Mobile Crane Dual-Articulated Boom for Lateral Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pick and carry cranes face significant tipping concerns due to their design, which limits their maneuverability and safety, especially when operating on public roads, as they lack the use of outriggers typically employed in stationary cranes.
Innovation Solution
The mobile crane incorporates an articulated boom with dual articulation joints, allowing both up and down, and lateral movements, controlled by hydraulic rams, to stabilize the crane and reduce tipping moments, and features a single operator cabin for both travel and load handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the crane is designed to travel on public roads with a single operator cabin, then operational flexibility and simplicity are improved, but stability and safety are worsened due to increased tipping susceptibility
Solution Approach 1:
The boom is designed with dual articulation joints enabling dynamic movement in multiple directions (vertical lifting/lowering and lateral swinging). This dynamic capability allows the boom to adapt its position to counteract tipping moments and maintain crane stability while traveling on public roads, resolving the contradiction between operational flexibility and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the boom's spatial parameters (position and orientation) through dual articulation movements. By adjusting the boom's angle and lateral position, the crane can counterbalance tipping forces and maintain stability during travel, thereby improving reliability without sacrificing operational versatility.
2Speed
If the crane lacks outriggers to enable travel with load, then mobility is improved, but stability is worsened due to increased tipping risk
Solution Approach 1:
The dual articulation system enables the boom to dynamically adjust its position and orientation, providing stability through active movement rather than passive structural support. This allows the crane to travel with load at highway speeds while maintaining stability through real-time boom positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The boom's dual articulation capability allows it to self-adjust and counteract tipping moments without requiring external stabilizing structures like outriggers. The system serves its own stability needs through intrinsic mechanical design, enabling mobility without sacrificing stability.
3Reliability
If the boom has dual articulation for lateral movement, then stability is improved by counteracting tipping moments, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The dual articulation joints are integrated into a single boom structure, merging the lifting and lateral movement functions into one unified mechanism. This consolidation achieves stability improvement without proportionally increasing complexity, as the same structural elements serve multiple functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The boom's dual articulation system provides multiple functions (vertical lifting, lateral swinging, and tipping counteraction) through a single integrated structure. This multi-functionality delivers enhanced stability without requiring separate dedicated mechanisms for each function, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The dual articulation system enhances the crane's stability and safety by dynamically adjusting the boom's position to counteract tipping and swinging loads, improving maneuverability and safety on public roads.
Implementation Method 1
controlled by hydraulic rams
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment relates to a mobile crane having an articulated body and an elongate boom attached to the body, the boom being for carrying a load when the crane is stationary and while the crane is mobile. The boom is articulated to provide a movement for lifting and lowering an end of the boom, and the boom is further articulated to provide a movement of the boom laterally. A further embodiment relates to controlling swing of a load carried at the end of a boom of a mobile crane by varying lateral orientation of the boom.