Crane automation and mechanical damping methods

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of automation systems in the industry has undergone a rapid development process, has started to be understood better and the need for a trained labor force has increased in the field. With the advances automation system, more tasks that are normally performed or controlled by humans are achived by machines or automatic systems. Thus, both faster production and higher production performances are achived by machine while labor is utilized other area where it is less hazardaous to human health. To operate such systems safely and economically, advanced control systems are needed. In this study, the transportation of a load with variable load and height have been automated by Zero Vibration (ZV) input shaping and Neural Network (NN) intelligent control methods in the Matlab/Simulink environment. In addition, the mechanical damping methods have been developed against external forces. It has been shown that this is necessary not only for positioning a load with minimum oscillation but also for balancing it against wind forces. The presented study provides theoretical analysis of the problem, related state of the art industrial applications, the results of the simulation and the experimental studies of the proposed techniques.