Crane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12448255-B2
Application number	US-202418673461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2024
Priority date	Nov 24, 2021
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

The present invention relates to a crane, in particular in the form of a rotating tower crane, having a crane jib, from which a hoist rope connected to a load handling means runs, a load position sensor system for sensing the position of the load handling means and/or of a load fastened thereto, a surroundings sensor system for collecting surroundings data to establish a surroundings model, and a crane controller for controlling hoist rope and/or crane movements on the basis of the sensed position of the load handling means and/or of the load fastened thereto and on the basis of the established surroundings model. According to the invention, the surroundings sensor system has an imaging sensor system for providing three-dimensional real-time surroundings data and a geo-referencing device for geo-referencing the 3D real-time surroundings data and establishing a geo-referenced 3D surroundings model.

First claim

We claim:

1. A rotating tower crane comprising:
a crane jib from which a hoist rope connected to a load handler runs,
a load position sensor system for sensing the position of the load handler and/or a load fastened thereto,
a surroundings sensor system for collecting surroundings data to establish a surroundings model, and
a crane controller for controlling crane drives for hoist rope and/or crane movements on the basis of the sensed position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto and on the basis of the established surroundings model,
wherein the surroundings sensor system has an imaging sensor system for providing three-dimensional real-time surroundings data and a geo-referencing device for geo-referencing the three-dimensional real-time surroundings data and establishing a geo-referenced 3D surroundings model, wherein the load position sensor system has an absolute position sensor system for sensing the absolute position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto and the crane controller is configured to control the crane drives on the basis of a comparison of the absolute position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto with the geo-referenced 3D surroundings model.

2. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the crane controller has an oscillation damping device which, on the basis of the absolute position, supplied in real time, of the load handler and/or on the basis of the load fastened thereto and, using the geo-referenced 3D surroundings model supplied in real time to control the crane drives for damping oscillating movements, wherein the oscillation damping device is configured to compare the transmitted absolute position with a predetermined target position and to control the crane drives using the comparison.

3. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the crane controller has a movement control for the automated movement of the load handler along a predetermined movement path, wherein a movement device automatically controls the crane drives on the basis of the absolute position of the load handler and/or on the basis of the load supplied in real time and on the geo-referenced 3D model supplied in real time.

4. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the crane controller comprises a travel path establishing device for the automated establishing of the travel path for the load handler on the basis of the geo-referenced 3D surroundings model supplied in real time taking account of building information from a BIM model.

5. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor system is configured to provide a scatter plot characterizing the crane surroundings, wherein the scatter plot comprises a plurality of ambient points each having a height information, wherein each of the ambient points height informations is assigned and forms a relief-type surroundings model, and wherein the geo-referencing device is configured to assign absolute coordinates to the ambient points of the scatter plot.

6. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor system comprises a plurality of cameras mounted on the crane jib and configured to provide bird's eye perspective images of the crane environment.

7. The crane of claim 6 , wherein the images provided by the cameras overlap.

8. The crane of claim 6 , further comprising a photogrammetric image evaluation device for a photogrammetric evaluation of the camera images and establishing the 3D surroundings model from the camera images.

9. The crane of claim 6 , wherein the cameras are configured to provide simultaneous overlapping images of the crane surroundings during crane movements, wherein the image evaluation device is configured to evaluate the images of the cameras in real time and to establish a relief-like surrounding image characterizing the crane surroundings in the form of a three-dimensional scatter plot, wherein the establishing of the relief-like surrounding image uses the camera images in real-time and provided by the geo-referencing device which assigns surrounding image points in the images to position data in the superordinate coordinate system.

10. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor system comprises one or more laser scanners mounted on the crane jib of the crane structure of the crane, wherein the one or more laser scanners are configured to provide bird's eye view scanning images of the crane surroundings in real time during crane movements, from which the 3D surroundings model can be determined in real time.

11. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the image evaluation device is configured to identify measured reference points which are arranged in a distributed manner in the crane surroundings, wherein the geo-referencing device is configured to assign geodata to other objects identified in the sensor images on the basis of the identified, measured reference points.

12. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the surroundings sensor system has a formatting module for converting the format of the georeferenced three-dimensional surroundings model for the crane controller.

13. The crane of claim 12 , wherein the formatting module is configured to convert the surroundings model into a pixel-like elevation representation of the crane surroundings with height information for the individual elevation points which characterize the height difference between the individual elevation points and the crane jib, and coordinates for the elevation points which characterize their position in an elevation plane perpendicular to the vertical and/or perpendicular to a crane jib axis.

14. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor system has a communication interface for streaming the sensor images into a network to which the image evaluation device is connected.

15. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the image evaluation device is configured to identify the position of the load handler and/or a load fastened thereto in the sensor images, wherein the geo-referencing device is configured to assign absolute position data to the load handler identified in the sensor images and/or the load fastened thereto.

16. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the geo-referencing device is configured to use a sensor-sensed absolute position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto to assign absolute position data by geo-referencing to other image points lying in the sensor images next to the load handler, wherein the other image points comprise points of a three-dimensional scatter plot characterizing the crane surroundings.

17. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the load position sensor system has a satellite signal-based sensor comprising a GPS or GNNS sensor for establishing the absolute position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto, wherein the satellite-based sensor is attached to the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto.

18. The crane of claim 17 , wherein the satellite-based sensor has a wireless communication interface for transmitting the absolute position to a wireless communication interface of the crane controller.

19. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the load position sensor system has one or more tachymeters for tachymetrically establishing the absolute position of the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto.

20. The crane of claim 19 , further comprising a plurality of tachymeters distributed in the crane surroundings, and a reflector comprising a prism on the load handler and/or the load fastened thereto for signaling the object to be measured and/or for reflecting the tachymetric signals.

21. A method for controlling a crane f

Assignees

• Liebherr Werk Biberach Gmbh

Inventors

• Burkhardt Mark
• Joachim Lena
• Lerke Otto
• Thomas Matthias
• Schwieger Volker
• Haala Norbert
• Sawodny Oliver

Classifications

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• G06T2207/10028

  Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds · CPC title

• G01S19/42

  Determining position · CPC title

• G01S17/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title