Gantry Crane

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    Introduction

    With cargo ports often looking much like battlegrounds on which 24/7 offloading, stacking, storing, transferring and loading of containers rages on, it is critical that its facilities and equipment, being the weapons of choice, are of topmost quality and reliability.

    Throughout the day, gantry cranes, like soldiers fighting a decisive battle, move thousands of containers on to and off of cargo ships and trucks and arrange offloaded containers into manageable stacks and clusters. Aside from the need for a skilled crew of crane operators, a stable, flexible and carefully designed hardware package is also of key importance to ensure the port’s operation can be sustained with minimal to no incidents or disruption. To that end, AAEON enthusiastically welcomed the task of coming up with the “brains” behind the cranes, and provided its client in China with a very sound and effective solution.

    AAEON's Solution

    GENE-BT05 3.5" Subcompact Boards (Customized)*

    AAEON’s customized GENE-BT05 subcompact boards, just like its “GENIE” name implies, grants its users the “wishes” they need to materialize their requirement on system protection, power supply and communications.

    To protect the system from power surges, which may damage the board’s more sensitive components over prolonged exposure during powering on, this customized board is fitted with a system boot up delay feature for a period of 5~10 seconds, to ensure the system only starts after a surge stabilizes. The same scenario also applies for shut down, during which time the board delays the shutdown of the system for a programmable amount of time (between 30~120 seconds), allowing sufficient time for all of the system processes to stop before powering down, thereby preventing system corruption.

    For extra protection from inconsistent voltages, the board also extends its system protection features to include over-voltage protection (when the input voltage is too high), low voltage protection (when the input voltage is too low to support operation), short-circuit protection, surge protection (up to 1KVdc) and reverse voltage protection (when the voltage polarity is reversed).

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    Though the mainstream voltage for powering up boards ranges from 12V – 24V, the board expands this range to 8V - 36V by offering a variable power input for both futureproofing as well as coping with power fluctuations that may result in system downtime. The board’s power consumption is specifically designed to be as low as possible to avoid the crane’s batteries from being needlessly drained.

    In the past, the gargantuan size of gantry cranes meant that communications with the ground was equally a colossal undertaking. But with the customized GENE-BT05, this task is no greater than installing wireless communication features into the board, which supports WiFi, GPS, 3G and 4G technology. In addition, the board offers 2x Mini-Card slot for additional expansion needs.

    Furthermore, the inaccessible nature of gantry security gates make it crucial that all onboard hardware be fit for operation in any conditions and be easily maintained. AAEON met these essential requirements by adopting a fanless design to help negate wear and tear associated with moving parts as well as incorporating its WiTAS (wide temperature) technology to operate optimally in adverse weather conditions.

    Conclusion

    As enormous as gantry cranes may be, they still demand a series of intricate yet highly durable components to fully operate as designed. With AAEON’s sophisticated design technologies, strict quality control standards and robust range of products, port operators can confidently look to AAEON to provide are liable, rugged and versatile infrastructure to ensure safe and seamless operations.

      The above application utilized a customized version of the GENE-BT05 which may offer capabilities not found in the standard version. To learn more about the standard GENE-BT05 or the process of customization, please contact our sales representative or browse our website.