DESC:FORM – 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10; rule 13)

“REMOTE RTG (RUBBER TYRE GANTRY) CRANE OPERATIONS ON WI-FI TECHNOLOGY"

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited
A Company Incorporated under the Indian Companies Act
Adani House, Near Mithakhali Circle,
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad GujaratIndia380009

The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:
FIELD OF INVENTION:

The present invention relates to remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane Operations on Wi-Fi technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to Remote RTG Crane Operations on Wi-Fi technology, thereby eliminating the need of RTG crane operator to sit on the top of the RTG crane to perform the job and further enables uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG crane and Remote Operation Station even during yard change over.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION:

A rubber tyre gantry crane (RTG crane) (also transtainer) is a mobile gantry crane used in intermodal operations to ground or stack containers. Inbound Containers are stored for future pickup by drayage trucks, and outbound are stored for future loading on to vessels. RTGs typically straddle multiple lanes, with one lane reserved for the container transfer. The said rubber tyre gantry (RTG) crane as shown in Fig. 1 is used in the container terminals or yards for handling i.e. loading (L) and unloading (UL) of containers in the stack.

Being mobile, RTG are powered by diesel generator systems of 100 to 600kW. The first electrified rubber tyre gantry cranes (ERTG) in China was unveiled in Aug 20085 by the She Kou container terminal (SCT). The said new technology reduces the fuel consumption by 95 percent.

Typical RTGs comprises of:
• The vertical girders,
• Two horizontal girders mounted on said vertical girders,
• Spreader
• Hoist
• Trolley
said vertical girders are in pair on each side, travelling on the track using tyre below vertical girders;

said spreader attached to the hoist, mounted on the trolley, and is used to unload containers from truck to stack and load containers on truck from stack for the movement outside the terminal;

said structure achieves the task by travelling on horizontal girder over the containers stack.

In the conventional RTG crane said forward and backward movements of trolley (T), up and down movements of Hoist (H), forward reverse movement of crane is controlled by the operator sitting in the cabin (HE) at a height of 18.1 meter above the ground or sitting in a Remote operation station, if the crane is operated remotely. Further, in a container terminal, containers are stacked in the yard, before being sent to the ship or outside container terminal. This stacking of the containers in the containers yards is done by the RTG crane wherein loading and unloading function is done by the operator sitting in the Operations stations whereby communication between RTG Crane and Remote Operation Station is done using fibre optic cable.

Where the RTG crane operations are done using fibre optic cable, accessibility of RTG is lost during the yard change over. Thus manual intervention is required to plug in or out the cable, each time the RTG crane changes yard. In addition, the container terminal operations being very time and safety sensitive, any lapse or lose of communication between Remote Operations Stationed RTG crane costs heavily both on monetary and time terms.

Maintaining cable based communication infrastructure also needs huge investment on maintenance in comparison to a Wi-Fi based remotely operated RTG crane.

In conventional RTG Crane, where the RTG operator seats in the cabin (HE) at a height of 18.1 meter and carry out the loading (L) and unloading (UL) operations. This brings fatigue to the operator as he has to constantly look downwards below the cabin to ensure the safe job, which has the direct impact on the container terminal productivity.

PRIOR ART AND IT’s DISADVANTAGES:

• CN101428734A relates to the technical field of tyre gantry container crane yards, in particular to a method of a gantry container crane yard which can be remotely controlled and a device. The tyre gantry container crane yard method comprises a yard method and a transition method, wherein, the yard methods of the gantry container crane and a self-propelled rail type power supply vehicle system are adopted, and the transition method of the self-propelled electric cable transition power supply vehicle system is adopted; the yard device comprises a gantry container crane, a self-propelled rail type power supply vehicle arranged on one side of the operating direction of the gantry container crane or a self-propelled electric transition power supply vehicle, an electric connecting device, an electric control device and an automatic control system, a running device and a distance gauge, wherein, the electric connecting device and the electric control device are arranged on an network source; an encoder is arranged at a plurality of parts of the yard and on a transition passage; and the encoder, the distance gauge and the automatic control system are interlocked and connected in a control center room of the yard. The invention causes loading and unloading logistics storage and transportation yard safely and reasonably, reduces equipment investment, saves energy and protects environment, so that an unmanned yard system which can be remotely controlled.

