Konecranes World №7

Big Is Beautiful 

Goliath Gantry Cranes To Ingalls Shipbuilding, USA 

and Gdynia Shipyard, Poland page 3 

BoxHunter 

The all New Ship-to-Shore Design page 6 

The all New Ship-to-Shore Design page

CONTINUOUS GROWTH 

At KCI Konecranes, our approach has been to give our 

customers both leading-edge crane technology and all 

the maintenance services needed over the lifetime of 

the crane. We provide maintenance services for all makes of 

cranes, and almost half of KCI Konecranes’ sales are generated 

by the service operations. The balance of our revenue 

comes from supplying new cranes, with lifting capacities ranging 

from 125 kg to 1000 tons. 

A year ago we embarked on a focused global objective of 

expanding our maintenance service capabilities for large harbour 

and shipyard cranes. With this in mind, we established KCI 

Koneports. KCI Koneports now operates permanent business 

units in Finland, Germany, France, USA, Malaysia, China, Singapore 

and Indonesia, and we see it growing further. KCI 

Koneports consists both of our “old” units and of new members 

like Caillard and Noell Konecranes. 

Maintenance is an investment, which should generate a 

measurable return in increased uptime, safety and production 

along with lower operating costs. KCI Koneports’ worldwide 

presence and internal co-operation give us an edge as we 

utilise global best practices and know-how to improve the 

profitability of our customers’ business. KCI Koneports offers a 

complete menu of services, from providing professional inspections 

and spares to full-scale modernisation, relocation, or even 

the supply of second-hand cranes. As a service provider, our 

ability to solve problems is immeasurably enhanced by having 

direct access to all of the engineering, technical and fabrication 

resources of a full scale crane company. 

Our far-flung maintenance operation is also an excellent 

source of information for research and development. Konecranes 

VLC's new equipment business has now completed the 

first round of an ambitious R&D program that not only renews 

our product offering, but also introduces new technological 

solutions to the crane market. Common to all of them is the 

concept of high operating efficiency combined with low operating 

costs, resulting in low ownership costs for the life of the 

equipment. This R&D program has resulted in our next-generation 

RTG crane and a new high capacity Advanced Grab Drive 

(AGD) grab unloader. We have also introduced multipurpose 

shipboard gantry cranes called Konecranes-Munckloaders, 

and now, the new high-efficiency BoxHunter® ship-to-shore 

crane. With each of these new cranes we have substantially 

improved our customers’ capability to better serve their own 

clients. And I can guarantee that further new ideas are in the 

pipeline. 

This issue of Konecranes’ World focuses on our harbour and 

shipyard crane operations, which we call the Konecranes VLC 

(Very Large Cranes) business line. This 

area covers also Port Crane Services 

supplied by KCI Koneports. I hope 

that this issue will give you a full menu 

of new ideas and knowledge that 

you can use in your own business. 

Mikko Uhari 

President, Harbour and 

Shipyards Cranes, 

Konecranes VLC 

2 KONECRANES’ WORLD No 7 

CONTENTS: 

BIG IS BEAUTIFUL .............................................................3 

BOXHUNTER ® : THE NEXT GENERATION 

SHIP-TO-SHORE CONTAINER CRANE................................6 

KCI KONEPORTS TAKES THE LEAD IN HARBOUR 

AND SHIPYARD CRANE MAINTENANCE ...........................9 

CXT INDUSTRIAL CRANES AND HOISTS 

PROGRESSING TOWARDS COMPLETION .......................12 

FLAG RISING CEREMONY 

AT NEW HOIST FACTORY IN SHANGHAI ........................12 

NEW ORDERS FROM ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS ........13 

EXPANDING RELATIONS IN CHINA ................................13 

CMS GOLD AWARD 2002 FOR 

NOELL KONECRANES....................................................14 

CAILLARD NEW OFFICES! .............................................14 

LATEST KONECRANES VLC SHIPYARD 

CRANE DELIVERIES AND ORDERS .................................14 

LATEST KONECRANES VLC SHIP-TO-SHORE 

CRANE DELIVERIES AND PROJECTS ..............................15 

LATEST KONECRANES RTG CRANE 

DELIVERIES AND ORDERS..............................................15 

LATEST SHIPUNLOADER DELIVERY AND ORDERS............15 

DEDICATED FEATURES IN KCI DRIVES ............................16 

CORPORATE FIGURES...................................................20 

KCI KONECRANES GROUP AT A GLANCE.....................20 

PUBLISHER KONECRANES VLC 

CORPORATION 

P.O.Box 666 

FIN-05801 Hyvinkää, Finland 

Tel. +358 (0)20 427 11 

Fax +358 (0)20 427 2599 

EDITOR IN CHIEF Franciska Janzon, Manager, 

Group Communications 

KCI Konecranes International Plc 

Tel. +358 (0)20 427 2043 

Fax +358 (0)20 427 2100 

franciska.janzon@kcigroup.com 

PRODUCTION OnePartner Oy and 

KCI Konecranes International Plc 

COPYRIGHTS KCI Konecranes International Plc 

www.konecranes.com

Big is Beautiful 

Go·li·ath [ge-lì-eth] noun 

A person or thing of colossal 

power or achievement. 

