Finnish crane load sway control specialist Innocrane has automated a 55t slab-handling crane for Rautaruukki Steel.
The crane was retrofitted with new AC adjustable frequency drives and PLC system for controlling the crane movements.
The crane receives information about slab size, weight and storage position from the plant’s slab management database.
The control system then calculates the middle point of the slab, then the crane automatically picks it up and moves it into the storage position.
Load sway is controlled by means of the ICRAS system. Innocrane says that ICRAS does not measure the load sway angle and so is suitable for automating cranes in hostile industrial environments like steel plants.
As crane cycle times can be critical, the load sway control can drive both the travelling motions and the hoist simultaneously to minimise handling time, says the manufacturer.