However, said prior art highlights the electric RTG crane and does not defines the communication channel through which a RTG crane can be operated remotely. Also it does not define the means required for a RTG crane to be operated remotely from Remote Operations Station (ROS).

• US20060251498 A1 provides a system and process for improving container flow within a port facility, including improved equipment and software for controlling operation and flow of the equipment in the port facility. The system may include a port facility geographically arranged to separate land operations and water operations. Land operations such as over-the-road missions and rail missions may use landside access areas positioned at one end of a yard including rows of container stacks. Water missions such as loading/discharging a vessel may use waterside access areas positioned at the opposite end of the yard. Automated cranes linked with a terminal operating system may pick/drop/shuffle containers and/or refrigerated containers (“reefers”) within the container stacks. Shuttle trucks may be used to pick/drop containers at quayside access points and the waterside access areas. The shuttle trucks may utilize shared wheel paths. Software systems may be used to implement various principles of the invention.

However, said prior art provides a frame work for developing port facilities that have integrated OCR and TOS, containers handling using a Remotely Operated RTG Crane, usage of OCR and/or RFID for vehicle identification, regulated access system using laser scanning sensor for trailers, and visual display at entry gate for Route Display to each trailer. Further it fails to provide details on a how RTG crane will be operated remotely. The proposed invention proposes to operate the RTG crane using Wi-Fi technology. This inventions allows the most reliable and constant accessibility to RTG Crane to remote RTG crane operator.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE PRIOR ART:

The existing RTG crane involves operations by the operator sitting in a remote operation station and suffers from at least following disadvantages:
I. In a conventional remote RTG Crane, loading (L) and Unloading (UL) function is done by the operator sitting in the Remote Operation stations where by communication between RTG crane and remote operation station is done using fibre optic cable and thereby fails to enable remote operations of RTG crane.
II. Where the RTG crane operations are done using fibre optic cable, accessibility of RTG is lost during the yard change over failing to allow Remote operations station access to the RTG crane even during yard change over.
III. It consumes a lot of time to establish connection again during the yard changeover, once the connection is lost.
IV. It requires man power as it requires manual intervention to plug in or out the cable, each time RTG changes the yard.
V. Maintaining cable based communication infrastructure needs huge investments on maintenance in comparison still failing to achieve remotely operated RTG crane.
VI. Container Terminal Operations being very time and safety sensitive, any laps or loss of communication between Remote operation Stationed RTG crane costs heavily in both terms monetary terms and time consuming terms.
VII. They are less efficient.
VIII. They are difficult to operate.

Thus, there is an unmet need to develop Remote Crane Operations on Wi-Fi Technology which enables uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG Crane and Remote Operation Station even during yard change over.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION:

The main object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane Operations based on Wi-Fi technology.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology, thereby eliminating the need of RTG crane operator to sit on the top of the RTG crane to perform the job of loading (L) and unloading (UL) of the container.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology and further provide for an uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG crane and Remote Operation Station even during yard change over.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology which further eliminates the use of fibre optic cable on crane and thereby allows uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG crane and Remote operation station even during yard change over.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology which does not require establishing of connection time each time RTG changes the yard and thereby eliminates the requirement of manual intervention to plug in or out the said cable.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology which eliminates the requirement of maintaining cable based communication infrastructure thereby saves huge investment and maintenance costs.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology which is easy to operate and efficient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

FIGURE DESRIPTION
Fig. 1 : Shows RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A)
Fig. 2 : Shows Block (BL), Bay (BA), Row (RO) and Tier (TI) of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A)
Fig. 3
: Shows the block diagram of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi Technology (A)
Fig. 4 : Shows Container Yard with installed devices for wireless networking of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology.
Fig. 5
: Shows the enlarged view of Fig.4 of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology

Meaning of Reference numerals of said component parts of present automatic container position detection system:
(A) : Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi Technology.
(RTG) : Rubber Tyre Gantry
(S) : Spreader
(TR) : Truck
(DT) : Drive In Trolley
(RP) : Reflecting Plate
(BB) : Bus Bar
(T) : Trolley
(L) : Load
(UL) : Unload
(HG) : Horizontal Girder
(VG) : Vertical Girder
(H) : Hoist
(HE) : Cabin
(CS) : Container Stack
(BL) : Block
(BA) : Bay
(R) : Row
(TI) : Tier
(Y) : Yard
(HM) : Hoist Motor
(ROS) : Remote Operation Station
(OFC) : Optical Fibre Cable
(RAP) : Root Access Point
(MAP) : Mess Access point
(ZD) : Zone Director
(ODU) : Outdoor Unit
(V) : Video
(CMS) : Crane Management System
(C) : Controller
(P) : Processing means

SUMMARY OF INVENTION:

The present invention embodies a Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) used to do loading (L) and Unloading (UL) through remote operation station wherein a wireless network infrastructure is provided to ensure the uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG crane and Remote Operation Station even during yard change over.

Present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi Technology (A) mainly comprises of Rubber Tyre Gantry Crane further comprising of:

• Remote Operation Station (ROS)
• Optical Fibre Cable (OFC)
• Root Access Point (RAP)
• Mess Access Point (MAP)
• Zone Director (ZD)
• Controller (C)
• Crane Management System (CMS)
• Video (V)
• Outdoor units (ODU)
• Controller (C)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION:

The present invention embodies a Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) used to do loading (L) and Unloading (UL) through remote operation station wherein a wireless network infrastructure is provided to ensure the uninterrupted communication, access and remote operations between RTG crane and Remote Operation Station even during yard change over.

Referring to Fig 1 to Fig 5 the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) uses existing Rubber tyre Gantry crane which is further comprised of:
• the vertical girders (VG)
• two horizontal girders (HG) mounted on said vertical girders,
• spreader (S)
• hoist (H)
• trolley (T)
• Bus Bar (BB),
• Drive-In Trolley (DT),

and requires installation of following for installing present Remote RTG (Rubber tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi Technology (A): (Fig 4 and Fig 5)
• Remote Operation Station (ROS)
• Optical Fibre Cable (OFC)
• Root Access Point (RAP)
• Mess Access Point (MAP)
• Zone Director (ZD)
• Controller (C)
• Crane Management System (CMS)
• Video (V)

Wherein;

In a container terminal, containers are stacked in the yard prior sending to the ship or outside container terminal. The stacking of the said containers in a container yards is accomplished by the RTG crane that travels on wheels over the stack of containers. Further the said Yard (Y) is divided into Block (BL), Bay (BA), Row (R) and Tier (TI) as shown in Fig.2 and are provided to ease the addressing of the container location thereby making storage and retrieval of the containers easier. The said container terminal receives the container from two sources; wherein first source is the vessel and the second source is the inland container depots. Containers are diverted to their pre-defined locations after reaching the container terminal in the container yard (Y) for stacking.

Said bus bar (BB) is a physical structure that supplies electricity to the Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) Crane. Each yard (Y) of a container terminal have bus bar (BB) structure installed across its length. The Drive In trolley (DT) of RTG crane gets attached to this bus bar (BB), whenever RTG crane enters yard (Y).

Said spreader (S) is a metal frame consisting of hydraulically operated twist locks across the corners. Said spreader (S) is attached below the Horizontal girders (HG) of the RTG crane with the help of wire ropes and is further operated by the Hoist motor (HM).Further the instruments and control buttons in the RTG Crane cabin are transferred in a Remote Operations Station (ROS) installed on a desk. Said remote operations station (ROS) is provided with display monitors and the cameras are provided on the RTG crane for the visual access of the container.