Whenever we are lucky enough to be involved in a project that is larger than 

life, somehow we as people become larger too. We experience the conviction 

that what we’re doing now is something exceptional and historic – something 

to tell our grandchildren about. This must have been on the minds of most of us 

who were involved in the recent deliveries of Konecranes’ Goliath cranes to the 

United States and Poland. These two monumental cranes were delivered to 

Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi and to Stocznia Gdynia S.A. 

Shipyard. 

The Ingalls’ Goliath is a 600-ton 

capacity, 125-meter span giant, 

which runs on 96 wheels down a 700meter 

long runway. The crane has a total 

height of 100 meters. The crane delivered 

to Gdynia is even bigger: A lifting capacity 

of 1000 tons and a span of 153 meters 

makes this Goliath one of the largest 

operating cranes in Europe. With a total 

height of 106 meters, this piece of equip- 

ment dominates the horizon of the city of 

Gdynia. 

The chief engineer for both deliveries, 

Mr. Aulis Vainio, was the ideal steward for 

these two colossal projects, because of 

his previous involvement in virtually all of 

Konecranes’ other Goliath Cranes over 

the past decades. From a design standpoint, 

both cranes are fairly similar, consisting 

of A-frame legs and a single trape- 

zoidal main girder with an upper trolley 

on the top and lower trolley on the bottom. 

The machinery and electrics were 

technically similar as well. If the cranes 

were seen standing side by side, the only 

visible difference, except for span and 

colour, would be the operator’s cabin. 

This is attached to the main hoisting trolley 

of the Ingalls crane. In Gdynia, the 

cabin is located on the fixed leg of the 

crane. 

Advantages of the 

Konecranes Design 

KCI Konecranes has been the supplier 

of most of the world's Goliath cranes during 

the past ten years. Their electrical drives 

with AC motors and stepless inverter 

controls have substantially lower power 

consumption than the conventional drive 

systems. The crane features outstanding 

load positioning accuracy. 

No 7 KONECRANES’ WORLD 

3

Also, a single beam warmed by hot 

sunshine from one side behaves differently 

than a double girder frame design: it is 

considerably stiffer which makes the 

effects of thermal elongation easier to 

eliminate and control. Shipyards all over 

the world now appreciate Konecranes' 

unique single girder construction, which 

allows ship blocks "turning in the air" to 

become a new and efficient part of their 

ship production strategy. The torsion 

forces are easy to control with the stiff single 

beam. 

The commercial aspect is important 

too. Shipyards clearly achieve substantial 

savings in their investment when selecting 

a single girder Goliath crane, that has a 

better capacity/weight-ratio, compared 

to conventional double girder construction. 

Goliath Cranes Travel the World 

According to Mr. Pekka Palokangas, 

manufacturing manager of Konecranes 

VLC, the structural parts for both cranes 

were manufactured in several locations in 

Europe. The legs and hoisting trolleys 

came from Spain and bogies from Hungary. 

The main girder of the Gdynia crane 

was produced in Konecranes’ own heavy 

workshop in Hanko, Southern Finland 

whereas the Ingalls’ girder structures were 

manufactured in Sunderland, Northern 

England. Electrical control systems, the Erooms 

and, of course, all main components 

for the machineries were made at 

Konecranes’ own factories in Finland. 

Shipment of the structural components 

to the United States was like putting 

together an enormous jigsaw puzzle. The 

ship first sailed to Spain to collect the legs 

and hoisting trolleys. The next port of call 

was Rotterdam where the bogies manufactured 

in Hungary were waiting. Then 

the route led across the North Sea to 

Northern England to take aboard the 

main girder sections. As Sunderland lies 

upstream on the river Tyne, the ship had 

to wait for a proper tide to be able to 

clear the shallow waters with the heavy 

vessel. But when the ship reached Sunderland, 

the jetty was occupied by another 

vessel. The ship was forced to return to 

Newcastle where the girders were finally 

loaded. 

After an Atlantic crossing and a successful 

transit of the Bermuda Triangle, the 

ship made its way through the Gulf of 


Mexico to dock at Ingalls Shipyard in 

Pascagoula, Mississippi. Fortunately, KCI 

Koneports was allowed to use the shipyard’s 

existing jib cranes for the assembly 

and erection work, which saved time. 

Crews first lifted up both the legs and 

used these to lift the main girder beam 

into final position with the help of strand 

jacks installed on top of the legs. After 

welding the connections, the stay ropes 

were removed and the electrical installation 

completed. 

