DESC:FORM – 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10; rule 13)

“STACK PROFILING SYSTEM FOR RTG CRANE OPERATIONS"

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited
A Company Incorporated under the Indian Companies Act
Adani House, Near Mithakhali Circle,
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad Gujarat India 380009

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

FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to stack profiling system for RTG crane operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that enhances safety of operations while using an RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane for container handling in the container terminals for the loading and unloading of incoming and outgoing containers. The present invention also enables optimised RTG Crane operations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART:

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 container transfers. A RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane is used in the container terminals for the handling i.e. loading and unloading of containers in the stack. Container Terminals receive containers from Ships in the yards usually with import cargo or for transhipment to other containers terminal or empty.

Being mobile, RTGs are often powered by Diesel generator systems (gensets) of 100 to 600kW. The first electrified rubber-tyred gantry cranes (ERTG) in the China was unveiled in Aug 2008 by The She Kou container terminal (SCT). The new technology reduces fuel consumption by an estimated 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 tyres below vertical girders;

said spreader connected with the head block and head block attached to 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 the horizontal girder over the containers stack.

Containers movement from ship to shore is handled by Quay Cranes and transported to container yard by trucks. In yards RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Cranes i.e., two horizontal girders (HG) mounted on the vertical girders (VG), two on each side, travelling on the track using tyres below vertical girders, are used to unload containers from truck in stack and load containers on truck for the movement outside the terminal with the help of spreader (S) attached to the Hoist (H) mounted on the trolley (T), travelling on the horizontal girder over the containers stack (CS) as shown in Fig. 1.

Similarly, container terminal also receive loaded or empty containers for movement on to the ships. Here RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane unloads the containers from Truck in the stack and further loads them on trucks for the movement on quay. All the movements (Trolley- forward and backward, Hoist up and down) in a conventional RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane is done by the operator sitting in the cabin at a height of 18.1 meter above the ground or sitting in a Remote Operations Station, if Crane is remotely operated. Said RTG Crane is used in the container terminals or yards for the handling i.e. loading and unloading of containers in or from the stack. Container Terminals receive containers from Ships in the yards usually with import cargo or for transhipment to other containers terminal or empty.

The crane operator have a VMT (Vehicle Mounted Terminal) in his cabin, at which operator receives regular information of the jobs i.e. Loading or Unloading, to be performed. Upon receipt of a job on VMT, RTG crane operator moves the crane to the designated bay. After reaching to the designated bay, crane operator moves the trolley and spreader to the row from which container is to be picked up, on reaching to the designated row, operator hoists the Spreader downwards to pick the container.

This movement of the spreader over the container stack is made by RTG Crane operator based on the visuals available below to him from RTG Crane operator cabin. This reliance on visuals of the RTG crane operator increases the risk of spreader’s collision with container stack below. The possibilities of spreader (S) collision with the container stack are high because of low visibility to the stack below or because of miss judgment of the container location by the RTG crane operator. To avoid spreader (S) collision with the container stack (CS) and optimize the movement of the spreader (S) over the container stack (CS), and to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional stacking system the present invention relates to provide a Stack Profiling System that guides the movement of the spreader (S)over the stack of containers.

For the purpose of addressing the location of each container in the yard (Y), all the yards are divided into block (BL), bay (BA), row (RO) and the tier (TI) as shown in the Fig. 2.

PRIOR ART AND IT’s DISADVANTAGES;

• US patent application numbered US 20100243593 A1relates to method and apparatus for a crane safety device configured to operate a processor estimating a trajectory for the crane, determining a potentially dangerous event in response to a yard estimate and the trajectory, and sending alert message in response to the potentially dangerous event. The processor may further generate the yard estimate. The embodiments may include means for implementing these operations, sensors of the yard estimate to generate the yard estimate, computer readable devices and\or a server containing program system to instruct computer to at least partly operate the processor and\or an installation package to create the program system.

• However, said prior art suffers from risks of container terminal operations that includes; spreader collision with stack, spreader with container collision with stack, container toppling off chassis, container toppling off a container stack, spreader failing to disengage, causing a loaded chassis along with lifting of truck. Further it generates only alert message which when skipped to read by the operator leads to the accident. It also fails to control the automatic movement of the spreader and needs to be controlled by the RTG crane operator.