Referring Fig.3 shows block diagram of the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi Technology (A) is provided to establish communication between said Remote Operation Station (ROS) and RTG crane. Remote RTG crane operation is done using wireless local area networking. Wireless local area network (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using a wireless distribution method within a limited area. The RTG crane travels across the multiple yards and covers many meters thus an optical fibre cable (OFC) based conventional communication system needs laying, maintaining, and plugging in and out of the cable, wherein accessibility of RTG crane to the remote operations station (ROS) is lost during the yard change over as the cable is plugged out and plugged in every time RTG crane changes the yard, which thereby makes the use of the optical fibre cable (OFC) infeasible in conventional RTG crane systems. Whereas the present Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane Operations on Wi-Fi Technology (A) has many advantages over conventional optical fibre cable (OFC) based communications system:
? It eliminates the need of frequently plugging-in and plugging-out of the optical fibre cable (OFC) during yard changeover.
? It reduces the Laying and maintenance cost of optical fibre cable (OFC).
? It facilitates the use of three RTG crane operations in real time basis to a single operator, wherein one RTG crane operator performs the job at three RTG cranes, thereby reducing the manpower required per RTG crane.
? The said multiple root access points (RAP) of the present invention, in the container yard are uniquely installed such that each root access point (RAP) covers 30 degree area thereby avoiding scope of overloading the network with data communicated across the yard to other RTG cranes.

Referring Fig. 4 and Fig.5, zone director (ZD) is installed in the Remote RTG Crane Operations Station (ROS) and is provided to direct the route of communication among various access points. Said optical fibre cable (OFC) is provided between the Remote Operation Station (ROS) and yard. Said optical fibre cable (OFC) connects the zone director (ZD) with the outdoor Units (ODU) and Root access points (RAP) which are installed in the yard. Said Outdoor units (ODU) installed in the yard are equipped with the industrial switches for the distribution of communication channel to the root access points (RAP). Further, present Remote RTG crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) are provided with plurality of outdoor units (ODU), Root access points (RAP) based on the size of the container; wherein for example: On the tower having height of seven meters each for a container terminal having two yards with 22 blocks spread across twenty acres are installed with 11 outdoor units (ODU), 24 Root Access Points (RAP), wherein each of the said Root access points (RAP) covers the area of 30° and thereby communicates with each RTG crane under the area on a wireless network. Further, the outdoor access (OD) are provided for the communication flow on wireless technology, wherein the said outdoor units are provided with the power backup facility, that adds to reliability of the present Remote RTG crane operations based on Wi-Fi technology (A). Each RTG crane further is provided with a mesh access point on the said Horizontal girder (HG). Said Root access points (RAP) communicates with the Mesh access points (MAP) of the RTG cranes and transmits the data to:
o Controller (C),
o Crane Management System (CMS), and
o Video (V) Access Display.
Wherein;

Said controller (C) is a programmable computer, which is provided for the purpose of automation of Cranes or Industrial machinery to process the various digital inputs through the program and issue the commands for further execution to the associated devices. The data communicated between Controller (C) and Crane Management System (CMS) is bi-directional, whereas data communicated to the Video (V) access display is unidirectional. The Communication between root access point (RAP) and controller (C) is bi-directional as the cannel transmits the commands given by the RTG crane operator to the RTG crane, whereas the inputs received from the cameras installed on the RTG cranes is transmitted to the video (V) access display in the remote operations station (ROS) via mesh and root access points only thus making it unidirectional communication. Further the cameras installed on the RTG crane provides Video access Display to the RTG crane operator in the remote operations station (ROS) which further provides access to the real time condition of the yard to the RTG crane operator. Said outdoor units are provided with the power backup facility which thereby adds to reliability of the present invention. The command given by the RTG crane operator and its reception by the RTG crane is shown through the Crane Management System (CMS) in the remote operations station (ROS) on a display. Said Crane Management System (CMS) is an interface for the RTG crane operator sitting in the Remote Operations Station that provides graphical representation in real time basis of the job performed in the yard by the RTG Crane. It further shows the parameters including size of the container handled, truck number, RTG crane location, container location, container number, spreader size, safe handling path, connectivity status.
,CLAIMS:We Claim:

1. Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) mainly comprising of Rubber Tyre Gantry Crane further comprises of:
? Remote Operation Station (ROS),
? Optical Fibre Cable (OFC),
? Root Access Point (RAP),
? Mess Access Point (MAP),
? Zone Director (ZD),
? Controller (C),
? Crane Management System (CMS),
? Video (V),

wherein;

in said container terminal, containers are stacked in the yard prior sending to the ship or outside container terminal wherein the stacking of the said containers in a container yards is accomplished by the RTG crane that travels on wheels over the stack of containers, further the said Yard (Y) is divided into Block (BL), Bay (BA), Row (R) and Tier (TI) as shown in Fig.2 and are provided to ease the addressing of the container location thereby making storage and retrieval of the containers easier; said container terminal receives the container from two sources; wherein first source is the vessel and the second source is the inland container depots; further the containers are diverted to their pre-defined locations after reaching the container terminal in the container yard (Y) for stacking;

said bus bar (BB) is a physical structure that supplies electricity to the Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) Crane; each yard (Y) of a container terminal have bus bar (BB) structure installed across its length, wherein Drive In trolley (DT) of RTG crane is attached to said bus bar (BB), whenever RTG crane enters yard (Y);

said spreader (S) is a metal frame consisting of hydraulically operated twist locks across the corners; said spreader (S) is attached below the Horizontal girders (HG) of the RTG crane with the help of wire ropes and is further operated by the Hoist motor (HM);

said zone director (ZD) is installed in the Remote RTG Crane Operations Station (ROS) and is provided to direct the route of communication among various access points; said optical fibre cable (OFC) is provided between the Remote Operation Station (ROS) and yard, wherein optical fibre cable (OFC) connects the zone director (ZD) with the outdoor Units (ODU) and Root access points (RAP) which are installed in the yard; said Outdoor units (ODU) installed in the yard are equipped with the industrial switches for the distribution of communication channel to the root access points (RAP); further, present Remote RTG crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) are provided with plurality of outdoor units (ODU), Root access points (RAP) based on the size of the container; said RTG crane further is provided with a mesh access point on the said Horizontal girder (HG); said Root access points (RAP) communicates with the Mesh access points (MAP) of the RTG cranes and transmits the data to:

? Controller (C),
? Crane Management System (CMS),
? Video (V) Access Display;

wherein;

said controller (C) is a programmable computer, which is provided for the purpose of automation of Cranes or Industrial machinery to process the various digital inputs through the program and issue the commands for further execution to the associated devices; the cameras installed on the RTG crane provides Video access Display to the RTG crane operator in the remote operations station (ROS) which further provides access to the real time condition of the yard to the RTG crane operator; the command given by the RTG crane operator and its reception by the RTG crane is shown through the Crane Management System (CMS) in the remote operations station (ROS) on a display, wherein said crane Management System (CMS) is an interface for the RTG crane operator sitting in the Remote Operations Station that provides graphical representation in real time basis of the job performed in the yard by the RTG Crane; said outdoor units are provided with the power backup facility.

2. Remote RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) crane operations on Wi-Fi technology (A) as claimed in claim1, wherein the data communicated between said Controller (C) and Crane Management System (CMS) is bi-directional and data communicated to the Video (V) access display is unidirectional; further the communication between root access point (RAP) and controller (C) is bi-directional as the cannel transmits the commands given by the RTG crane operator to the RTG crane, whereas the inputs received from the cameras installed on the RTG cranes is transmitted to the video (V) access display in the remote operations station (ROS) via mesh access point (MAP) and root access points (RAP) only thus making it unidirectional communication.

Dated this 25th April, 2017

__________________________
GOPI J. TRIVEDI (Ms.)
(Authorized Patent Agent of the Applicant)

To,
The Controller of Patents,
The Patent Office,
Mumbai.