Automatic Coil-Handling Crane Control System

Lots of researches and applications on the automated overhead cranes in shops have been done for some decades, but a few successful results are reported. A more reasonable control system fit to requirements of manufacturing industries is suggested in the study. The controller was designed in the continuous time domain by loop-shaping method. Sway of the rope is suppressed by anti-sway control method. The sway angle of the rope is measured by a sway angle sensor which is mechanically in contact with the rope. The real-time control law is comprised of the position and the anti-sway controller. Some algorithms required for coil yard operation as well as main control algorithms such as reference position generation, position control and anti-sway control have been designed and fully tested on a crane in the steel-making works. The designed crane control system showed satisfactory performance on position control accuracy and anti-sway of rope. The maximum positional error is 20mm and the maximum sway error is 0.07 degrees in the destination position.