideration in determining the loads induced by an EOHTC on its support structure. In order to design such a support structure, the designer must understand and take into account the various loads that the support structure will be subject to during its lifetime. The procedure for determining the loads induced by the EOHTC on its support structure is laid out in the SANS 10160-6:2010 code of practice. This document was published in June 2010 and as a result very few worked examples exist to test the coherence of the procedure. This thesis presents an investigation into the procedure for determining the actions induced by overhead travelling bridge cranes adopted in the SANS 10160-6:2010 code of practice. The investigation was conducted by developing a software application to automatically determine the necessary crane actions needed for the design of the crane support structure, given certain input parameters. The motivation behind this was to have a tool that can calculate the crane induced loads automatically. And by developing such a tool the procedure given in the code of practice is better understood. The Java programming language was used to code the calculations with an object oriented programming approach (OOP). NetBeans, the integrated development environment for developing with Java was used to generate the required graphical user interface of the application. In addition, a Microsoft Excel calculation sheet was also developed for the purpose of comparison and verification. Whilst developing the software application, it was found that the model for the acceleration or deceleration of the crane was specific for four wheel cranes only. This model was then extended to accommodate eight and sixteen wheel cranes and incorporated into the algorithm architecture of the application. The application was successfully completed and verified using benchmarked examples.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elektriese oorhoofse brugkrane vorm ‘n belangrike deel van baie nywerheidsprosesse, waar dit gebruik word om swaar laste in die nywerheidsaanleg te verskuif. Oorhoofse brugkrane voeg waarde by die produksie lyn deur te sorg dat die werksproses op die grond onversteurd voortgaan terwyl swaar laste na hul vereiste posisies verskuif word. Verskillende faktore moet in ag geneem word om die nodige kraanlaste te bepaal. Hierdie laste word benodig om die kraan se ondersteuningstruktuur te ontwerp. Die ontwerper moet die nodige kundigheid hê en moet ook die verskeie laste in ag neem wat die ondersteuningstruktuur gedurende sy leeftyd sal dra. SANS 10160-6:2010 verskaf riglyne vir die bepaling van die laste wat deur oorhoofse brugkrane uitgeoefen word. Hierdie dokument is in Junie 2010 gepubliseer dus bestaan daar min uitgewerkte voorbeelde om die korrektheid van die riglyne te toets en toepassing te demonstreer. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die riglyne vir die bepaling van oorhoofse brugkraan aksies soos uiteengesit in die SANS 10160-6:2010. Die navorsing is uitgevoer deur middel van die ontwikkeling van ‘n sagteware toepassing wat die nodige oorhoofse brugkraanlaste automaties bepaal, gegee sekere invoer waardes. Die rede hiervoor was om ‘n hulpmiddel te ontwikkel vir die outomatiese bepaling van oorhoofse brugkraan. Deur die bogenoemde hulpmiddel te ontwikkel word die riglyne, soos gegee in die kode beter verstaan. Java is gebruik as programmeringstaal waar die objek geörienteerde programeringstyl toegepas was. Die geintegreerde ontwikkelingsomgewing vir ontwikkeling met Java, naamlik NetBeans is gebruik om die nodige gebruikers koppelvlak op te bou. ‘n Microsoft Excel sigblad is ook ontwikkel vir kontrolerings doeleindes. Gedurende die ontwikkeling van die sagtewarepakket is dit bevind dat die lasmodel vir die versnelling of vertraging van die oorhoofse brugkraan slegs op vierwiel krane van toepasing is. Hierdie lasmodel is dus uitgebrei om agt- en sestienwiel krane ook te bevat. Die lasmodel aanpassing is dan ook in die program se algoritme-argitektuur ingebou. Die sagteware toepassing is suksesvol ontwikkel en gekontroleer met ‘n maatstaf voorbeeld.

Norrköpings Hamn och Stuveri AB står inför en stor utmaning då verksamheterna i Norrköping delvis ska konsolideras till Pampusterminalen på Händelö på grund av det nya stadsdelsprojektet i Inre hamnen. Tillkommande verksamhet kommer göra anspråk på terminalyta, något som idag inte finns tillgängligt i Pampusterminalen. Dessutom är visionen för containerterminalen att den årligen hanterade volymen ska öka till 154 000 TEU år 2025 från dagens årligen 70 000 TEU. Det har i det här examensarbetet undersökts för de fysiska möjligheterna att ersätta dagens hanteringssystem där Reachstackers används, med ett modernare och mer hållbart elektriskt RTG-system, samt hur RTG-systemet skulle påverka containerhanteringen. Dessutom har en investeringskalkyl upprättats för att reda ut de ekonomiska effekterna av ett byte. Med hjälp av ett antal kapacitetsberäkningsmodeller har det visat sig att NHS i ett NHS i ett framtida skede bör ha möjlighet att hantera 154 000 containrar med cirka 1 400 TGS och fyra RTG-kranar. De totala inköps- och installationskostnaderna för fyra RTG-kranar skulle uppgå till cirka 60 000 000 kronor. Investeringskalkylen resulterade i ett nettonuvärde på 20 905 550 kr vilket är att betrakta som lönsamt. Baserat på insamlat underlag till den här undersökningen är det därför rekommenderat att NHS går vidare med planerna på att byta hanteringssystem för containerdepån.