A Balancing Act in Gdynia 

The manufacturing philosophy for the 

Gdynia Goliath was different. The Hanko 

factory has a port of its own, which made 

transportation of the main girder in a single 

piece possible. The 16-meter-long 

ready-made girder sections were assembled 

in a special jig and joined together 

to form an 80-meter long centre section 

that was pulled to the middle of the 70meter 

long barge. As the barge length 

was limited to the Gdynia shipyard’s dry 

dock width, the two 40-meter-long end 

sections were attached to either end, 

one by one by welding while the centre 

part was already lying on the barge 

deck. The transport scene was fabulous: 

the 70-meter-long barge carrying a 160meter 

beam with 45 meters on either side 

suspended in mid-air. 

At the site, the barge was pulled into 

the water-filled dry dock basin sideways. 

The water was lowered down to get the 

barge out of the dock. The beam was 

then pulled sideways using the FLUIDTS® – 

Modules system from Noell Konecranes to 

meet the crane rails. The four legs were 

pin-connected to the beam and the 

upper trolley was installed on top of the 

beam. The lifting was done using four 

stay-roped lifting towers and hydraulic 

strand jacks. When the girder beam started 

to rise, the legs were allowed to slide 

from horizontal to vertical position. The 

whole erection was completed in less

than two months and the shipyard was 

then able to fill the dock with seawater– 

just in time for launching of the next ship. 

The shipyard’s production was neither 

interrupted nor disturbed during the erection. 

How Big is Big 

It is difficult to imagine the gigantic 

dimensions of a Goliath crane. A width of 

eight and a height of 12 meters is a very 

big section. Imagine a four-story building 

of 16 apartments with 100 square meters 

on each floor and you get a structure similar 

in size to the main girder of the Gdynia 

Goliath. Just imagine: enough space for 

64 apartments that could house more 

than 200 people! Then, lift the entire structure 

100 meters above the city. 

Building the Ships of the Future 

The selection of a Goliath gantry 

crane is a growing trend in modern shipyards 

all over the world. It delivers definite 

advantages for the shipbuilder: a significant 

number of working hours are saved 

when the pre-assembled blocks can be 

heavier and larger in size. The shipyard is 

also able to use their land area in a more 

effective way. These changes result in 

increased efficiency, which in today’s 

world means increased productivity and 

shorter delivery times. 

Shipbuilding is a very competitive 

industry, and likely to become more so in 

the future. Nature teaches us about the 

survival of the fittest, and there are definite 

parallels in shipbuilding, as well as 

other industries. Without continuously 

improving efficiency, companies lose 

their competitive edge. Business must 

adapt and evolve in order to survive. 

Environmental issues also have a profound 

effect on the shipbuilding industry. 

Everyone remembers the EXXON Valdez 

tragedy in March, 1989 when thousands 

of tonnes of crude oil washed ashore in 

Alaska, one of the world’s great wildlife 

areas, killing thousands of birds and other 

animals. There have been several similar 

cases on European coasts over the last 

few decades. These incidents have mandated 

major changes in shipbuilding: 

beginning in 2003, all new tankers must 

be built with a double hull structure to 

prevent this sort of catastrophe. All single 

hull tankers will be phased out by 2015, 

which will spur demand for the newly 

designed ships. Since a double hull 

weighs more than a single hull, shipyards 

must increase their lifting capacity to handle 

these heavier ship sections. 

Shipbuilding was once regarded as 

sunset industry. However, the world fleet 

has grown approximately 21 percent 

since 1991. The containerisation 

sector has grown by 

a remarkable 33 

percent during the same time period. 

And today’s tankers are truly the ‘kings of 

the seas,’ representing more than half of 

the world’s merchant fleet, approx. 330 

million DWT (Dead Weight Tons). According 

to the OECD (Organization for Economic 

Co-operation and Development) 

forecast, the demand for new ships will 

keep rising in the next few years, resulting 

in a 15,5 percent capacity increase at 

shipyards up to 2005. 

We used to think of tankers only as 

vessels to transport crude oil and petrol. 

Although oil transportation will always 

remain important (who knows-- we could 

find ourselves carrying pure water on 

ocean tankers twenty years from now!) 

the tanker of the future is more and more 

likely to carry pressurised natural gas in liquid 

form. This liquid is stored in giant spherical 

containers mounted aboard a vessel. 

These ‘half balls’ are often made of aluminium 

and they look like giant mushrooms. 

LNG vessel production, whether it 

is with aluminium containers or membrane 

technology, has a major effect in 

material handling in shipbuilding industries. 

