Crane device and crane control system

Abstract

To provide a crane device and a crane control system that can store latest operation information of the crane device in a data server and enable browsing of operation information large in volume or emergency information at a portable information display terminal when necessary.SOLUTION: The crane device comprises: a plurality of driving electric motors that include at least a hoisting electric motor and a moving electric motor; a crane control unit that controls each driving electric motor; and a communication unit that is connected to the crane control unit. The communication unit has a function of periodically transmitting operation information to a cloud server through a long-distance communication network, and a function of transmitting the operation information to a portable information display terminal through a short-distance communication network in response to a request from the information display terminal. Latest operation information of the crane device can be stored in a data server, and further the operation information can be read at the portable information display terminal when necessary.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a crane apparatus and a crane control system, and more particularly to a crane apparatus and a crane control system which transmit and receive operation information and the like to and from an external information device. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in a building such as a factory, a crane device is installed which is equipped with a hoisting motor that moves a suspended load, such as a manufactured structural part, in the vertical direction, and a moving motor that moves the suspended load along a rail installed on the ceiling side.

[0003] The hoisting motor runs along a rail installed along the ceiling of the building and is equipped with a rope drum around which the wire rope is wound. This rope drum is rotated by the hoisting motor and has the function of winding up and paying out the wire rope connected to the load.

[0004] The crane device is also provided with a travel motor for running on rails, and the hoisting motor is moved along the rails by driving the travel motor. In the following, either or both of the hoisting motor and the travel motor may be collectively referred to as the drive motor.

[0005] In such a crane device, it is necessary to grasp the operating status of the crane device and perform maintenance and management. Meanwhile, the driving motor for hoisting and moving is mainly installed on the ceiling of the factory, and its control unit is generally integrated with the driving motor. When checking the operating information of the driving motor during maintenance and management such as inspection and troubleshooting, the maintenance worker needs to climb up to the ceiling where the driving motor is installed. Therefore, depending on the installation location of the driving motor, it may take time to ensure safety, such as preparing a high-altitude work vehicle.

[0006] To solve such problems, for example, a crane management system described in JP 2014-34260 A (Patent Document 1) is known. In Patent Document 1, a first information processing device provided in the drive motor acquires operation information, and the collected operation information is transmitted to a portable second information processing device carried near the first control device, so that the operation information of the drive motor can be confirmed from the floor near the drive motor without having to climb up to the ceiling where the drive motor is installed.

[0007] In the crane management system of Patent Document 1, a first information processing device capable of controlling the operation according to each purpose of hoisting, traversing, and traveling is attached to the crane apparatus, and a second information processing device is configured to request the first information processing device to transmit information related to the operation of the first information processing device, receive information transmitted from the first information processing device in response to this request, and associate the received information as operation information of the crane apparatus and store it in its own storage means. Furthermore, the second information control device can also be configured to be able to communicate with a third control device such as a cloud server. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] JP 2014-34260 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] In Patent Document 1, the first information processing device and the second control device are equipped with communication devices equipped with wireless communication modules capable of short-distance communication such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark) and Bluetooth (registered trademark). Therefore, unless the second information processing device is carried within the range of the radio waves transmitted by the first information processing device, various information cannot be collected. For example, the remaining life of the components of the crane apparatus cannot be constantly calculated, which may result in overlooking the fact that the components of the crane apparatus have reached the end of their life.

[0010] In addition, although communication can be performed via Internet with a data server such as a cloud serving as the third information processing device, the third information processing device is configured to be able to communicate only with the second information processing device, and therefore unless the second information processing device obtains operation information from the first information processing device, the second information processing device cannot send the latest information to the third information processing device, and so there is a problem in that the third information processing device cannot sequentially obtain the latest operation information.

[0011] For example, even if the remaining life is calculated on the data server side as mentioned above, the remaining life cannot be calculated unless the second information processing device is carried within the range of the radio waves transmitted by the first information processing device.