Thesis (MSpor)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The prevalence of lower back disorders and the high costs involved are an ongoing problem in industrialised countries. Research indicates an estimated 70-80% of all individuals will experience lower back pain (LBP) during the course of their lives (Manek & MacGregor, 2005; Kent & Keating, 2005; Dunn & Croft, 2004; Takeyachi et al., 2003; Carter & Birrel, 2000:6; Nourbakhsh & Arab, 2003; Bernard, 1997:374). It is widely accepted that occupational demands and physical work contribute greatly towards onset, recovery and recurrence of symptoms (Carter & Birrel, 2000:6). Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) crane drivers are particularly at risk, as their working posture forces them into various prolonged non-neutral trunk positions (Fehrsen-Du Toit, 2005:24; Rohlmannt et al., 2001; Nachemson, 1963) and extreme trunk flexion (Seider et al., 2003; Hoogendoorn et al., 2000). Intrinsic factors such as trunk strength (O'Sullivan et al., 2005; Bayramoglu et al., 2001) and trunk stability (Hitt & Lie, 2006; MacDonald et al., 2006; Barker et al., 2006; Hodges et al., 2005; Hodges, 2003; Hodges & Richardson, 1996) as well as anthropometric variables (Franklin et al., 2000:64), can play different roles in incidences of lumbar pain or injury. A job such as RTG crane driving is dependant on a certain amount of strength or physical fitness. A deficit in on or more of these areas can lead to compensation, overload and eventually symptoms and injury. Research has yet to identify factors that predispose certain drivers to injury, and factors determining a quick, safe recovery and return to work. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible morphological variables as risk factors for RTG crane drivers, for Hutchison Whampoa, at the Port of Felixstowe, UK. The study design was based on a cross sectional, analytical epidemiological study. A sample of 43 RTG drivers completed testing. They were divided into a group of drivers who had never had lower back pain or symptoms (n=22), and a group of drivers who had had a previous history of lower back pain (n=21). All subjects were asymptomatic at the time of testing. Although not significant (p > 0.05), the results of the study showed that average performance deficit (the power needed to maintain or repetitively produce a force) tended to be higher in those subjects without a previous history of pain. The flexion/extension ratio also tended to be better for this group. The subjects without a past history of lower back pain were, surprisingly, found to be older than the other group. This explains the higher body weight, waist-to-hip-circumference, body mass index, and fat percentage for this group, as these measurements all tend to increase with age. It also explains the lower peak torque to body weight values for that group, as peak torque would decrease with increased body weight. This is the first study to look at morphological variables and isokinetic testing of RTG crane drivers, and the relationship between these variables and lower back pain.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoë koste verbonde aan, asook die hoeveelheid voortdurende lae-rug beserings in industriële lande, is ‘n aaneenlopende probleem. Navorsing toon dat 70-80% van alle individue laer-rugpyn sal ervaar deur die loop van hul lewens (Manek & MacGregor, 2005; Kent & Keating, 2005; Dunn & Croft, 2004; Takeyachi et al., 2003; Carter & Birrel, 2000:6; Nourbakhsh & Arab, 2003; Bernard, 1997:374). Dit is aanvaar dat werksvereistes en fisiese werk grootliks bydra tot die oorsaak, herstel en herhaling van simptome (Carter & Birrel, 2000:6). RTG hyskraan bestuurders is veral individue wat ‘n groter risiko toon ten opsigte van laer-rug beserings weens werkspostuur wat hul noodsaak om verskeie langdurige nie-neutrale mid-rug posisies (Fehrsen-Du Toit, 2005:24; Rohlmannt et al., 2001; Nachemson, 1963), asook ekstreme mid-rug fleksie handhaaf (Seider et al., 2003; Hoogendoorn et al., 2000). Sekere individuele intrinsieke faktore soos mid-rug krag (O'Sullivan et al., 2005; Bayramoglu et al., 2001) mid-rug stabiliteit (Hitt & Lie, 2006; MacDonald et al., 2006; Barker et al., 2006; Hodges et al., 2005; Hodges, 2003; Hodges & Richardson, 1996), en antrpometriese veranderlikes (Franklin et al., 2000:64), kan ‘n aansienlike verhoging in moontlike laer-rug pyn of –beserings meebring. ‘n Werk soos RTG hyskraan bestuur is afhanklik van sekere hoeveelheid krag of fisiese fiksheid. ‘n Tekortkoming in enige van hierdie areas kan lei tot oorkompensering, oorbelading en uiteindelike simptome van besering. Vrae wat navorsing nog moet antwoord is onder andere die faktore wat aanleiding gee tot beserings asook wat vinnige en veilige terugkeer na werk vir bestuurders bepaal. Die doel van die studie was om moontlike morfologiese veranderlikes en risiko faktore te bestudeer vir RTG hyskraan bestuurders, vir Hutcinson Whampoa, te Felixstowe hawe, VK. Die rol wat hierdie faktore speel in die oorsaak en ontwikkeling van rugpyn word ook ondersoek. ‘n Protokol van toetse is gekies om moontlike morfologiese risiko faktore uit te lig en daardeur bestuurders wat meer geneig is om laer-rugpyn te ontwikkel te identifiseer. ‘n Totaal van 43 RTG bestuurders het die toets voltooi. Hierdie bestuurders is verdeel in ‘n groep wat nog nooit laer-rugpyn of simptome getoon het nie (n=22) en ‘n groep bestuuders wat wel vorige geskiedenis van laer-rugpyn het (n=21). Alle deelnemers was asimptomaties met die aanvang van die toetsing. Alhoewel resultate van die toets nie noemenswaardig was nie (p>0.05), het dit wel getoon dat algemene prestasie tekortkoming (spierkrag benodig om kraguitset te handhaaf of om herhaaldelik uit te voer) geneig was om hoër te wees in individue sonder ‘n vorige geskiedenis van rug besering. Die fleksie/ekstensie verhouding het ook beter vertoon in hierdie groep. Individue sonder vorige geskiedenis van laer-rugpyn is interessant genoeg, ouer as die met geskiedenis van laer-rug beserings. Dit verduidelik die hoër liggaamsgewig, middelheup- verhouding en liggaamsmassa indeks en vet persentasie van hierdie groep weens die feit dat al reedsgenoemde geneig is om met ouderdom toe te neem. Dit kan ook piekkraguitset tot liggaamsmassa waardes van hierdie groep verduidelik omdat piekkraguitset sal verminder met toename in liggaamsmassa. Hierdie is die eerste studie wat die uitkyk bied op morfologiese veranderlikes tesame met isokinetiese toetsing van RTG hyskraan bestuurders en die verhouding tussen hierdie veranderlikes en laer-rugpyn.

