Development and comparison of a vision system for hook inspection on cranes

Overhead cranes are industrial machines that can cause user accidents due to deficiencies in inspecting their various components. One of the activities consists of verifying that the load hook does not exceed the limit deformation. However, the lack of historical records and negligence in visual inspection is a problem to ensure a correct maintenance service. Therefore, the objective of the research was to develop a vision system capable of inspecting, recording, and verifying the hook parameters. The method involved designing a vision module on an integral crane scanner system. A five-state deformation experiment of a cargo hook was modeled with ANSYS and fabricated in 3D printing to validate the proposed module by measuring the parameters manually with a commercial and proprietary vision system. The comparison between the two systems was satisfactory in detecting the latch and the correct position. Finally, the proprietary system improved the resolution up to 0.0435 mm on the hook deformation. With the systems contribution, it will be possible to know the valuable and safe life of the crane hook by automatic constant inspection.