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Design of a self-balancing tower crane

Conference Paper · January 2008

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2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

Design of a self-balancing tower crane.

J. J. RUBIO AVILA, R. ALCÁNTARA-RAMÍREZ, J. JAIMES-PONCE, AND I. I. SILLER-ALCALÁ.
Departamento de Electrónica, Grupo Control de Procesos
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
Av. San Pablo No. 180, Col. Reynosa Tamaulipas, Del. Azcapotzalco, C. P.0200, México D.F.
MÉXICO
sai@correo.azc.uam.mx

Abstract: - This paper presents the design of a new concept of tower crane, which was greatly reduced the
burden and eliminates the anchor, as will be “self-balancing” which involves removing the anchor replaced by a
sliding counterweight trolley. The paper involves the design of the mechanics and simulations based on its model
and a PID control in order to check optimal performance.

Key-Words: - PID Control, Crane Control, Modeling, Mechanical Cranes.

1 Introduction The second technique is based on the feedback of the

Overall a crane is a mechanical system designed to position and angle of oscillation of the load [10].
hoist and move loads through a hook suspended from The third technique is based on divide the controller
a cable. In the construction industry, where it is in two parts, control anti-sway and another control of
needed lift, it is often used cranes that are anchored or the position of the load [10]. Each of them designed
subject to a ballast [1] [2]. In most designs, it aims to separately and combined to ensure the performance
have the center of gravity of the system located at the and stability of the system.
base, and so the center of mass obligate the system to Although much research is concentrated on the
remain in balance, regardless of the magnitude of the generation of trajectories, since cranes are being
load, which is much minor to the total mass of the assembled by any anchoring system or excessive
crane. In the cranes tower, the load lifted must be ballast, in this work we use the second technique with
able to move, an action that is done by a trolley along the application of classical control laws to achieve a
the boom, reaching the counterweight in the counter self-balancing and proper functioning, as well as
boom a fixed distance regard to the tower. This devices actuators and sensors for the positioning of
principle of operation limits the weight can be lifted counterweight and the joints further.
by making it dependent on the distance you want to
move in the bloom. This limitation is related to the
balance that generates the counterweight, ballast and
load. Fig. 1.1 shows the weights that cranes tower can
lift according to the length of displacement along the
boom As mentioned in [2] at present, control cranes
are moving from manual operation, which depended
on the ability of an operator, to an automatic control,
especially when they are very big and move loads at
high speeds. Hence, new methods of automation are
being developed. For example combinations of
classic control laws with modern control laws [3], [4]
and [5], also fuzzy logic controllers are used [6], [7],
[8] and [9].To control automated cranes can be seen
several techniques:
The first technique is based on the generation of Figure 1 Displacement respect to the load.
trajectories [10] and [11] for transporting load from
one point to another with minimal sway of the load. 2 Design of the crane
That path will depend on the type of crane used, A tower crane as shown in Fig. 2.3, consists basically
because for some types such as bridge cranes will be [1] by:
relatively easy over the tower crane. These
techniques can be used optimal control.

ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 109 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

Specifying the dimensions desired, the experimental

tower crane designed is shown in Figure 5, being a
A) Mast good start to apply control laws classical and modern.
B) Bloom Noting the technical specifications, in e) indicates
C)Counter bloom that the tower height is 45 cm, choosing this length so
D Counterweight that the crane is not very high and has increased
E) Ballast
F) Trolley
stability, it will also rely on a structure as the
building, which in our case is going to be a table of
100 cm in height shown in Figure 5, emulating a
Figure 2. Overview of a crane parts building. This crane does not have mechanical system
of displacement. In f) states that the maximum
The operation of the proposed crane is based on the height of the vertical displacement of the load (m1)
balance of moments as shown in Fig. 1.6. And given should be 130 cm, noting that in Fig 5, it is the sum
by the relationship F1 x D1 = F2 x D2. of the height of the table plus 30 cm in lifting crane,
this load is going to be at least 15 cm below the
highest point of the bloom.

Figure 3. Relationship moments in balance

The proposed crane in this paper reduces the ballast

and eliminates the anchor, since it will be "auto
balancing''. The concept of self-balancing involves
eliminating anchoring system, which is replaced by a
movable counterweight as shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 5. Experimental crane tower on a table

Here are just a few pieces for the design of the crane.