[0012] An object of the present invention is to provide a crane apparatus and a crane control system that can successively store operation information of a crane apparatus in a data server and further enable the operation information to be viewed on a portable information display terminal as required. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] The present invention provides a crane apparatus comprising a plurality of drive motors including at least a hoisting motor and a travel motor, a crane control unit that controls each of the drive motors, and a communication unit connected to the crane control unit, wherein the communication unit has a function of periodically transmitting operation information of the crane apparatus to a cloud server via a long-distance communication network, and a function of transmitting operation information to a portable information display terminal via a short-distance communication network in response to a request from the information display terminal. Effect of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, the latest operation information of a crane device can be stored in a data server, and further, the operation information can be viewed on a portable information display terminal as required. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a crane apparatus to which the present invention is applied; [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a crane control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of the crane control system shown in FIG. 2. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a crane control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a crane control system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a crane control system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] 11 is a circuit diagram showing a method of supplying power to a wireless communication unit. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment, and various modifications and application examples within the technical concept of the present invention are also included within its scope.

[0017] FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an inverter type crane device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a crane control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] In Fig. 1, the inverter crane device is composed of a crane hook 1, a wire rope 2, a hoisting induction motor 3, a hoisting drum 4, a traverse induction motor 5, traverse wheels 6, a traverse girder 7, a traveling induction motor 8, a traveling wheel 9, a traveling girder 10, a hoisting / traverse inverter control device 11, an operation input device 12 suspended from a cable, a traveling inverter control device 13, etc. In addition, the hoisting induction motor 3, the traverse induction motor 5, and the traveling induction motor 8 each have an induction motor brake 14 (see Fig. 2) built in.

[0019] The inverter crane device moves a load attached to a crane hook 1 in the vertical direction (Y direction, indicated by the arrow in the -Y direction), i.e., up and down, by winding up and down a wire rope 2 with a hoisting drum 4 rotated by a hoisting induction motor 3. In addition, a traverse induction motor 5 rotates traverse wheels 6, which move the load in the left and right directions (X direction, indicated by the arrow in the -X direction) along a traverse girder 7. In addition, a traveling induction motor 8 rotates traveling wheels 9, which move the load in the front and back directions (Z direction, indicated by the arrow in the -Z direction) along a traveling girder 10.

[0020] As shown in Fig. 2, the hoisting / traversing inverter control device 11 incorporates a hoisting / traversing inverter control section 15, a hoisting inverter 16, and a traversing inverter 17. The traveling inverter control device 13 incorporates a traveling inverter control section 18 and a traveling inverter 19. The hoisting / traversing inverter control section 15 and the traveling inverter control section 18 are connected by a communication line (wired) 20.

[0021] The hoisting induction motor 3 and the traverse induction motor 5 are controlled by a hoisting / traverse inverter control unit 15 stored in the hoisting / traverse inverter control device 11. That is, when an operator inputs a predetermined instruction from the operation input device 12, the hoisting / traverse inverter control unit 15 provides operation information required for control to the hoisting inverter 16 and the traverse inverter 17 in order to control them. An encoder 21 is attached to the hoisting induction motor 3, and inputs rotation information of the hoisting induction motor 3 to the hoisting / traverse inverter control unit 15.

[0022] The hoisting inverter 16 and the traverse inverter 17 apply the necessary frequency, voltage, and current to the hoisting induction motor 3 and the traverse induction motor 5, and at the same time control the release of the induction motor brake 14. As a result, in the case of the hoisting drum 4, the load attached to the crane hook 1 is moved vertically without falling, and in the case of the traverse wheels 6, the traverse wheels 6 are moved left and right along the traverse girder 7.

[0023] Similarly, when an operator inputs a specified instruction from the operation input device 12, the traveling induction motor 8 attached to the traveling wheel 9 is controlled by the traveling inverter control unit 18 stored in the traveling inverter control device 13, which controls the traveling inverter 19, and the traveling inverter 19 applies the required frequency, voltage, and current to the traveling induction motor 8, and at the same time controls the release of the induction motor brake 14, thereby moving the traveling wheel 9 in the forward / backward direction along the traveling girder 10.