This master´s thesis solves design of a mobile crane for handling air aggregates and ejection seats. Handling crane provides lifting a maximum weight of 300 kg to a height of 4600 mm. Subject of the work is the choice of appropriate technical solutions, design of lifting mechanisms, supporting structures and accessories. The suitability of the solution is checked by strength analysis of individual units. Another task is to provide mobility equipment and control stability against overturning. The appendix includes protocols static analysis of the program Nexis32, drawing overall crane assembly and manufacturing drawings selected parts.

O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver uma ferramenta de automatização de cálculo para projeto estrutural de pórticos rolantes. Com o apoio da geração automática de um modelo de elementos finitos e um memorial de cálculo, o projeto estrutural desses equipamentos pode ser rapidamente verificado quanto ao limite de escoamento do material e resistência à flambagem. Optou-se pela utilização do método dos elementos finitos para o cálculo estrutural, pois se trata de uma ferramenta de cálculo moderna, que permite avaliar soluções para as quais não há ferramentas analíticas disponíveis. Porém, o tempo para geração de modelos de cálculo pode ser longo em relação ao cronograma do projeto, principalmente se houver a necessidade de se alterar a geometria inicial ou se existirem várias condições de carregamento a serem analisadas. A utilização de um pré-processador permite que várias alternativas sejam analisadas para escolha da que melhor atenda aos requisitos de projeto e de custo. Assim como ocorre com outras estruturas de engenharia, não existe uma equação de dimensionamento, mas sim de verificação; as estruturas ótimas são procuradas por tentativa e erro com base na experiência do projetista. Para facilitar a busca de uma estrutura ótima, implementou-se também uma rotina para otimizar as estruturas metálicas do pórtico. Adotou-se como função objetivo nesta implementação a minimização da massa, o que no caso dos pórticos implica em redução da área da seção transversal das vigas. Como restrições a esta redução adotaram-se o limite de escoamento do material e limite de estabilidade da estrutura (flambagem). Foram utilizados os aplicativos Excel (Microsoft), Ansys (Ansys Inc.) e Mathcad (Mathsoft) de maneira integrada a fim de se obter uma interface amigável, uma análise estrutural confiável e a elaboração automática de um memorial de cálculo.
The objective of this work is to develop a tool to generate an automatic structural design of gantry cranes. With an automatic generation of finite element models and also a design report, this routine allows a fast verification against yield of material and structural instability. The use of the finite element method was chosen for the structural design because it is a modern analysis tool that permits the evaluation of geometric configurations for which there are no analytical formulations available. However, the time necessary to build these models may be high, especially if there are changes in the initial geometry and many load cases. The use of a pre-processor allows the evaluation of a series of geometric alternatives, within which would be chosen the one with the lowest cost that attends the client’s specifications. Like many other engineering problems, there are no direct equations to find an adequate structure; there are only verification procedures available; the optimum structures are searched by trial and error, based on the designers’ experience. To accelerate this search process, an optimization routine was developed. Mass reduction was adopted as the objective function, which leads to reduction of the cross section area of the beams. Yield strength and buckling were adopted as restrictions to this optimization. Excel (Microsoft), Ansys (Ansys Inc) and Mathcad (Mathsoft) software were integrated to provide an user-friendly interface, reliable structural analysis and an automatic report generation.