DISADVANTAGES OF PRIOR ART:

The existing RTG crane involves reliance on visuals of the RTG crane operator for movement of the spreader over the container stack while loading or Unloading. Conventional stack profiling systems suffers from all or at least any of the following disadvantages:

• Most of them involves reliance on visuals of the RTG crane operator for movement of the spreader which is not safe because of low visibility to the stack below.
• They pose a risk of spreader’s collision with container stack below or possibilities of Spreader collision with the container stack are high because of low visibility to the stack below or because of miss judgment of the container location.
• It consumes a lot of time.
• Precision can never be assured and requires frequent forward and backward adjustment and while doing so, collisions can occur.
• They require human intervention which can be erroneous at times due to low visibility of stack and can lead to collisions.
• No optimized operations possible while loading and unloading through spreader.
• Most of them are less efficient.
• Most of them are difficult to operate.

Thus, there is an unmet need to develop Stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that enhances safety of operations while using an RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane for container handling in the container terminals for the loading and unloading of incoming and outgoing containers, which further ensures the optimum safe path for the movement of the spreader.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:

The main object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations.

Another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations, that enhances safety of operations while using an RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane for container handling in the container terminals for the loading and unloading of incoming and outgoing containers.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that enables optimised RTG Crane operations and enhances the crane safety.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that captures the position of the spreader and trolley in real time basis.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that identifies the edges of the containers placed in the stack, in order to avoid spreader collision with the stack.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations whereby the spreader moves over the container stack automatically at the optimum safe path, without human intervention in order to avoid its collision with container stack.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that ensures it does not get collide with the container stack below.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that obviates the problems associated with the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

Fig.1 : Shows Rubber Tyre Gantry Crane (RTG) of the present Stack profiling system for RTG crane
Fig.2 : Shows Block, Bay, Row, tire of the present Stack profiling system for RTG crane
Fig.3 : Shows the installed laser scanning device of the present Stack profiling system for RTG crane
Fig.4 : Shows the Block Diagram of the present Stack profiling system for RTG crane
Fig.5 : Shows the working flow chart of the unloading cycle of the present Stack profiling system for RTG crane

Meaning of Reference numerals of said format of drw said component parts of present Stack profiling system for RTG crane

P : Present Stack profiling system for RTG crane.
RTG : Rubber Tyre Gantry
LC : Plurality of Laser Scanners
LC 1 : Laser Scanner 1
LC 2 : Laser Scanner 2
BL : Block
BA : Bay
RO : Row
TI : Tier
HG : Horizontal Girder
VG : Vertical Girder
CS : Container Stack
S : Spreader
HE : Cabin
Y : Yard
VD : Means of Display
VT : Means of Transmission
TOS : Terminal operating system
T : Trolley
VMT : Vehicle Mounted Terminal
CMS : Crane Management System
LCSR : Means of Stack Profile Generation
COH : Means of Hoist encoder processing
HM : Hoist Motor
HD : Hoist drive
COT : Means of Trolley Encoder Processing
TE : Trolley Encoder
TD : Trolley drive
TM : Trolley Motor
TR : Truck
L : Loading
UL : Unloading
C : Controller

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION:

The present invention embodies Stack profiling system for RTG crane operations that enhances safety of operations while using an RTG (Rubber Tyre Gantry) Crane for container handling in the container terminals for the loading and unloading of incoming and outgoing containers. In order to remove reliance on visuals of the RTG crane operator for movement of the spreader over the container stack while loading or unloading and to eliminate the problems associated with it, present Stack profiling system for RTG crane operations is developed.

