US 10,520,909 B2 · Method, system and related devices for operating multiple cranes in unison

Abstract

A crane control system for controlling a plurality of cranes is provided. The crane control system in some embodiments includes a master controller unit, at least one computer readable memory for storing a plurality of tokens, each token from the plurality of tokens associated with a respective crane from the plurality of cranes, and a processing unit responsive to commands inputtable by an operator of the master controller unit to send the commands to individual cranes from the plurality of cranes, wherein the processing unit associates the commands with respective tokens to control the cranes associated with those tokens. The crane control system in some embodiments also includes a processing unit that is responsive to a signal indicative of a synchronization loss to issue a command to bring the plurality of cranes into a safe condition, such as an emergency stop, or a corrective action.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A crane control system for controlling a plurality of cranes including at least a first crane and a second crane, each said first and second crane having at least a first motion axis and a second motion axis, the crane control system comprising:

a master controller unit;
and
a processing unit responsive to inputs by an operator of the master controller unit to send commands to the plurality of cranes to operate the cranes in synchronism, the processing unit being responsive to a signal indicative of a loss of synchronization between the cranes to output a command to bring one or more of the plurality of cranes into a safe condition;
wherein the master controller unit is configured to be operable for controlling the first motion axis of the first crane to operate in unison with the first motion axis of the second crane and at the same time also controlling the second motion axis of the first crane to operate independently from and/or non-synchronous with the second motion axis of the second crane.

1 more element

A crane control system for controlling cranes, the crane control system comprising:

a master controller unit including a user interface for receiving user commands to control cranes, the master controller unit being configured to respond to user commands input at the user interface to output command signals directed to two or more cranes, each crane of the two or more cranes having at least two motion axes, the command signals directing at least one motion axis of one crane to operate in unison with at least one motion axis of another crane;
the user interface including a position selection mechanism configured to allow the user to select a position among a plurality of positions;
and
in response to selection of a position among the plurality of positions, the master controller unit outputting command signals directed to the two or more cranes to direct the cranes to move to the selected position,
wherein the master controller unit is configured to be operable for controlling a first motion axis of a first crane to operate in unison with a first motion axis of a second crane and at the same time also controlling a second motion axis of the first crane to operate independently from and/or non-synchronous with a second motion axis of the second crane.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method, system and related devices for operating multiple cranes in unison

Life of this patent

Method, system and related devices for operating multiple cranes in unison

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16