[0024] Furthermore, the hoisting / traversing inverter control device 15 is provided with a wireless communication unit 22, and this wireless communication unit 22 is connected to the hoisting / traversing inverter control unit 15 by a communication line 23. Moreover, the traveling inverter control unit 19 is connected to the hoisting / traversing inverter control device 15 by a communication line 20. Therefore, operation information of the crane device in the traveling inverter control unit 19 and the hoisting / traversing inverter control device 15, and operation information of the electric motor (operation information such as current value and instantaneous current value) are sent to the wireless communication unit 22.

[0025] The wireless communication unit 22 includes a long-distance communication unit for performing long-distance (remote) communication and a short-distance communication unit for performing short-distance communication, and periodically communicates with the cloud server 24 and, as necessary, communicates with the portable information display terminal 26 in response to a request from the information display terminal 26. The wireless communication unit 22 also includes a communication antenna 22L for performing long-distance communication and a communication antenna 22S for performing short-distance communication.

[0026] Wireless communication unit 22 is bidirectionally connected to communication antenna 25A of communication unit 25 of cloud server 24, which is composed of a data server equipped with a calculation function, via a long-distance communication network. Communication antenna 25A of cloud server 24 is also connected to portable information display terminal 26 equipped with a communication unit via a long-distance communication network. Furthermore, wireless communication unit 22 is bidirectionally connected to portable information display terminal 26 via a short-distance communication network. Communication unit 27 of information display terminal 25 is equipped with communication antenna 27L for long-distance communication and communication antenna 27S for short-distance communication.

[0027] The long-distance communication network may be an Internet communication network, a telephone line communication network, or a combination of these. The short-distance communication network may be a Wi-Fi communication network or a Bluetooth communication network.

[0028] Next, the flow of operation information and the like between the hoisting / traversing inverter control unit 15 of the crane apparatus, the cloud server 24, and the information display terminal 25 will be explained with reference to simplified Figs. 3 and 4. Figs. 3 and 4 have substantially the same configuration, but differ in that the traveling inverter control unit 18 is directly connected to the wireless communication unit 22 via the communication line 20. For this reason, the following explanation will be given with reference to Fig. 3.

[0029] In FIG. 3, unlike the management system shown in Patent Document 1, the communication unit 25 of the cloud server 24 can obtain operation information of the crane apparatus at the cloud server 24 installed in a remote location away from the factory, without the need to go to the factory where the hoisting / traverse inverter device 15 and the traveling inverter control unit 18 are installed.

[0030] The cloud server 24 has a function of periodically acquiring the latest operation information of the crane apparatus at predetermined time intervals and updating and storing the information in a storage unit (not shown). It also has an editing function and can create graphs, etc. In this way, the cloud server 24 can hold the latest operation information of the crane apparatus.

[0031] The wireless communication unit 22 on the crane device side and the communication unit 25 on the cloud server 24 side communicate with each other via a long distance communication network 28. As described above, the long distance communication network may be the Internet communication network, a telephone line communication network, or a combination of these. It is also possible to use a communication network other than these that allows long distance communication.

[0032] The information display terminal 27 has two communication systems, one of which is a long-distance communication network 28, which can use the Internet, a telephone line, or a combination of these. The other is a short-distance communication network 29, which can use a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth network.

[0033] The short-distance communication network 29 can establish communication by a maintenance worker carrying the information display terminal 26 to the crane device. Since the short-distance communication network 29 does not incur communication costs, it is suitable for transmitting a large amount of operation information. In addition, the operation information to be displayed on the information display terminal 26 can be directly transmitted. As the information display terminal 26, a tablet terminal, a smartphone, a personal computer, etc. can be used.

