Overview
Challenge
Overhead bridge crane collisions are costly, reduce productivity, and can cause structural damage, derailing, and girder collapse. These damages can require a shutdown, or worse, result in worker related injuries.
An auto manufacturer in Tennessee wanted to install anti-collision to prevent 3 cranes from colliding. These cranes are used for die handling. The auto manufacturer’s environment is harsh due to the oil mist in the air from the stamping operation. This oil mist covered sensors and reflectors and rendered the anti-collision useless. They had previously installed competitive systems but were not satisfied with their limited range and robustness.
Solutions
We provided Crane Sentry® systems for collision detection to 3 cranes. The outer two cranes were equipped with single laser devices and the inner crane was provided with a dual laser system. Crane Sentry® provides a modular, easily configurable, and economical approach to monitoring crane position, detecting potential collisions and controlling stops and speed.
The laser sensors used on Crane Sentry® systems can measure more targets and is less affected by environmental issues that will often stop competitive systems. An added benefit is that we can measure natural targets further before requiring a reflector plate. All optical sensors need cleaning at times, but the laser sensors used on Crane Sentry® have typically gone over 1 year between cleanings in this misty environment.
