Increasing Lifting Efficiency of a Cable-Driven Crane Through Motion Design

Operating large cranes is an energy-intensive process, underscoring the urgent need for strategies that enhance efficiency to yield significant economic and environmental benefits. This paper introduces a novel and cost-effective method focused on motion design to boost the efficiency of crane operations. The problem of finding the most efficient motion law is addressed by solving an optimal control problem using a state-of-the-art toolbox. To validate the effectiveness of our approach, we constructed a scaled prototype, demonstrating our method’s practical applicability. A comparative analysis with a conventional reference motion has revealed that the proposed motion design method markedly reduces energy consumption. These promising results advocate for further exploration of our method in real-world crane operations.