[0034] In the above, operation information of the crane apparatus is acquired by the hoisting / traversing inverter control unit 15 and the traveling inverter control unit 18. The acquired operation information is transmitted to the wireless communication unit 21 via a wired communication line 23 as shown in Fig. 3. Here, the operation information acquired by the traveling inverter control unit 18 may be transmitted to the hoisting / traversing inverter control unit 15 via a wired communication line 20, or may be transmitted directly to the wireless communication unit 22 as shown in Fig. 4.

[0035] The wireless communication unit 22 transmits the acquired operation information to the cloud server 24 via the long distance communication network 28. Here, the operation information is operation information sampled at relatively long time intervals, such as the operation time of the crane apparatus, the number of times the crane apparatus has been operated, and error information of the crane apparatus, and this information is periodically transmitted to the cloud server 24 at predetermined time intervals. Note that the amount of information per unit time of this operation information is small, and the communication costs of the long distance communication network 28 can be kept low.

[0036] Cloud server 24 stores the received operation information, and can also edit and create screen data and graph data for display from the operation information. The screen data and graph data created by cloud server 24 are then transmitted to information display terminal 26 via long distance communication network 28 in response to a request from information display terminal 26 of a maintenance worker.

[0037] The received screen data and graph data are displayed on the display screen of the information display terminal 26 so that the maintenance worker can view them. In addition, for example, the specifications of the crane device can be edited on the information display terminal 26, and this edited information can be transmitted to the cloud server 24 via the long distance communication network 28 and stored therein.

[0038] On the other hand, the operation instantaneous values ​​such as the current value of the motor during operation as the operation information are information that the maintenance management worker wants to grasp online as necessary in performing maintenance and management. If, as in Patent Document 1, the operation instantaneous values ​​of the motor are transmitted from the crane device to the cloud server 24 via the long-distance communication network 28, and then transmitted from the cloud server 24 to the information display terminal 26 via the long-distance communication network 28, it is possible to increase the frequency of communication between the wireless communication unit 22 and the cloud server 24, or to accumulate the operation instantaneous values ​​in the wireless communication unit 21 and transmit them to the cloud server 24 in a certain amount. However, such a method causes a problem that the amount of information sent by communication becomes large, which reduces the immediacy of the information and increases the communication cost.

[0039] Therefore, the information display terminal 26 and the wireless communication unit 22 of the crane device are connected via a short-range communication network 29 such as a Wi-Fi communication network or a Bluetooth communication network, and the above-mentioned instantaneous operation values ​​are directly transmitted to the information display terminal 26 in response to a request from the information display terminal 26. This makes it possible to solve problems such as a decrease in the immediacy of information and a rise in communication costs.

[0040] Here, the selection of the wireless communication unit 22 on the crane equipment side to which the information display terminal 26 connects via the short-range communication network 29 may be set on the information display terminal 26 side, or may be set from switching information obtained from the cloud server 24 via the long-distance communication network 28.

[0041] Thus, according to this embodiment, the operation information of the crane apparatus is periodically transmitted to the data server via long-distance communication, where it is stored and updated in the data server, and further transmitted to the information display terminal 26 in response to a request from the information display terminal via short-distance communication, so that the operation information can be viewed as necessary.

[0042] This makes it possible to periodically store the latest operation information of the crane equipment in the data server and constantly monitor the operating status of the crane equipment, enabling accurate remote monitoring. Furthermore, operation information containing a large amount of information, such as instantaneous operating values ​​of the motor current, can be viewed on a portable information display terminal as necessary, improving the immediacy of the information and reducing communication costs as much as possible.

[0043] In the above explanation, an external information device is connected to each crane device, but it is also possible to connect multiple crane devices together to an external information device. This method makes it possible to keep communication costs low overall. A specific example is explained below.

[0044] In Fig. 5, a crane control unit 30 consisting of the hoisting / traversing inverter control device 11 and the traveling inverter control device 13 shown in Fig. 2 is connected to an information aggregation communication unit 32 by a short-range communication network 31 such as a Wi-Fi communication network or a Bluetooth communication network. Therefore, operation information of each crane control unit 30 is collected by the information aggregation communication unit 32 via the short-range communication network 31. This information aggregation communication unit 32 is disposed, for example, in a position (near the ceiling of a house) where communication in a factory is not disturbed.