Referring to Fig. 1 to 5, The RTG crane used in the present Stack Profiling System for RTG crane; uses existing RTG with:
? 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,
? Encoders GE, TE and H.

and requires installation of following:
? Plurality of Laser scanners LC
? Means of Stack Profile Generation LCSR
? Means of Trolley Encoder Processing COT
? Means of Hoist encoder processing COH

Wherein;

Containers in a container terminal are stacked in the yard, prior to shipping outside the said container terminal. Said stacking of the containers in the container yards is done by the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG crane that travels on wheels over the container stack CS. Said Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG crane operator seats in the operator cabin HE of Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane, at a height of 18.1 meter from ground, to operate the crane. The crane operator has a Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT in his cabin HE, at which operator receives regular information of the jobs i.e. Loading L or Unloading UL, to be performed from the planner. Further said Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG is remotely operated wherein the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG crane operator seats in the remote operations station where he have access of Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG through wireless network and job information through Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT. Said job is either to load L the container from the container stack CS on the Truck TR or to unload UL a container into the container stack CS from the Truck TR.

Said Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT is a mobile electronic device having a Display, a keypad and a means for data transmission, at which operator receives the visuals on the display of the container number on which either a loading L or unloading UL job is to be performed. Also if the said Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG is remotely operated, the operator seats in the remote operations station where he has the access of Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG through Wi-Fi network and job information through Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT. Once the job is completed the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane operator punch in the completion status and container position using keypad. Further where said display of the jobs on the screen and inputs of the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane operator communicated to and fro with the Terminal Operating System TOS.

Said Terminal Operating System TOS is provided to manage the container inventory in the container terminals, wherein said Terminal Operating System TOS is used at the container terminals to record and interpret the container terminal information, that includes recording the data base of the container coming in and out of the container terminal, containers stored in the yard with their respective position, vehicles coming In and out of the container terminal, vessel schedules, containers to be loaded L or unloaded UL from a vessel, and job allocated the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Cranes. Said container terminal receives the containers through two sources, wherein the first source is the vessel and the second source is the inland factories or container depots.

For the containers that are unloaded UL from the vessel, the checker (an individual deployed on the quay) records the container number on said Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT and the planner assigns an unloading position to the truck TR driver. For the containers unloaded UL from the inland factory or container depot at the gate of the container terminal the gate checker checks the mandatory documents, feeds the container number in the Terminal Operating System TOS. Further based on the inputs entered by the gate checker the position is generated by the Terminal Operating System TOS and same is assigned to the truck TR driver. For the containers to be delivered to the vessel, planner, on arrival of a vessel on the quay, through Terminal Operating System TOS assigns the loading L job to the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane, wherein said job contains container number and its position. For the container dispatch to the inland factories or container depot, the loading L job is assigned to the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane. The gate checker checks the documents, assigns the position to the truck TR. Further said container terminal dispatches the containers. During dispatch, the containers are to be dispatched to two locations, wherein first is to the vessel and second is to the inland factories or container depots.

Said trolley T is a mobile structure as shown in Fig.1, fitted over the horizontal girders HG. The trolley T travels over the container stack CS and the movement is regulated with the help of trolley drive (TD) and trolley motor HM. Said trolley T further comprises of hoist motor HM and hoist drive HD fitted on it. Thus with the movement of the trolley T over the container stack CS the spreader S attached with the hoist H also moves.

An encoder is an electro-mechanical device that converts the angular position or motion of a shaft or axle to an analogue or digital code and transfers same to the controller C.

Said bus bar BB is a physical structure that supplies electricity to the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane. Each yard 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.
Referring to Fig. 3, the present stack profiling system for RTG crane comprises of the plurality of laser scanners LC further comprising of;
? Laser scanner 1 LC1
? Laser scanner 2 LC2

Wherein,

Said plurality of laser scanning device LC are provided to scan three stacks each thereby covering total six stacks, and are installed over the horizontal girders HG of the RTG crane. The Laser scanning devices LC 1 and LC 2 are provided for scanning the container stack or height profile continuously, as early as the RTG crane starts and shares same on the Crane Management System CMS in the real time.

Referring to Fig.4, said controller C is provided to convert the inputs received from the plurality of laser scanners LC into the stack profile using means of stack profile generation LCSR. Said controller is further comprised of:

? Means of Stack profile generation LCSR
? Means of Trolley encoder processing COT
? Means of Hoist Encoder Processing COH

Wherein, said Means of Stack profile generation LCSR is provided for generation of stack profile by receiving the inputs from said laser scanners LC 1 and LC 2, and thereby generates the stack profile of the container stack. Means of Trolley encoder processing COT, is provided to detect and process the inputs from the trolley encoder TE and thereby aids the controller C to detect the exact location of the trolley T over the container stack CS. Said means of Hoist encoder processing COH is provided to locate the position of the spreader S by receiving the inputs from the hoist encoder H.