This thesis investigates the dynamics and control of a Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) crane which are commonly used in container handling operations. Both theoretical and experimental work has been undertaken to ensure the balance of this research. The concept of a Global Sensing System (GSS) is outlined, this being a closed loop automatic sensing system capable of guiding the lifting gear (spreader) to the location of the target container by using feedback signals from the crane's degrees of freedom. To acquire the crucial data for the coordinates and orientation of the swinging spreader a novel visual sensing system (VSS) is proposed. In addition algorithms used in the VSS for seeking the central coordinates of the clustered pixels from the digitised images are also developed. In order to investigate the feasibility of different control strategies in practise, a scaled-down, 1/8, experimental crane rig has been constructed with a new level of functionality in that the spreader in this rig is equipped with multiple cables to emulate the characteristics of a full-size RTG crane. A Crane Application Programming Interface (CAPI) has been proposed to reduce the complexity and difficulty in integrating the control software and hardware. It provides a relatively user-friendly environment in which the end-user can focus on implementing the more fundamental issues of control strategies, rather spending significant amounts of time in low-level device-dependent programming. A control strategy using Feedback Linearization Control (FLC) is investigated. This can handle significant non-linearity in the dynamics of the RTG crane. Simulation results are provided, and so by means of the CAPI this controller is available for direct control of the experimental crane rig. The final part of the thesis is an integration of the analyses of the different subjects, and shows the feasibility of the real-time implementation.

Baigiamojo darbo tema yra suprojektuoti 20 t. kieliamosios galios ožinį kraną. Variantų analizė buvo padaryta, važiuoklės pavarai, kravinių kėlimo mechanizmui ir krano tiltui. Technologinė analizė parodė, kokios įrangos reikia, pagaminti du velenus ir pirštą. Ožinio krano ekonominiai rodikliai, krano kaina ir jos galima pardavimo kaina buvo apskaičiuojama.
The final paper’s theme is to design the gantry crane which load’s capacity is 20 tones. The variant analysis was done. It revealed that chassis gear, telpher, and beam were the most suitable parts for the gantry crane. The technological analysis showed what kind of equipment was needed in order to product two shafts and the girder. The gantry crane’s economical indicators, the crane’s cost price and its possible sale-price were calculated.

