Tower Crane Innovation

Design, Construction and

Control of a Novel
Tower Crane José de Jesús Rubio, Jaime Pacheco
Section of Graduate Studies and Research (ESIME) - José de Jesús Rubio Roberto Alcántara
Azcapotzalco, National Polytechnic Institute
Av. de las Granjas, No. 682, Col. Sta. Catarina., C.P.
02550, Delg. Azcapotzalco México D.F., MÉXICO
Roberto Alcántara, Jorge Jaimes, Irma Siller
Department of Electronics, Process Control Panel
Metropolitan Autonomous University, Av. San
Pablo No. 180, Col. Reynosa Tamaulipas, C.P.0200,
Delg. Azcapotzalco, México D.F., MÉXICO
Jorge Jaimes Irma Siller

O
verall a crane is a mechanical system de The first technique is based on the generation of
signed to hoist and move loads through a trajectories [10] and [11] for transporting load from
hook suspended from a cable. In the con- one point to another with minimal sway of the load.
struction industry, where it is needed lifting, often That path will depend on the type of crane used, as in
times they use, cranes that are anchored or subject to certain types of cranes viz., bridge cranes the opera-
a ballast [1] [2]. In most designs, it aims to have the tion is relatively easier over the tower crane. These
center of gravity of the system located at the base, techniques can be used for optimal control.
and so the center of mass obligate the system to
The second technique is based on the feedback of
remain in balance, regardless of the magnitude of the
the position and angle of oscillation of the load [10].
load, which is much minor to the total mass of the
crane. In the crane’s tower, the load lifted must be The third technique is by dividing the controller
able to move, an action that is done by a trolley along into two parts into control anti-sway and that of the
the boom, reaching the counterweight in the counter other control of the position of the load [10]. Each of
boom at a fixed distance with regard to the tower. them are designed separately and combined to ensure
This principle of operation limits the weight that can the performance and stability of the system.
be lifted by making it dependent on the distance you
want to move in the boom. This limitation is related
to the balance that generates the counterweight,
ballast and load. Fig. 1.1 shows the weights that
tower cranes 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] apart from fuzzy
logic controllers are used [6], [7], [8] and [9].To
control automated cranes several techniques exist: Figure 1 Displacement respect to the load

The Masterbuilder - June 2009 39

Tower Crane Innovation
Design, Construction and Control of a Novel Tower Crane

Although much research is concentrated on the both the mechanical and the electrical and electronic
generation of trajectories, since cranes are being assembled components, such as motors, sensors, circuit cards,
by many anchoring systems or excessive ballast, we use etc. The general specification are:
the second technique here, with the application of classical
control laws to achieve a self-balancing and proper Crane:
functioning with devices, actuators and sensors for the Type : Tower
positioning of counterweight and the joints further.
Material : Aluminium and iron
Design of the crane
Length of the boom : 160 cm
A tower crane as shown in Fig. 2. 3, consists Length of counter boom : 60 cm
basically [1] with:
The tower height : 45 cm
Maximum height of
load displacement : 130 cm
Maximum weight of the load : 1000 g
Speed lifting of the load : 5 cm / sec
Angle maximum load balancing : 3°
Rotation angle of the tower : 360°
Specifying the dimensions desired, the experimental
tower crane is designed as shown in Figure 5, being a
Figure 3 Relationship good start to apply control laws classical and modern.
moments in balance
Noting the technical specifications, in e) indicates
Figure 2 Overview of a crane parts that the tower height is 45 cm, choosing this length
so that the crane is not very high and has increased
The operation of the proposed crane being based
stability, it will also rely on a structure as the build-
on the balance of moments as shown in Fig. 1.6. And
ing, which in our case is going to be a table of 100 cm
given by the relationship F1 x D1 = F2 x D2.
in height shown in Figure 5, emulating a building.
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.
Mechanical Design of the crane
To achieve the mechanical design of the tower
crane, initially technical specifications are required,

Figure 4 General Outline of the crane self-balancing Figure 5. Experimental crane tower on a table

40 The Masterbuilder - June 2009

Tower Crane Innovation
Design, Construction and Control of a Novel Tower Crane

Figure 6. Mast and base Figure 7 Perspective half Figure 8 Gear assembled Figure 9. Gear and pinion in detail
mast stand motor at the upper mast

This crane does not have mechanical system of
displacement. In f) states that the maximum height of
the vertical displacement of the load (m1) should be
130 cm, noting that in Fig 5, it is the sum 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 boom.
Here are just a few pieces for the design of the crane.
Mast and slewing mechanism of the crane.
The mast consists of a group of parts, so that half
is fixed to the base, and the other half can be rotated.
The parts are displayed in Fig. 5,7.
The reason there are two sections with almost
the same length is because at half mast there are the
mechanical elements of rotation as shown in Fig. 7,
gear, (small gear) pinion and motor, which by their
dimensions occupy considerable space, and if these
traction elements are placed near the junction of the
mast and the boom, they take away
the space to the lifting elements and
mass displacement m1, as well as
the displacement of counterweight
(mass m2).
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.
An important element to give Figure 10. Bearings for vertical support
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.
Boom and counter boom.
In the commercial crane, the boom, counter
boom and mast are built with tubular bars and / or
angular, forming a lightweight structure and strong
at the same time. In the case of the experimental
crane has decided to use aluminium bar, because it
avoids manufactuing of every component of the
boom and counter boom, satisfying with the charac-
teristics of weight and resistance to be desired. As
shown in Fig. 12, taking advantage of the length of
aluminium bar, the boom and the counter boom are
in the same bar.
Figure 11. Internal Supports of the mast
and internal screw

