Advancing crane geometry data

Konecranes wants to make its cranes safer and optimise a machine’s service life. To do that, it has enhanced its CraneQ geometric survey, which the company says will provide crane users with the most accurate data on the geometry of their cranes, helping them become proactive instead of reactive.

Launched in May, the CraneQ geometric survey is applicable to Konecranes’ overhead cranes, gantry cranes, port cranes, and virtually all cranes with wheels.

It is particularly useful for those in heavy-duty industries such as steel, paper, process, manufacturing and mining, where cranes are subjected to harsher operating conditions and more demanding uses.

Konecranes consultation services manager Joseph Cefai told Cranes and Lifting CraneQ was developed to identify the square values of the cranes, angles of the wheels, and to investigate the issues that arise from wheel and rail wear, and is especially effective if the rail’s tolerance meets Australian standards as per the class of the crane.

“Cranes that suffer from premature wheel wear, rail wear, structural component failures, or drive faults are all common results of incorrect crane geometry, and CraneQ helps you to find the root cause of these symptoms to avoid more major problems and costly downtime,” Cefai said.

Cefai noted that the alignment of crane components strongly influences how well a crane or a trolley moves on its rails, while also impacting the usability and lifetime of travelling machinery units and other structural components. For instance, cranes that are straight, square and aligned experience lower repair costs and are much safer and reliable, and this is where CraneQ comes in – providing accurate information detailing the alignment of wheels and the square view of your crane.

How CraneQ works

CraneQ is based on advanced and traditional measurement methods and relies on proprietary software to ensure accurate geometric analysis.

In essence, CraneQ measures the dimensional tolerances of wheels, end carriages, bogies, and other components of the crane and also produces a report detailing the alignment of the analysed components at the time of the survey.

During measurement, the crane is placed as it would be in an operational setting, i.e. perfectly aligned on the rails. This ensures that any reported issues are indeed caused by the analysed components and not by structures external to the crane.

When performing a CraneQ survey, Konecranes utilises sophisticated software to search for any alignment issues that may affect a crane’s performance or cause premature wear and tear and typically, they look out for indicators such as:

abnormal or premature wear or failure of structural components such as wheels, rails, connections, bearings and guide rolls;
excessive noise;
suspected skewing and/or square issues;
structural deformation; and
positioning, moving and driving issues.

The measurements are then analysed and compared to Konecranes’ alignment requirements, which enable the possibility for proper crane tracking, and are based on a combination of values from different sources.

“We can identify the errors structurally with the wear of the wheels and the rails, and one of the key things is that it really does benefit the safety and reliability of a crane – safety and reliability obviously are the ultimate goal,” Cefai said.

Turning to a crane’s geometry, the wheels and guide rollers drive a crane, and to determine the alignment of these components, Konecranes examines:

the horizontal and vertical wheel camber;
wheel sequence;
wheel span;
wheel position – horizontal and vertical offset;
crane square values – diagonal difference, parallelism, and skew value; and
guide roller alignment.

“During reporting, once we’ve collected all of the data needed, the first thing that we would look at is the wheel overview,” Cefai said.

“Next we would look at general wheel geometry, which is related to the slope, skew and your diagonal differences. From that, we would go into the wheel values and we would look into our horizontal wheel canvas, and they are measured in millimeters per metre and at an angular distortion or view.

“Wheel sequence is another thing that we like to look into and that has to do with the overview of your wheel sequence and your wheel span errors.”

Cefai says CraneQ is ideal for preventative maintenance because it identifies potential problems early, which is advantageous when it is part of a regular preventative maintenance schedule.

“CraneQ was recently launched in the country and it has already gotten strong interest from the Australian market as I believe there isn’t anything else out in the market currently doing what CraneQ does,” Cefai said.

CraneQ can be coupled with Konecranes’ other consultation services such as RailQ Runway Survey to give a complete overview of the condition and alignment of all elements of a crane’s travels.

Key advantages of CraneQ