[0045] As described above, the information aggregation and communication unit 32 is connected to the cloud server 24 via the long-distance communication network 28. Furthermore, each crane control unit 30 is connected to the information display terminal 26 via the short-distance communication network 29.

[0046] The information aggregation and communication unit 32 adds individual identification information of each crane control unit 30 and transmits the operation information of the crane apparatus to the cloud server 24. As described above, the operation information is operation information sampled at relatively long time intervals, such as the operation time of the crane apparatus, the number of times the crane apparatus has been operated, and error information of the crane apparatus, and this information is periodically transmitted to the cloud server 24 at predetermined time intervals. Then, the cloud server 24 can accumulate, store, and further edit the operation information for each crane apparatus by referring to the identification information.

[0047] The information display terminal 26 is also connected to each crane control unit 30 via a short-distance communication network 29. By designating a crane control unit 30 on the information display terminal 26 side, communication can be executed with the designated crane control unit 30 via the short-distance communication network 29. In this case, as described above, when performing maintenance and management, instantaneous operating values ​​such as the current value of the motor during operation that the maintenance and management worker wishes to know online are transmitted to the information display terminal 26.

[0048] In the embodiment shown in Figure 5 described above, instantaneous operating values ​​such as the current value of the motor during operation that the maintenance worker wants to know online are transmitted to the information display terminal 26, but they can also be transmitted to the information aggregation and communication unit 32.

[0049] 6, in addition to the operation information of the crane apparatus, the operation instantaneous values ​​such as the current value of the motor during operation that the maintenance worker wants to know online are also transmitted to the information aggregation and communication unit 32. In this state, when a transmission request for the operation instantaneous values ​​is made from the information display terminal 26, the information aggregation and communication unit 32 transmits the obtained operation instantaneous values ​​of the crane apparatus to the information display terminal 26. In this embodiment, too, since the short-distance communication networks 31 and 29 are used, no communication costs are incurred, and the immediacy of the information is not impaired.

[0050] Next, a power supply system for the wireless communication unit 22 in the crane apparatus will be described. When the inverter crane apparatus is not being operated, it is common to operate the main power switch installed in the power supply unit of the inverter crane apparatus by operating the off button of the input device, thereby cutting off the power supply to the inverter crane apparatus.

[0051] In this case, however, the power supply to the wireless communication unit 22 is also cut off, so depending on the execution timing of the long distance communication network 28 with the cloud server 24, a phenomenon occurs in which the latest operation information cannot be transmitted to the cloud server 24.

[0052] In this embodiment, in order to eliminate this phenomenon, the configuration shown in Fig. 7 is adopted. As shown in Fig. 7, the crane control unit 30 is connected to a three-phase power supply via a main power supply switch 33. Therefore, power from a three-phase power supply 34 is supplied to the crane control unit 30. The main power supply switch 33 is controlled by an electromagnetic relay 35, and the electromagnetic relay 35 is operated by operating an input device (start button) 35.

[0053] Therefore, when the input device 35 is turned off, the main power switch is turned off by the electromagnetic relay 35, and the power supply to the crane control unit 30 is cut off. On the other hand, the wireless communication unit 22 is maintained in a state where communication is possible because power is directly supplied to the wireless communication unit 22 by the power supply line 37 connecting the three-phase power source 34 and the wireless communication unit 22. This makes it possible to transmit the latest operation information of the crane apparatus to the cloud server 24.

[0054] In addition to the power supply line 37, a configuration may be provided in which the power supply is not cut off even when the input device 36 is operated, for example a battery power supply, from which power may be directly supplied to the wireless communication unit 22.

[0055] As described above, the cloud server makes it possible to obtain the latest operating information of the crane apparatus at any time, and the status of the crane apparatus can be constantly monitored, so that remote status monitoring can be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, when monitoring the status of each of multiple crane apparatuses installed in the same location, an information aggregation and communication unit that communicates with the cloud server is provided, and the crane apparatuses and the information aggregation and communication unit are connected and aggregated via a short-range communication network, so that overall communication costs can be reduced.