42 The Masterbuilder - June 2009

Tower Crane Innovation
Design, Construction and Control of a Novel Tower Crane

Figure 15. Displacement System of the mass m2

The hoisting mechanism and measuring of load
weight (mass m1)
The hoisting mechanism of mass m1 consists of
Figure 12. Boom and counter boom of the crane
the following elements.
Trolleys for the movement of the load m1 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 Figure 16 Balancing moments in the crane, when the distance of the
counterweight is adjusted
displacement and the other is coupled to the sensor
(encoder) for measuring the distance travelled in one Model of the proposed tower crane
direction or another. In this section let us consider the load hoisting
(mass m1) and the horizontal displacement of the
System of horizontal displacement of the masses
counterweight (mass m2) to maintain balance.
m1 and m2
The Lagrangian is given by: L = KT - VT - (1)
The displacement system of mass m1 is consti-
Where, L = Lagrangian of the system, KT = Total
tuted by the pieces displayed in Fig.14.
Kinetic energy of the system, and VT = Total potential
Likewise, the displacement system of mass m2 energy of the system.
consists of the pieces displayed in Fig. 15. Considering linear movements, from Fig. 16 is
obtained the following equations:
- (2), - (3), x2 = r2 - (4),
y2 = h2 = 0 - (5)
Therefore Euler Lagrange equation for r1 is given by
Figure 13. a) Bottom of the car, b) A car on rails
- (6)

The model is obtained as:

Figure 14 Displacement System of mass m1

44 The Masterbuilder - June 2009

Tower Crane Innovation
Design, Construction and Control of a Novel Tower Crane
Kpr1 Kdr1 Kir1 Kpr2 Kdr2 Kir2 m1 (Kg) m2 Kg)
3000 500 100 1000 100 95 1 4
Table 1 Parameters simulation PID control
Analysis and simulation results with the control
laws selected
In order to tuning the controller, constants were
chosen to obtain a over damped response and these
parameters are shown in Table 1. It is important to
mention that parameters provide a better response
to 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.
Conclusions
The dynamic model used and described in Ec. 7
consists of three quations, where each one corre-
sponds to each degree of freedom of the crane. This
means that if ιθ1 = 0, there is no control over the
angle θ1, causing a control of just over two degrees
of freedom, r1 and r2, and resulting in free oscilla-
tion in the load.
If ιθ1 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 representa-
tive 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
important features of a mechanical crane to ensure
good control when it is built apart from ensuring
that with a modern control law it may be controlled
much better.
The path followed for the development of the
crane self-balancing, is first modelling and then its
simulation. Considering these steps it can be factors
that determine a good behaviour of the system to
46 The Masterbuilder - June 2009
r1 J1 design and build, can be determined with great
accuracy.
0.2 0
References
h Joaquín Costa Centena, "Diseño de una grúa automontable de 8.000
N y 22 m de flecha". Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial
de Barcelona. Tesis para obtener el título de Ingeniero Industrial.
h Mazin Z. Othman. A New Approach for Controlling Overhead
Traveling Crane Using Rough Controller - INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 1
NUMBER 3 2006 ISSN 1305-6417.
h Rigoberto Toxqui Toxqui. "Control con anti-oscilación para una Grúa
en tres dimensiones en tiempo real". CINVESTAV. Tesis para obtener
el grado de Doctor en Ciencias en la especialidad de Control
Automático. Agosto del 2006.
h Rigoberto Toxqui , Wen Yu, Xiaoou Li. "PD Control of Overhead
Crane with Velocity Estimation and Uncertainties Compensation".
Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Control and Automation,
June 21 - 23, 2006, Dalian, China.
h J. de Jesus Rubio, J. Jaimes P. y R. Alcántara R., "Sliding Mode
Control for a New Crane System", paper aceptado (# IS 2 - 09) para
ser presentado en forma oral en la sesión Sliding mode control de la
13th IEEE International Conference on Methods and Models in
Automation and Robotics, Szczecin, Poland, August 2007.
h Nally M. J. and M. B. Tarbia, "Design of a Fuzzy Logic Controller for
Swing-Damped Transport of an Overhead Crane Payload," in
Proceedings of the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division,
DSC Vol. 58, 1994.
h Mahfouf M., Kee C.H., and Linkens D.A., "Fuzzy Logic-Based Anti-
Sway Control Design for Overhead Cranes," Neural Computing and
Applications, Vol. 9, 2000.
h Ho-Hoon Lee and Sung-Kun C. "A Fuzzy-Logic Antiswing Controller for
Three-Dimensional Overhead Cranes", a, Tulane University, USA, 2002.
h Chunshien Li and Chun-Yi Lee. "Fuzzy Motion Control of an Auto-
Warehousing Crane System". IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 48, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2001.
h Hanafy M. Omar. "Control of Gantry and Tower Cranes". Dissertation
submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Mechanics.
h Ho-Hoon Lee. "A New Motion-Planning Scheme for Overhead
Cranes With High-Speed Hoisting". Journal of Dynamic Systems,
Measurement, and Control JUNE 2004, Vol. 126.
h Michael J. Agostini, Student Member, IEEE, Gordon G. Parker, Member,
IEEE, Hanspeter Schaub, Kenneth Groom, and Rush D. Robinett,
III. "Generating Swing-Suppressed Maneuvers for Crane Systems
With Rate Saturation". IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL
SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 11, NO. 4, JULY 2003.
h Robert H. Overton. "Anti-sway Control for Rotating Boom Cranes".
United State Patents. Pattent No. 5,961,563. Oct. 5, 1999.