Overhead cranes are widely used in industry for transportation of heavy loads and are common industrial structures used in building construction, factories, and harbors, traditionally operated by experienced crane operators. The underlyng system consists of three main components: trolley, bridge, and gantry. Basically, the system is a trolley with pendulum. In normal operation, the natural sway of crane payloads is detrimental to the safe and efficient action. Other external disturbances parameters, wind for example, also affect the controller performance. Basically, a crane system is an underactuated system. This makes the design of its controllers complicated. Usually, this is done via the crane acceleration required for motion. The most important issues in crane motion are high positioning accuracy, short transportation time, small sway angle, and high safety. The main goal of this thesis is to achieve a robust controller design procedure, based on H∞ control theory, for a nonlinear model of a 3-D gantry crane system. The approach shall be compared with classic controllers in terms of attenuating the perturbation on the payload transportation. The model describes the position of the load, as well as the time derivatives of the position. In vew of this, flatness-based feedforward control has to be devised, accompanied by the design of an optimal linear and nonlinear feedback controller. The nomnal states can be used as optimization parameters and restrictions on stability, overshoot, position regulation, and oscillation angle, being independent of the load mass and depending on the rope length. The procedure is as follows. First, a dynamic nonlinear model of the system is obtained using the Lagrange equations of motion which describe the simultaneous travelling, crossing, lifting motions and the resultant load swing of the crane. Then, the system is exactly linearised by a dynamic extension. Next the closed-loop system, based on the linear quadratic regulator scheme, is probed and compared with the H∞ robust control system for compensating modeling errors and/or internal and external perturbation. Finally, simulation results are presented showing the efficiency of the proposed controller design scheme. Results are provided to illustrate the improved performance of the nonlinear controllers over classic pole placement and linear quadratic regulator approaches, testing its fast input tracking capability, precise payload positioning and minimal sway motion.
Kräne werden in der Industrie für den Transport schwerer Lasten eingesetzt. Man findet sie im Hochbau, Fabriken und Häfen. Traditionell werden sie von erfahrenen Kranführer betrieben. Das der Arbeit zugrunde liegende Kransystem besteht aus drei Hauptkomponenten: Transporteinheit, Brücke und Gerüst. Im Regelbetrieb ist das Schwingen von Krannutzlasten einer sicheren und effizienten Nutzung abträglich. Auch andere externe Störparameter wie beispielsweise der Wind haben einen Einfluss auf die Kontrollierbarkeit eines Krans. Grundsätzlich ist ein Kransystem ein unteraktuiertes System. Deshalb verkompliziert sich im Allgemeinen der Entwurf einer Regelung, meist auf Basis der Kranbeschleunigung. Regelziele bei der Kranbewegung sind u.a. eine hohe Positioniergenauigkeit, kurze Transportzeit, kleine Pendelwinkel und hohe Sicherheit. Das Hauptziel dieser Diplomarbeit ist der Entwurf einer robusten Reglung, gründend auf der H∞-Regelungsttheorie, für ein nichtlineares Modell eines 3-D-Portalkran- Systems. Das Verfahren soll mit dem klassischen Controllerdesign verglichen und resultierende Regelungsprobleme infolge von Störungen im Nutzlasttransport untersucht werden. Das Modell beschreibt die Position der Last sowie deren zeitliche Ableitungen. Davon kann das Problem für den Entwurf einer flachheitsbasierten Vorsteuerung abgeleitet werden, die dann mit einer optimalen, linearen bzw. nichtlinearen Regelung verbunden wird. Die nominalen Zustände können als Optimierungsparameter und Beschränkungen für die Stabilität, Überschwingen, Positionsregelung und Schwingungswinkel verwendet werden, unabhängig von der Lastmaße und in Abhängigkeit von der Seillänge. Dabei wird wie folgt vorgegangen: Zunächst wird ein nichtlineares Systemmodell mit Hilfe der Lagrange-Gleichungen erstellt. Dann wird das System mit Hilfe einer dynamischen Erweiterung exakt linearisiert. Als nächstes wird der geschlossene Regelkreis auf Basis der linear-quadratischen Regelung untersucht und mit einer robusten H∞ Regelung zur Kompensation von Modellierungsfehlern oder systeminterner und -externe Störung verglichen. Schließlich werden Simulationsergebnisse vorgestellt, welche die Wirksamkeit des Entwurfes belegen. Ein Ergebnis st dabei die verbesserte Leistung des nichtlinearen Reglers gegenüber dem klassischen Regler. Dies wird anhand einer Fähigkeit zu Verfolgung einesr schnellen Bahn, der Präzision der Positionierung und der minimalen Einflussbewegung der Nutzlast dargestellt.
Tesis

The work in this thesis starts with the development of a Graphical User Interface to aid the manual control of the experimental crane model and to achieve a better container management system. A structural analysis of the laboratory rig is then carried out. The technique used is to divide the whole structure into two parts: a stationary framework and a moving substructure (including its attachments). The dynamic effect of the moving substructure is represented by four equivalent, time-dependent, contacting forces (or lumped masses), and the dynamic behaviour of the stationary framework, induced by the moving substructure, is predicted by computing the responses to these forces (or lumped masses). Before the forced vibration responses can be obtained a finite element model of the scale crane rig has first to be established and validated by means of modal testing. A general technique for incorporating a standard finite element package into a procedure to calculate the dynamic responses of structures due to time-dependent moving point forces is then developed. In order to take the inertia effects of the moving substructure into account a new concept of equivalent time-dependent moving lumped masses is introduced. A general procedure has been developed to allow a standard finite element package to be extended to deal with the dynamic analyses of a three-dimensional framework subjected to the two-dimensional multiple moving masses. The theoretical results obtained are validated by comparison with experimental findings.

The aim of my thesis is a conceptual design radial gantry crane including the important strength calculations according to the standards and examinations by means of ANSYS Workbench. The lifting capacity is 1500 kg, the length of the boom is 12 000 mm and the height of lifting is 3600mm. The crane is designed as fully revolving and the angle turning is 360°. The work also includes the selection of a suitable lifting gear from the manufacturer´s catalogue including the accessories casters, all important components and also FEM construction analysis.