[0056] The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but includes various modified examples. The above-mentioned embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to add, delete, or replace other configurations with respect to the configuration of each embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 11...hoisting / traverse inverter device, 12...input device, 13...traveling inverter device, 14...induction motor brake, 15...hoisting / traverse inverter control unit, 16...hoisting inverter, 17...traverse inverter, 18...traveling inverter control unit, 19...traveling inverter, 20...communication line, 22...wireless communication unit, 23...communication line, 24...cloud server, 25...communication unit, 26...information display terminal, 27...communication unit, 28...long-distance communication network, 29...short-distance communication network, 30...crane control unit, 31...short-distance communication network, 32...information aggregation communication unit.

Claims

1. A crane apparatus including a plurality of driving motors including at least a hoisting motor and a moving motor, a crane control unit that controls each of the driving motors, and a communication unit connected to the crane control unit, The communication unit is a function of periodically transmitting first operation information consisting of a predetermined amount of information acquired from the crane control unit to a cloud server via a long distance communication network; The crane control unit has a function of transmitting second operation information requested by the maintenance worker, the second operation information having a larger amount of information than the first operation information acquired from the crane control unit, to the information display terminal via a short-distance communication network in response to a request from the portable information display terminal carried by the maintenance worker. A crane apparatus comprising:

2. The crane apparatus according to claim 1, the long distance communication network is any one of an Internet communication network, a telephone line communication network, and a communication network that combines the Internet communication network and the telephone line communication network; The short-range communication network is either a Wi-Fi communication network or a Bluetooth communication network. A crane apparatus comprising:

3. The crane apparatus according to claim 2, the communication unit transmits the first operation information to the cloud server at predetermined time intervals; The communication unit transmits an instantaneous operating value of the driving motor as the second operation information to the information display terminal based on the request from the information display terminal. A crane apparatus comprising:

4. The crane apparatus according to claim 1, The communication unit is supplied with power directly from a power source. A crane apparatus comprising:

5. The crane apparatus according to claim 4, The communication unit is supplied with power from a three-phase power supply, which is the power supply for the drive motor, via a power supply line, or is supplied with power from a battery power supply. A crane apparatus comprising:

6. A crane apparatus including a plurality of driving motors including at least a hoisting motor and a moving motor, a crane control unit that controls each of the driving motors, and a communication unit connected to the crane control unit; A cloud server connected to the communication unit via a long distance communication network and configured to periodically receive first operation information consisting of a predetermined amount of information acquired from the crane control unit; a portable information display terminal carried by the maintenance worker, which is connected to the communication unit via a short-distance communication network, makes a request for acquisition of second operation information requested by a maintenance worker and has a larger amount of information than the first operation information acquired from the crane control unit, and receives the second operation information in response to the request, and is connected to the cloud server via the long-distance communication network and receives third operation information from the cloud server. A crane control system comprising:

7. 7. The crane control system according to claim 6, the long distance communication network is any one of an Internet communication network, a telephone line communication network, and a communication network that combines the Internet communication network and the telephone line communication network; The short-range communication network is either a Wi-Fi communication network or a Bluetooth communication network. A crane control system comprising:

8. 8. The crane control system according to claim 7, The communication unit transmits the first operation information of the crane apparatus to the cloud server at predetermined time intervals, The communication unit transmits an instantaneous operating value of the driving motor as the second operation information to the information display terminal based on the request from the information display terminal. A crane control system comprising:

9. 7. The crane control system according to claim 6, The third operation information is operation information obtained by editing the first operation information received by the cloud server. A crane control system comprising:

10. 10. The crane control system according to claim 9, The long distance communication network is any one of an Internet communication network, a telephone line communication network, and a communication network that combines the Internet communication network and the telephone line communication network. A crane control system comprising:

Images