Figure 4. General Outline of the crane self-balancing 2.1.1 Mast and slewing mechanism of the
crane.
2.1 Mechanical Design of the crane. The mast consists of a group of parts, so that half is
To achieve the mechanical design of the tower crane, fixed to the base, and the other half can be rotated.
initially technical specifications are required, both the The parts are displayed in Fig. 5.7.
mechanical and the electrical and electronic
components, such as motors, sensors, circuit cards, A) lower Mast
B) Stand of rotation motor
etc. C) Base or slewing stand
The general specification are: with swivel bearings
Crane: D) Pinion Drawing
A) Type: Tower E) Gear Drawing
B) Material: Aluminium and iron F) higher mast
C) Length of the boom: 160 cm
D) Length of counter boom 60 cm Figure 6. Mast and base
E) The tower height: 45 cm
F) Maximum height of load 130 cm The reason they are two sections with almost the
displacement: same length, it is because at half mast are the
G) Maximum weight of the load: 1000 g mechanical elements of rotation as shown in Fig. 7,
H) Speed lifting of the load: 5 cm / sec gear, (small gear) pinion and motor, which by its
I) Angle maximum load balancing: 3° dimensions occupy considerable space, and if these
J) Rotation angle of the tower: 360 ° traction elements are placed near the junction of the

ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 110 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

mast and the bloom, they take away the space to the
lifting elements and mass displacement m1, as well as
the displacement of counterweight (mass m2).

Figure 11. Internal Supports of the mast and internal screw

Figure 7 Perspective half mast Figure 8 Gear assembled
stand motor at the upper mast

The second part of the mast is joined to form a single

piece gear. As shown in Fig. 5.9, as well as the basis,
the gear has a slot where the mast top is assembled.

Figure 12. Boom and counter boom of the crane

2.13 Trolleys for the movement of the load m1

Figure 9. Gear and pinion in detail
An important element to give rigidity to the mast is a
screw 2.54 cm (½ in) in diameter and 40 cm long,
which is placed in the middle and along the mast
coupled with bearings that are shown in Fig.10 and
they are assembled by pressure on the internal
supports of the mast, in the slewing gear and support
of motor rotation, preventing torsion forces affecting
the slewing support.
and counterweight m2.
The trolley shown in Fig. 13, consists of a chassis or
metal base and four wheels which are to move into
two rails. The rails that belong to the boom are longer
than those of the counter boom. The trolley will be
moved through a steel cable and a pair of sheaves,
one of which is coupled to the motor of displacement
and the other is coupled to the sensor (encoder) for
measuring the distance travelled in one direction or
another.

Figure 10. Bearings for vertical support Figure 13. a) Bottom of the car, b) A car on rails

2.1.2 Boom and counter boom. 2.1.4 System of horizontal displacement of the
In the commercial crane, the boom, counter boom masses m1 and m2
and mast are built with tubular bars and / or angular, The displacement system of mass m1 is constituted
forming a lightweight structure and strong at the by the pieces displayed in Fig.14.
same time. In the case of the experimental crane has
decided to use aluminium bar, because it avoids
manufacture every component of the boom and
counter boom, satisfying with the characteristics of
weight and resistance to be desired. As shown in Fig.
12, taking advantage of the length of aluminium bar, Figure 14. Displacement System of mass m1.
the boom and the counter boom are the in the same
bar.

ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 111 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

Likewise, the displacement system of mass m2 2.1.6 Crane Tower

consists of the pieces displayed in Fig. 15. The crane assembled is shown in Figs. 19 and 20

Figure 15. Displacement System of the mass m2

2.1.5 The hoisting mechanism and measuring

of load weight (mass m1) Figure 19. Front and back of the crane
The hoisting mechanism of mass m1 consists of the
following elements.
Sheave encoder
of hoisting
Drum
Drum Gear
Hoisting Motor
Pinion of hoisting
motor
Sheave of load
m1

Figure 16. The hoisting mechanism of mass m1 Figure 20. Mast and additional elements

3. Model of the proposed tower crane

In this section is considered the load hoisting (mass
m1) and the horizontal displacement of the
counterweight (mass m2) to maintain balance.

Figure 17. Approach system elevation of the mass m1

Elements of measurement of weight are formed Figure 21. Balancing moments in the crane, when the
basically by: distance of the counterweight is adjusted.
A) Load Cell The Lagrangian is given by:
B) Load sheave of mass m1
L = KT − VT (1)
C) Sheave support of load
The load sheave is fixed to load cell through a Where
support, also the load cell is fixed to trolley as shown L = Lagrangian of the system
in Fig.18. KT =Total Kinetic energy of the system, and
VT = Total potential energy of the system.
Considering linear movements, from Fig. 21 is
obtained the following equations:
x1 = −r1 sin θ1 (2)
y1 = r1 cos θ1 (3)
x2 = r2 (4)
y2 = h2 = 0 (5)
Figure 18. Weight measurement system Therefore Euler Lagrange equation for r1 is given by

ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 112 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

∂  ∂L   ∂L 
  −   = τ r1
∂t  ∂r&1   ∂r1 
(6)
The model is obtained as:
 r2     r2 r1  &    r2  
  m2 0 0  0 0 −   m2θ1   −   m2 g   
 l1 cos θ1    &&
r1    l1 cos θ1  0   l1   τ r1 
 0 m2 0   &&
r  + 0 0 0 0+ 0  = τ 
  2       r2 
  r2  θ&&  0 0
2   1
0  θ&1   r2 r1   τθ
 0 0 J1 +   m2 r1      m2 g tan θ1   1  Figure 24. The position amplification of the
  l1 cos θ1      l1  