This master´s thesis deals with the design of a crane trolley with the main and ancillary lift according to the specified parameters. The aim of the work is the elaboration of technical calculations and drawing documentation. The technical report deals with the design of lifting mechanisms, travelling mechanism and design and strength control of the crane frame. The drawing documentation includes a stroke assembly drawing, a travel assembly drawing, a frame steel structure assembly drawing, and a general crane cat assembly drawing.

O problema de transferir uma carga ao se movimentar num plano em tempo mínimo e sem oscilação no ponto de descarga, num guindaste portuário tipo pórtico é investigado neste trabalho. Assume-se que a carga esteja inicialmente em repouso na posição vertical no ponto de carga acima do navio e igualmente em repouso no ponto de descarga na moega de alimentação no porto. Assume-se também que o carro do guindaste esteja em repouso em ambos os pontos. Um modelo completo é apresentado para o sistema do guindaste onde as equações dinâmicas não-lineares são linearizadas para ângulos de oscilação pequenos o suficiente e reescritas para a forma adimensional. A solução de tempo mínimo é buscada considerando como variáveis de controle as funções do tempo que descrevem tanto a força aplicada no carro para produzir seu deslocamento horizontal, como a velocidade de içamento da carga. Um método iterativo preditor-corretor usando a Programação Linear (PL) é proposto, baseado no modelo do sistema de tempo discreto onde as variáveis de controle são tomadas constantes por trechos. Na etapa corretora, assume-se que o movimento de içamento é dado e uma solução de tempo mínimo é obtida resolvendo-se uma seqüência de problemas de PL de tempo fixo e máximo deslocamento. Na etapa preditora, um modelo linearizado é empregado para obter-se uma correção ótima do movimento de içamento usando a PL. O problema de controle de tempo mínimo é formulado levando-se em consideração restrições práticas na velocidade do carro do guindaste, velocidade máxima de içamento, assim como na máxima força que pode ser aplicada ao carro. Resultados numéricos são apresentados e mostram a efetividade do método.
The problem of minimum-time anti-swing transfer of a load in a ship-to-pier gantry crane is investigated in this work. The load is assumed to be initially at rest at the vertical position at the loading point above the ship and equally at rest at the unloading point above the hopper. The trolley is also assumed to be at rest at both points. A complete model is presented for the crane system where the nonlinear dynamic equations are linearized for sufficiently small swing angles and then rewritten in dimensionless form. The minimum-time solution is sought by considering as control variables both the force applied on the trolley that produces its horizontal motion and the hoisting speed of the load as functions of time. A predictor-corrector iterative method using Linear Programming (LP) is proposed based on a discretetime model of the system where the control variables are taken as stepwise constants. At the corrector step, the hoisting motion is assumed given and a minimum-time solution is obtained by solving a sequence of LP problems representing fixed-time maximum-range problems. At the predictor step, a linearized model is employed to obtain an optimal correction of the hoisting motion using LP. The minimum-time control problem is formulated by taking into account practical constraints on the maximum speeds of both the trolley and the load hoisting, as well as on the maximum force that can be applied to the trolley. Numerical results are presented and show the effectiveness of the method.

Diplomová práce je zaměřena na problematiku nelineárních diferenciálních rovnic. Obsahuje věty důležité k určení chování nelineárního systému pouze za pomoci zlinearizovaného systému, což je následně ukázáno na rovnici matematického kyvadla. Dále se práce zabývá problematikou diferenciálních rovnic se zpoždéním. Pomocí těchto rovnic je možné přesněji popsat některé reálné systémy, především systémy, ve kterých se vyskytují časové prodlevy. Zpoždění ale komplikuje řešitelnost těchto rovnic, což je ukázáno na zjednodušené rovnici portálového jeřábu. Následně je zkoumána oscilace lineární rovnice s nekonstantním zpožděním a nalezení podmínek pro koeficienty rovnice zaručující oscilačnost každého řešení.

