Crane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11807501-B2
Application number	US-202117373052-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2021
Priority date	Apr 8, 2016
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

A tower crane with a load lifting means mounted on a hoisting cable, driving devices for moving several crane elements and traversing the load lifting means, and a control device for controlling the driving devices such that the load lifting means moves along a traversing path between at least two target points. The control device has a traversing path determining module for determining a desired traversing path between the at least two target points and an automatic traversing control module for automatically traversing the load lifting means along the determined traversing path.

First claim

We claim:

1. A crane comprising:
a load lifting means;
driving devices for moving the load lifting means through a traversing path defined by at least two target points and at least one intermediate point between two target points; and
a control device for controlling the driving devices to move the load lifting means along the traversing path;
wherein the control device includes processing to:
determine the traversing path with a traversing path determining module; and
in an automatic mode, automatically move the load lifting means along the determined traversing path using an automatic traversing control module; and

wherein the traversing path determining module is connected to:
a playback device:
for assistance with determining the traversing path by manually controlling the load lifting means to travel along at least a portion of the traversing path; and
for recording the traversing path such that the traversing path can automatically be traversed once again at a later stage under control of the playback device; and

an external master computer that has access to a building data model and provides target and intermediate points for the determination of the traversing path.

2. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the building data model includes data concerning working range limitations and building contours of various construction phases;
wherein the external master computer is connected to the traversing path determining module; and
wherein the external master computer cyclically or continuously provides the traversing path determining module with updated data concerning one or more of the working range limitations or concerning the building contours of the various construction phases.

3. The crane of claim 2 , wherein the traversing path determining module is configured to take into account both the traversing path recorded by the playback device and the updated data when determining the traversing path; and
wherein the traversing path determining module is further configured to:
(i) adopt the recorded traversing path when there is no collision with one or more of the updated working range limitations or building contours; or
(ii) modify the recorded traversing path when there are collisions with one or more of the updated working range limitations or building contours; and
generate a modified traversing path based on the recorded path that has no collisions with one or more of the updated working range limitations or building contours.

4. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the load lifting means is mounted on a hoisting cable; and
wherein the driving devices include several crane elements, one of the crane elements being the load lifting means.

5. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the traversing path determining module includes a path control module for determining a continuous, mathematically defined path between two target points.

6. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the traversing path determining module is also connected to a teach-in device for assistance with determining the traversing path by manually approaching one or more target and intermediate points.

7. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the traversing path determining module is also connected to a teach-in device for storing one or more target and intermediate points of the traversing path approached by manual actuation of the driving devices; and
wherein the traversing path determining module is configured to update stored target and intermediate points in response to receipt of target and intermediate points provided by the building data model.

8. The crane of claim 3 further comprising a sway damping device configured to detect sway of the load lifting means as it is moved through the traversing path;
wherein, in the automatic mode, the automatic traversing control module takes into account detected sway from the sway damping device and the control device controls an actuation of the driving devices to dampen the sway of the load lifting means as it moves along the traversing path.

9. The crane of claim 8 , wherein the sway damping device includes one or more of:
a detection device for detecting a deflection of a hoisting cable; or
the load lifting means with respect to a vertical axis through a suspension point of the hoisting cable;
wherein the automatic traversing control module actuates one or more of:
the driving devices based on the detected deflection; or
a diagonal pull signal of the detection device.

10. The crane of claim 8 , wherein the sway damping device includes:
a determination means for determining one or more attributes of structural components of the crane as a result of dynamic loads; and
a control module configured to take into account one or more of the determined attributes as a result of dynamic loads influencing the actuation of the one or more driving devices; and
wherein one or more of the attributes of the structural components is selected from the group consisting of deformation of the structural components, movement of the structural components, load of the structural components, and a combination thereof.

11. The crane of claim 10 , wherein the structural components of the crane comprise one or more of a tower or a boom; and
wherein the determination means is configured to determine one or more of the attributes of one or more of the tower or the boom as a result of dynamic loads.

12. The crane of claim 10 , wherein the structural components of the crane comprise drive train parts; and
wherein the determination means is configured to determine one or more of the attributes of the drive train parts as a result of dynamic loads.

13. The crane of claim 10 , wherein the determination means includes an estimating device for estimating one or more of the attributes of the structural components as a result of dynamic loads based on digital data of a data model describing a crane structure.

14. The crane of claim 10 , wherein the determination means includes a calculation unit for calculating structural deformations and resulting movements of structural components with reference to a stored calculation model, the stored calculation model based on control commands entered at a control stand.

15. The crane of claim 10 , wherein the determination means includes a sensor system for detecting one or more of the attributes of the structural components.

16. A crane comprising:
a load lifting means;
driving devices for moving the load lifting means through a traversing path defined by at least two target points and at least one intermediate point between two target points; and
a control device for controlling the driving devices to move the load lifting means along the traversing path;
wherein the control device includes processing to:
determine the traversing path with a traversing path determining module connected to:
a teach-in device for assistance with determining the traversing path by manually approaching one or more target and intermediate points;
a playback device for assistance with determining one or more of:
the traversing path;
one or more of the target points of the traversing path; or
one or more of the intermediate points of the traversing path;

by manually traversing the load lifting means along at least a portion of the traversing path; and
an external master computer that:
has access to a building data model that includes data concerning working range limitations and building contours of various construction phases;
is connected to the traversing path determining module; and
cyclically provides the traversing path determining module with u

Assignees

• Liebherr Components Biberach Gmbh

Inventors

• Palberg Michael
• Resch Jürgen
• Fenker Oliver

Classifications

• B66C13/063 Primary

  electrical · CPC title

• B66C13/48 Primary

  Automatic control of crane drives for producing a single or repeated working cycle; Program control · CPC title