Said controller C receives inputs from the trolley encoder TE, upon generation of stack profile. The inputs received from trolley encoder TE are processed by the controller C using its means of trolley encoder processing COT, which further enables the controller C to detect the exact position of the trolley T over the container stack CS. Further said controller C receives the inputs of the Hoist Encoder H, wherein the controller C computes the exact position of the spreader S using means of hoist encoder processing COH. The movement of the spreader S i.e. up and down is regulated by said hoist drive HD and hoist motor HM as shown in Fig. 1.

Controller C is programed to receive below listed inputs:

? Current position of the trolley T from the trolley encoder fitted n the Trolley Motor TM
? Current Position of the spreader S from the hoist encoder (H) fitted on the Hoist Motor HM
? Stack profile from the laser scanners LC installed on the horizontal girders HG of the RTG crane.

Based on the said inputs, the controller C guides the Trolley Drive TD and Hoist Drive HD to regulate the movement of the trolley T and spreader S over the container stack CS toward the target position. Said movement of trolley T and the spreader S is done as per the stack profile and over the path, which ensures that the spreader S moves without collision over the container stack CS at safest optimum path.

Said crane management system CMS is the visual interface provided to the RTG Crane operator in the remote operation station. The stack profile generated by the plurality of laser scanners LC is shared with the controller C.

WORKING OF INVENTION:

An unloading UL cycle for the detailed explanation on the stepwise working of the invention is provided below, referring to the numerals given in the flow chart illustrated in Fig: 5.

? 1 & 2- The unloading UL process starts with Truck TR carrying container arrives at the Pre Gate of the Port.

? 3, 4 & 5 - Upon its arrival a gate entry operator checks the shipping documents and allows the movement of the truck inside the terminal; if the shipping documents meet standards else truck TR is directed towards buffer yard to unload UL the container.

? 6, 7 & 8- On arrival of the truck TR, carrying container, at the terminal gate position is generated by the gate operator. This position is given to the truck driver and simultaneously displayed on the Visual terminal display VMT of the RTG crane.

? 9 – RTG Crane moves to the location at which job of unloading is to be performed based on the location shown on the VMT VD and stops.

? 10- Plurality of Laser Scanners LC, installed on the horizontal girders HG of the RTG crane, scans the container stack CS and sends it to the Controller C.

? 11 & 12- Controller C processes the inputs of laser scanner LC and generates the stack profile, the same stack profile is reflected on the Crane Management System CMS interface in the remote operations station.

? 13 - Controller C receives inputs from the trolley encoder TE and hoist encoder H and processes same to generate the trolley and spreader position.

? 14 & 15- Trolley T moves towards the destination bay, thereby making spreader S also move. Simultaneously controller C detects for the presence of any height obstacle at the height at which spreader is moving.

? 16- If any obstacle is detected, controller C makes trolley T stop and change the spreader S position to an optimum safe height; thereby ensuring the Spreader S does not collides with the container stack CS.

? 17 & 18- If no obstacle is detected, controller C allows the movement of the trolley T and spreader S and thus the cycle completes with the completion of the unloading of the container in the container stack CS.
,CLAIMS:We Claim:

1. Present Stack profiling system for RTG crane operations P, mainly comprises 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,
? Encoders GE, TE and H,
? Plurality of Laser scanners LC,
? Means of Stack Profile Generation LCSR,
? Means of Trolley Encoder Processing COT,
? Means of Hoist encoder processing COH;

wherein;

said Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT is a mobile electronic device having a Display, a keypad and a means for data transmission, at which operator receives the visuals on the display of the container number on which either a loading L or unloading UL job is to be performed and if the said Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG is remotely operated, the operator seats in the remote operations station where he has the access of Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG through Wi-Fi network and job information through Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT; once the job is completed the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane operator punch in the completion status and container position using keypad; further where said display of the jobs on the screen and inputs of the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane operator communicated to and fro with the Terminal Operating System TOS;