碩士
義守大學
電機工程學系
92
The objective of this thesis is to investigate the dynamic simulations of the dc machines which are associated with a gentry crane for harbour container centre. Manipulation of a gentry crane for precisely positioning the container is a vital factor for the harbour container centre. It has to operate so fast in order to keep punctuality. Therefore, to place the container, cranes are always required to run forward and backward frequently, precisely and quickly. The major components in a gentry crane of a harbour container centre are the hoist and trolley. They are energised by dc marchines. This thesis first simulates their dynamic responses, such as lifting up and lowering down, speeding up and slowing down. Next, when the dc machines are operating in the regenerative braking mode, they will act as generators and feed a little active power back to the electric system. Such an operating mode will in turn cause terminal voltage rising up. Extensive computer simulations are executed to illustrate the phenomena, and are validated by the practical results which are obtained from the scene of the worksite.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
航運管理學系
92
The trend of globalization and ship enlargement causes not only the larger volume of container traffic, but also the workload of per voyage substantially increasing. Storage areas, play the buffer roles for inbound and outbound containers at a terminal, are the first to be affected. Facing this situation, more and more terminals adopt Rail Mounted Gantry Crane (RMGC) to enhance capacity on exiting yard space. For the limitation of the rails, RMGCs should move by some rules. When a number of RMGCs simultaneously work in a yard block, the whole operation becomes more complex. This research focuses on routing multiple RMGCs among yard bays to minimize the working time of loading operation in container terminal. A min-max model followed the characteristics of RMGC operation is formulated and solved by a heuristic algorithm. This algorithm includes the container sequencing problem and the crane assignment. According to the initial working sequence, tabu search is applied to adjust the loading sequence of containers. Then, cranes are assigned to serve each loading job. Furthermore, the performances of the algorithm are evaluated by the results of different numerical experimentations, and the related analyses are discussed.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
航運管理學系
99
Due to the increasing size of modern ships, the demand of the capacity of the yard is increasing. Owing to the limitation of existing yard space, many terminals have equipped with rail mounted gantry crane (RMGC) to stack containers in a close and high manner to increase the capacity of the yard, which tends to result in reshuffles while picking out the containers if they are not appropriately allocated. To reduce unproductive movements and increase the yard operation efficiency, preferred areas allocating problems (PAAP) has become a critical issue for terminal operators to plan the storage space prior to the arrival of containers. As automatic RMGCs (ARMGCs) have become the predominant yard crane in many terminals, this study develops a mathematical model based on a multi-commodity time space model to deal with the PAAP of exports containers in automatic terminal. The model minimizes the total cost comprising the assigning cost for new arrival, relocating and withdrawing containers. The proposed model has been proved rational and useful by empirical study and sensitivity analyses. The conclusions and suggestions for future studies are also summarized in this thesis.

碩士
國立交通大學
交通運輸研究所
84
Containerized transportation is the most important means in international cargoes shipping today. At present the port industries are competing strongly among Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung port in Taiwan. Container traffic is a majorindex to show the importance of the port in this competitive market. The service quality of container gantry cranes affects the Keelung port competitive power. The goal of this research is to study overhaul and replacement scheduling of container gantry cranes in Keelung port and hope to improve service quality by appropriate scheduling. This paper established indexes to estimate scheduling first , then finding fesible schedulings and using genetic algorithm to choose a better scheduling. The analysis shows that the accumulation of failure hours is a strictly increasing quadratic function of working hours after beginning ofoperation or overhaul. The objective of this research considered here includingfailure rate , the number of overhaul cranes and cost.

碩士
國立成功大學
工業與資訊管理學系
107
It is possible to reduce the container ship’s docking time by making good use of time to pre-arrange containers when there is no ship stopping by the quay. In order to determine the order of pre-marshalling operations, we built an integer programming model to solve it. Our research is different from current literatures since we expand the scale of the problem from a single bay to multiple bays and add corresponding restrictions to meet the situation where two RMGCs operate simultaneously. However, results showed that we can only solve small-scale problems by using Gurobi to solve the model due to the complexity of pre-marshalling problem. For medium-to-large-scale problems, we proposed a heuristic algorithm to solve it. For small-scale problems, the heuristic algorithm can obtain result that is almost the same as the model’s solution. Moreover, when it comes to the large-scale problems that model can hardly solve with, the heuristic algorithm can acquire solution within reasonable time. Our research also showed that due to considering moving containers between different bays, the pre-marshalling operations would be more efficient based on our data. Moreover, if the objective is to minimize the workload of RMGCs, using one RMGC sometimes is better than using two. However, if the objective is to minimize the finish time, almost all results suggest that using two RMGCs is better.

碩士
國立高雄應用科技大學
電機工程系
97
Energy becomes a global issue, so energy saving concept starts to be promoted. In world energy consumption, motor drives or related machines take most percentage. All industries need material, semi-finished products and final products delivery, so crane is required for better specification. How to reduce crane energy consumption is most important part in automatic production process, especially for logistics to search and manage material faster. Induction motor is general industry power source because of cheaper price and easy maintain. Induction motor needs to follow all different requirements, because crane is complex, and turns on often. Motor for crane basically needs large starting torque, low starting current, slow starting response, fast lifting speed and slow stopping in position. Conventional speed control is still main crane motor control method because of cost considering, though inverter becomes popular. If we can reduce starting current of induction dual-pole motor, then we can increase its efficiency. In this thesis, a high different speed ratio motor (2/12 dual-pole motor) will be increased efficiency. Also, compares with slots of 2 and 4 pole motor to analysis influence between slot and efficiency. FEM is a mature simulation method to calculate magnetic field variation precisely. By using simulation result, tests real 3-phase 2/12 pole motor to see efficiency increase. Keywords：Induction motor、Finite Element Methods、crane

