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EP-4737379-A1 - SIMPLIFYING FOR AN OPERATOR TO HANDLE A CRANE OF A CONTAINER LIFTING SYSTEM

EP4737379A1EP 4737379 A1EP4737379 A1EP 4737379A1EP-4737379-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, computer program and computer program product for s managing a group of cranes of a container lifting system, a container lifting management device as well as a container lifting system. The cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control. A container lifting management device displays (S100) a supervisory view of the group of cranes to at least one operator, in which supervisory view the operation of the cranes is visualized, analyses (Sno) the behaviour of the different cranes and suggests or implements (S120) a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour.

Inventors

  • ZIOBRO, Dawid
  • GOPALAKRISHNAN, Gayathri
  • HALLSTADIUS LINGE, SIMON

Assignees

  • ABB SCHWEIZ AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20241029

Claims (15)

  1. A method for managing a group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) of a container lifting system (10), where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the method being performed by a container lifting management device (12) and comprising: displaying (S100; S200) a supervisory view (SV) of the group of cranes to at least one operator, in which supervisory view (SV) the operation of the cranes is visualized, analysing (S110; 210) the behaviour of the different cranes, and suggesting or implementing (S120; S220) a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour.
  2. The method according to claim 1 wherein; at least one of the cranes in the group of cranes displayed (S200) in the supervisory view (SV) is controlled by a corresponding crane control device in a group of crane control devices (16A, 16B, 16C, 16D), a the analysing of the the behaviour of the different cranes comprises detecting (S210) an issue with one of the cranes (18B) being controlled by a corresponding crane control device (16B), and the suggesting or implementing a change in operational state comprises switching (S220) from the crane being controlled by the corresponding crane control device (16B) to manual control by a corresponding operator, and the method further comprising providing (S230) a manual intervention view (MIV) with a focus on the crane (18B) with the detected issues for allowing the operator to address the issue.
  3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the container lifting system (10) comprises a group of video capturing systems (14a, 14B, 14, 14D), each being associated with a corresponding crane (18A, 18b, 18C, 178D) in the group of cranes, and comprising a number of video cameras at least one of which is mounted on the corresponding crane, wherein the crane for which an issue is detected comprises a spreader (42) and said video camera of the crane for which an issue is detected has a field of view covering the spreader.
  4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising obtaining data from the crane control devices and/or video capturing arrangements, analysing said data, determining the issue based on said analysis and providing recommendations to the operator for handling the issue.
  5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the spreader of the crane for which an issue is detected has a movement along a direction.
  6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising changing the field of view of said video camera so that it becomes a wide angle view along or opposite to the direction of movement of the spreader.
  7. The method as claimed in any of claims 2 - 6, wherein the crane is to handle a container at a current target area and further comprising detecting positions of people at or around the current target area.
  8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the issue is that one or more persons are located within a safety zone around the current target area.
  9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the safety zone passes through a number of neighbouring target areas that are to be handled in following cycles.
  10. The method according to any of claims 2 - 9, further comprising determining a person at or around the current target area that is to handle the issue and setting up a communication session between the operator and this person.
  11. A container lifting management device (12) comprising a processor (22) operative to: display a supervisory view (SV) of a group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) to at least one operator, in which supervisory view (SV) the operation of the cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) is visualized and where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, analyse the behaviour of the different cranes, and suggest or implement a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour.
  12. A container lifting system (10) comprising the group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) and the container lifting management device (12) according to claim 11.
  13. The container lifting system (10) according to claim 12, wherein each crane in the group of cranes can be controlled by a corresponding crane control device of a group of crane control devices (16A, 16B, 16C, 16D) and further comprising the group of crane control devices as well as a group of video capturing systems (14A, 14B, 14, 14D), each video capturing system being associated with a corresponding crane (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) in the group of cranes, and comprising a number of video cameras at least one of which is mounted on the corresponding crane,.
  14. A computer program (26) for managing a group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) of a container lifting system (10), where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the computer program (26) comprising computer program code which when run by a processor (22) causes the processor (22) to: display a supervisory view (SV) of the group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) to at least one operator, in which supervisory view (SV) the operation of the cranes is visualized, analyse the behaviour of the different cranes, and suggest or implement a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour.
  15. A computer program product for managing a group of cranes (18A, 18B, 18C, 18D) of a container lifting system (10), where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the computer program product comprising a data carrier (34) with said computer program (26) according to claim 14.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a method, computer program and computer program product for managing a group of cranes of a container lifting system, a container lifting management device as well as a container lifting system. BACKGROUND As crane systems become more intelligent their abilities extend providing new opportunities to make crane operations more autonomous. For a crane operator this might imply a smaller workload or need for manual intervention, but there are dangerous side effects like boredom and meaningless supervision tasks. The challenge arises in how to create a meaningful job with stimulating tasks. A solution addressing that problem is to channel workload from multiple cranes and assign operator(s) to simultaneously supervise multiple cranes. CN102491206 does for instance describe a tower crane monitoring system, which comprises single-crane monitoring units and a multiple-crane centralized monitoring unit. The single-crane monitoring units are used for onsite monitoring management of single tower cranes and transmitting the monitoring information to the multiple-crane centralized monitoring unit, and connected with a GPRS (general packet radio service) public network. The multiple-crane centralized monitoring unit is used for monitoring information of all the onsite single-crane monitoring units in a centralized manner and controlling onsite tower cranes. However, there is a need for dynamically changing how the cranes are operated with regard to monitoring and control. There is thus a need for dynamically changing between operational states of a group of cranes. SUMMARY One object of the invention is therefore to allow dynamic change to be made between operational states of a group of cranes. This object is according to a first aspect achieved by a method for managing a group of cranes of a container lifting system, where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the method being performed by a container lifting management device and comprising: displaying a supervisory view of the group of cranes to at least one operator, in which supervisory view the operation and (the operational states) of the cranes is visualized,analysing the behaviour of the different cranes, andsuggesting or implementing a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour. The object is according to a second aspect achieved through a container lifting management device comprising a processor operative to: display a supervisory view of a group of cranes to at least one operator, in which supervisory view the operation of the cranes is visualized and where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control,analyse the behaviour of the different cranes, andsuggest or implement a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour.. The object is according to a third aspect achieved by a container lifting system comprising the group of cranes and the container lifting management device according to the second aspect. The object is according to a fourth aspect achieved by a computer program for managing a group of cranes of a container lifting system, where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the computer program comprising computer program code which when run by a processor causes the processor to: display a supervisory view of a group of cranes to at least one operator, in which supervisory view the operation of the cranes is visualized,analyse the behaviour of the different cranes, andsuggest or implement a change in operational state of at least one of the cranes based on the analysed behaviour. The object is according to a fifth aspect achieved through a computer program product for managing a group of cranes of a container lifting system, where the cranes have different selectable operational states comprising manual control, supervised autonomous control and unsupervised autonomous control, the computer program product comprising a data carrier with the computer program according to the fourth aspect. Also the operational states of the cranes may be visualized in the supervisory view. At least one of the cranes in the group of cranes displayed in the supervisory view may be controlled by a corresponding crane control device in a group of crane control devices. The cranes may also have a standby state. A crane that is in the manual control state is controlled by an operator, a crane that is in the supervised autonomous control state is controlled by a crane control device under the supervision of an operator, a crane that is in the unsupervised autonomous control state is controlled by a crane control device wi