said Terminal Operating System TOS is provided to manage the container inventory in the container terminals, wherein said Terminal Operating System TOS is used at the container terminals to record and interpret the container terminal information, that includes recording the data base of the container coming in and out of the container terminal, containers stored in the yard with their respective position, vehicles coming In and out of the container terminal, vessel schedules, containers to be loaded L or unloaded UL from a vessel, and job allocated the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Cranes; said container terminal receives the containers through two sources, wherein the first source is the vessel and the second source is the inland factories or container depots; for the containers that are unloaded UL from the vessel, the checker (an individual deployed on the quay) records the container number on said Vehicle Mounted Terminal VMT and the planner assigns an unloading position to the truck TR driver; for the containers unloaded UL from the inland factory or container depot at the gate of the container terminal the gate checker checks the mandatory documents, feeds the container number in the Terminal Operating System TOS wherein further based on the inputs entered by the gate checker the position is generated by the Terminal Operating System TOS and same is assigned to the truck TR driver; for the containers to be delivered to the vessel, planner, on arrival of a vessel on the quay, through Terminal Operating System TOS assigns the loading L job to the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane, wherein said job contains container number and its position; for the container dispatch to the inland factories or container depot, the loading L job is assigned to the Rubber Tyre Gantry RTG Crane; said container terminal dispatches the containers wherein the containers are to be dispatched to two locations, first is to the vessel and second is to the inland factories or container depots;

said encoder is an electro-mechanical device that converts the angular position or motion of a shaft or axle to an analogue or digital code and transfers same to the controller C; comprises of the plurality of laser scanners LC further comprising of;
? Laser scanner 1 LC1,
? Laser scanner 2 LC2,

wherein,

said plurality of laser scanning device LC are provided to scan three stacks thereby covering total six stacks, and are installed over the horizontal girders HG of the RTG crane; the Laser scanning devices LC 1 and LC 2 are provided for scanning the container stack or height profile continuously, and share same on the Crane Management System CMS in the real time;

said controller C is provided to convert the inputs received from the plurality of laser scanners LC 1 and LC 2 into the stack profile using means of stack profile generation LCSR; said controller is further comprised of:

? Means of Stack profile generation LCSR,
? Means of Trolley encoder processing COT,
? Means of Hoist Encoder Processing COH,

Wherein, said Means of Stack profile generation LCSR is provided for generation of stack profile by receiving the inputs from said laser scanners LC 1 and LC 2, and thereby generates the stack profile of the container stack; means of Trolley encoder processing COT, is provided to detect and process the inputs from the trolley encoder TE and thereby aids the controller C to detect the exact location of the trolley T over the container stack CS; said means of Hoist encoder processing COH is provided to locate the position of the spreader S by receiving the inputs from the hoist encoder H;

said controller C receives inputs from the trolley encoder TE, upon generation of stack profile; the inputs received from trolley encoder TE are processed by the controller C using its means of trolley encoder processing COT, which further enables the controller C to detect the exact position of the trolley T over the container stack CS; further said controller C receives the inputs of the Hoist Encoder H, wherein the controller C computes the exact position of the spreader S using means of hoist encoder processing COH; the movement of the spreader S i.e. up and down is regulated by said hoist drive HD and hoist motor HM as shown in Fig. 1;

Controller C is programed to receive below listed inputs:

? Current position of the trolley T from the trolley encoder fitted on the Trolley Motor TM,
? Current Position of the spreader S from the hoist encoder (H) fitted on the Hoist Motor HM ,
? Stack profile from the laser scanners LC installed on the horizontal girders HG of the RTG crane;

based on the said inputs, the controller C guides the Trolley Drive TD and Hoist Drive HD to regulate the movement of the trolley T and spreader S over the container stack CS toward the target position; said movement of trolley T and the spreader S is down as per the stack profile and over the path, which ensures that the spreader S moves without collision over the container stack CS;

said crane management system CMS is the visual interface provided to the RTG Crane operator in the remote operation station; the stack profile generated by the plurality of laser scanners LC is shared with the controller C.

Dated this 1st Day of July, 2017.

____________________
Gopi Trivedi (Ms)
Authorized Agent of the Applicant

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