Holding sway

Engineers at Belgian crane manufacturer

has developed innovative self-erecting mobile crane technology that is said to be safer and more efficient than the conventional alternative. Working with

funding from the EU, the team has employed a new anti-sway device.

The device was developed at the University of Leuven and aims to minimise or completely prevent the sway motion of the load during operation by controlling both the rotating motion and the movement of the trolley. Additionally, each aspect is independent of the load lifted, and the anti-sway controller adapts its parameters according to the length of the cable, taking into account the structural resonance of the crane.

Consequently, the crane does not require additional sensors to detect sideways movements and will reduce the sway motion by a factor of three, the developers claim.

Cranes, which often monopolise building sites, are highly inefficient in their current static guise. Typically, once they have been erected, they remain in the same place until the job is finished. David Janssen, project manager at Arcomet, the lead partner of the project in Belgium, explained that often cranes are erected and remain fixed in the same place for up to three months when in fact they are only needed for a few hours’ work in total.