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
航運管理學系
94
Abstract Harbor which efficiency of loading and discharging influences shipper’s willing to berth is the gate of shipping transportation service. Container yard plays an alleviated role of proceeding in loading and discharging and is in charge of regulating and supplying in container flow rate. Within plenty of machine, Rail-mounted Gantry Crane (RMGC) with large span and high stack raises capacity of yard substantially and utility rate of land. Although RMGC enhances utility rate of land, intense arrangement and high stack increase the complexity and difficulty in lifting container. Therefore, we should work out arrangement of loading sequence of exporting deliberately to avoid any delay of loading and discharging operation. This study investigates the shift of single RMGC and operation identity of lifting container, arranges sequence in loading exporting container appropriately, and plans the most suitable route and the shortened time in lifting container to enhance operation efficiency. Also, we use planning skills in mathematics to establish a model which is followed the characteristics of RMGC’ s movement and spreader to minimize the total working time. Further, we use Optimal Programming Language (OPL Studio) to transfer model into programming language and branch-and-bound method to proceed in solving illustration. Through actual information supplied from enterprises, we could verify rationality and suitability of solving through this model. By testing illustration, compared between the result in solving model and illustration, the operation time reduces completed time of RMGC’ s movement and total completing time up to 5.722% and 5.442% in average separately. This result verifies this model decreases operation time remarkably. Further through sensitivity analysis, we could find out the following results: the faster speed of RMGC shifts, the objective value only reflects the lifting time; the length of staying time effects objective value slightly; whether the length of reshuffle time, the variation of reshuffle time wouldn’t influence objective value. By the way, we take reshuffle time into consideration, we don’t want to cause any delay in operation time by marshalling. Keywords: Rail-mounted Gantry Crane, loading sequence of exporting, OPL.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
商船學系
105
Taiwan is an island state surrounded by sea. Most of goods trade depends on marine transport. However, container terminal becomes an important part of marine transport. The efficiency of terminal operation and operating expense are two of the most important decision factors for the shipping companies. Kaohsiung Port is the largest trade port in Taiwan. Consequently, this study intends to use the newest construction of Kaohsiung Port’s the sixth linear container terminal blocks deploy as a sample. By simulating the block deployment in system, simulation and evaluating the differences include sailing assigned of transit container, diversity operating equipment and using group operations or not. Compare the berth operational performance and the block equipment operational performance to programs and achieve the following purpose: (1) Cut down average berth operational time (2) Reduce average gantry crane waiting rate (3) Decrease average block equipment waiting time To explore the operational performances, choose Rubber Tire Gantry Crane, Standard Rail Mounted Gantry Crane and Dual Cantilever Rail Mounted Gantry Crane, three operational modes, design twelve programs and analyze it. As the result, we discuss all simulation programs to get the best control parameters is RTG with group operations and the mode of transit container distribute.

Rail-road terminals are the chain links in intermodal rail-road transportation where standardized load units (containers, swap bodies and trailers) are transfered from trucks to trains and vice versa. We consider three subproblems of the operational planning process at rail-road terminals that terminal operators are facing in their daily operations. These are the optimization problems storage planning, load planning and crane planning. The aim of storage planning is to determine load unit storage positions for a set of load units in a partially filled storage area. Here, different restrictions like non-overlapping of stored load units have to be respected. The objective of storage planning is to minimize the total transportation costs and the number of load units that are not stored at the ground level. For the load planning we assume a scenario of overbooked trains. So, the aim of load planning is to assign a subset of the load units that are booked on a train to feasible positions on the wagons such that the utilization of the train is maximized and the costs for the handling in the terminal are minimized. For the feasible positioning of load units length and weight restrictions for the wagons and the train have to be respected. For the load planning of trains we consider a deterministic version and a robust approach motivated by uncertainty in the input data. The last considered optimization problem is the crane planning. The crane planning determines the transfer of the load units by crane between the different transportation modes. For each crane a working plan is computed which contains a subset of the load units that have to be handled together with individual start times for the transfer operations. For the load units which have to be transfered in the terminal, storage and load planning compute destination positions (inside the terminal). These destination positions are part of the input for the crane planning. The main objective of crane planning is to minimize the total length of the empty crane moves that have to be performed between successive transports of load units by the cranes. We provide MIP-models for all three subproblems of the operational planning process at rail-road terminals. For the storage and crane planning we also propose fast heuristics. Furthermore, we present and compare computational results based on real world data for all subproblems. The main contributions of this thesis concern load and storage planning. For the deterministic load planning we provide the first model that represents all practical constraints including physical weight restrictions. For the load planning we furthermore present robustness approaches for different practical uncertainties. For the storage planning we provide complexity results for different variants. For the practical setting we developed a heuristic which is able to compute solutions of high quality in a small amount of runtime.