Crane Hydraulic Control for Energy Waste Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing crane systems waste significant energy when operating multiple functions simultaneously, leading to increased energy consumption, heat dissipation, and reduced hydraulic fluid quality, which affects the operational time of electrically powered cranes.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an automatic eco operational mode in cranes, where the controller estimates and reduces the flow of hydraulic actuators that require high flow, thereby minimizing waste energy by prioritizing movements based on pressure and flow requirements, without the need for additional sensors or hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple crane functions are operated simultaneously, then the crane can perform more tasks and increase productivity, but waste energy increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically changes hydraulic system pressure parameters based on the priority and requirements of different crane functions. When multiple functions operate simultaneously, the controller adjusts pressure levels to match actual needs rather than maintaining high pressure for all functions, thereby reducing energy waste while maintaining productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic control system that continuously monitors and adjusts hydraulic flow distribution to multiple crane functions based on real-time operational requirements. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to optimize energy distribution, reducing waste energy while maintaining the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously
2Stress or pressure
If high pressure is maintained for one function, then that function can operate effectively, but energy waste increases when other functions requiring low pressure operate concurrently
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different pressure levels to different hydraulic circuits based on the specific requirements of each crane function. Instead of maintaining uniform high pressure across all functions, the controller provides locally optimized pressure levels - high pressure where needed and low pressure where sufficient - thereby reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining effective operation of priority functions
3Loss of energy
If waste energy is reduced by limiting hydraulic flow, then energy efficiency improves, but the speed of crane component movements decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial flow limitation to non-priority crane functions while maintaining full flow and speed for priority functions. This selective approach ensures that energy-saving measures do not uniformly reduce all movement speeds, but rather optimize the balance between energy efficiency and operational performance based on task priority
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~5
Figure 6A~6D
AI summary
A crane (2) mounted on a vehicle (4) comprising a boom, hydraulic actuators arranged to apply movements to the crane boom system in response to received driving instructions (14); a sensor system (16) configured to monitor current positions of the crane components and to generate sensor signals (18). A control interface (20) is provided arranged to receive a set of operating instructions, a crane controller (24) configured to generate driving instructions (14) and configured to estimate a pressure level of a required working pressure of the hydraulic pump (12) and a required flow level of each of the hydraulic actuators for the wanted movements of boom, and to estimate a waste contribution measure for the wanted movements boom, based on the difference between the working pressure of a hydraulic pump (12) and the estimated pressure levels and further the estimated required flow level, of each of the hydraulic actuators for the wanted movements of the crane components (6), and also to compare the estimated waste contribution measure to a predetermined level. If the estimated waste contribution measure is larger than the predetermined level, the crane controller (24) is configured to determine and generate one driving instruction (14) to reduce the estimated required flow level of at least one of the hydraulic actuators for the wanted movements of the boom.