(7) counterweight (mass m2)

4. Analysis and simulation results with The oscillation of the mass m1 is shown in Fig. 25,
the control laws selected with an initial angle of 3° (0,054 rad), hoisting the
In order to tuning the controller, constants were mass m1 from 0.8 [m] to 0.4 [m] and in Fig. 26 is
chosen to obtain a over damped response, these hoisted from 0.8 [m] to 0.2 [m], clearly observed that
parameters are in the Table 1. It is important to the frequency of oscillation is increased by reducing
mention that parameters provide a better response the value of r1, as previously mentioned.
because avoid overshoots in the movement response
of the two masses m1 and m2. These overshoots can
generate considerable forces due to inertia of the
masses, causing an imbalance in the moments and
therefore the inevitable collapse of the crane.
Kpr1 Kdr1 Kir1 Kpr2 Kdr2 Kir2 m1 (Kg) m2 Kg) r1 J1
3000 500 100 1000 100 95 1 4 0.2 0 Figure 25. Angle oscillation of the burden (angle q1)
Table 1 Parameters simulation PID control

4.1 PID control with sway of the mass m1.

The Oscillation Angle = 3° = 0,054 rad is considered.
In Fig. 22 can be seen that by lifting the load from an
initial value of 0.8 [m] to 0.2 [m] an permanent error
Figure 26. Angle oscillation of the burden (angle q1)
very small is presented, which can be reduced by
increasing gain Kp, in order to avoid overshoot it is
necessary to increase the constant Kv. In the same 4.2 PID control with anti-sway of mass m1.
way, the displacement of the mass m2 shown in Fig. The control anti-sway of load is very important [12],
23, the parameters are chosen to provide a over [7], [3] and [13], as for example for other cranes, the
damped response, in order to keeping the balance of control sway allows transportation of load in the
the crane. shortest time, however, excessive oscillation in a
In Fig. 24, it can be seen as r2d has an oscillation due tower crane, can be a cause of the imbalance and
to the compensation being made by the Control law, hence the collapse of the system.
Kpr1 Kdr1 Kir1 Kpr2 Kd r2 K r2
by the forces generated due to the oscillation of mass
m1; r2 tries to follow r2d, which is not shown in Fig. 1500 100 50 750 120 30
23.
Kpθ1 Kdθ1 Kiθ1 M1(Kg) m2Kg) r1 J1
350 15 3 1 4 0.2 0

Table 2. Parameters simulation PID control with anti-sway

Figure 22. Response of r1 (length of the cable that holds The responses obtained by applying PID control are
the load) shown in Figs. 27 and 28, which avoid overshoots.

Figure 23. Position of the counterweight (mass m2) Figure 27. Performance of r1 (cable that holds the load)

ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 113 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008
Figure 28. Position counterweight (m2)
Figure 29. Amplification of the counterweight position m2
Figure 30. Oscillation Angle of the load q1
In Fig. 30 an oscillation damped is shown because a
control law is applied in order to get angle θ1 = 0.
This is achieved by moving the trolley with m1 along
the boom, being this third degree of freedom. In the
simulation with oscillation of m1 the trolley remains
fixed, and therefore there is no control over the angle
θ1. Comparing the Figs. 29 where position m2 is
amplified, with its angle θ1 corresponding, r2d
presents a small oscillation not uniform, which is
related in magnitude with the damping of its angle
θ1, taking a fixed value once the angle θ1 = 0.
5. Conclusions
The dynamic model used and described in Ec. 7
consists of three quations, where each one
corresponding to each degree of freedom of the crane.
This means that if τ θ1 = 0, there is no control over
the angle θ1, then only have control over two degrees
of freedom, r1 and r2, and as a consequence is free
oscillation in the load.
If τ θ1 is a control law, then we have a third
articulation that will compensate the oscilation of the
load (m1), which corresponds to the displacement of
the trolley that moves the load along the mast.
Therefore the dynamic model is very representative
of the proposed tower crane on different forms of
control, which was checked with the simulation.
In the simulation of each control law and with
different values of the parameters, it is found that the
dynamic model is correct and covers the most
ISSN: 1790-5117
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important features of a mechanical crane to ensure
when it is built it could be made a good control, in
addition it can be ensure that with a modern control
law it may be controlled much better.
The path has been followed for the development of
the crane self-balancing, it has been in the first place
modelling and then its simulation, considering that
from these steps it can be defined with great accuracy
factors that determine a good behaviour of the system
to design and build.
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ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3
2nd WSEAS Int. Conf. on CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, SIGNAL and TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CISST'08)Acapulco, Mexico, January 25-27, 2008

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL

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ISSN: 1790-5117
Page 115 ISBN: 978-960-6766-34-3

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