Larger and heavier cranes will be 

required to build them, and Goliath 

gantry cranes are the right solution. We 

can safely predict that in this century, bigger 

will continue to be better, and all of 

these factors indicate a bright future for 

companies manufacturing Goliath gantry 

cranes. ■ 

Erkki Salminen, Marketing & Sales Manager, 

Konecranes VLC Corporation 

erkki.salminen@konecranes.com 


5

BoxHunter ® 

BoxHunter : 

® 

: 

THE NEXT GENERATION SHIP-TO-SHORE 

CONTAINER CRANE 

KCI Konecranes, with its installed 

base of more than a thousand port 

and shipyard cranes, has always 

been recognised as a forerunner in 

developing state-of-the-art containerhandling 

equipment. Now 

Konecranes is introducing its latest 

STS Container Crane design – the 

BoxHunter ® . 

Load control, or more precisely container 

and spreader positioning, has 

been the limiting factor in efforts to 

increase container crane productivity. 

While the problem with the Panamax size 


cranes built in the past was accommodating 

small vessel movements, the challenge 

of today’s giant container cranes is 

that controlling the spreader is made 

more difficult by greater crane deflec- 

Figure 2. 

Main hoist and auxiliary 

rope system. 

tions and longer hoisting ropes. Loading 

and unloading with Panamax size cranes 

requires simultaneous (or consecutive) 

trolley and gantry movements for final 

positioning, in which the spreader move-

ment response is slow. The positioning 

problem becomes even more difficult 

with taller Super Post Panamax cranes, 

when the spreader is suspended with 

longer ropes which do not effectively 

dampen pendulum effect. 

Technical performance and 

productivity 

Container crane performance, when 

not limited by yard operations, is controlled 

by two main considerations: crane 

characteristics and load-handling features. 

Crane characteristics include elements 

such as capacity, speed and 

acceleration, values that are easy to 

compare. All of these parameters have 

the tendency to increase from year to 

year. However, using the highest values to 

determine economic impact is a questionable 

practice. Theoretically the cycle 

times can be calculated and crane performance 

scores determined using the 

higher values, but actual crane performance 

is also significantly impacted by 

other factors – factors of load handling. 

KCI Konecranes recently studied several 

terminals on different continents with 

different operational systems. According 

to the data in Table 1, the main conclusion 

to be reached is that as much as 40 

to 60 per cent of the loading or unloading 

time of a typical quayside crane during its 

work cycle is used for positioning of the 

spreader. The rest of the time is used for 

productive machinery on-time, in which 

any of the main motions may be in use. 

For example, the operator is attempting 

to position an empty spreader on top 

of a container, or trying to position a container 

on a chassis or on top of another 

container. In theoretical crane-cycle calculations, 

this positioning time is simply 

Table 1. 

Crane cycle analysis 

ignored by using an unrealistically low figure, 

such as 5 seconds. Here is where we 

find a huge hidden potential to increase 

the productivity of the crane. 

Structural 

stiffness 

The structural stiffness of the crane is 

the backbone for the efficiency of all 

operations. The importance of structural 

rigidity has increased during recent years 

for several reasons. Improved design and 

calculation methods now enable the 

optimum usage of structural steel. The 

increasing dimensions and loads of modern 

cranes have created a situation 

where engineers designing cranes solely 

by calculating the stresses of structural 

members have created a generation of 

too-flexible cranes. Meanwhile, increased 

accelerations of the crane’s main 

motions cause much greater dynamic 

effects, which combined with flexible 

design makes it impossible to achieve 

equal relative rigidity when compared 

with cranes designed 15 years ago. 

Konecranes has always promoted the 

advantages of a rigid steel structure with 

minimum deflections. Excess deflection of 

a structure along any axis impacts productivity 

in a very negative way. Valuable 

cycle time is lost while waiting for the 

structure to settle. This problem is becoming 

even more critical while loading or 

unloading Panamax size vessels with oversized 

Super Post Panamax cranes. 

Konecranes new BoxHunter ® container 

crane has one of the largest portal 

structure cross sections on the market. 

Large cross sections of the steel structure 

mean a stiffer crane with less structural 

deflection, resulting in greater productivity. 

Post Panamax and Super Post Pana- 

Crane cycle EUR 1 EUR 2 EUR 3 USA 1 USA 2 

Hoist, travel, lower above vessel 21 sec 17 sec 31 sec 15 sec 17 sec 

Approach, position, grip container 65 sec 24 sec 43 sec 12 sec 18 sec 

Hoist, travel, lower above quay 34 sec 20 sec 53 sec 16 sec 17 sec 

Approach, position, release container 14 sec 18 sec 19 sec 19 sec 13 sec 

Net performance (Box/hour) 27 45 25 58 55 

Machinery on-time 41% 47% 57% 50% 52% 

Positioning of the spreader time 59% 53% 43% 50% 48% 

max versions have the stairways and 

cabling installed inside the legs, leaving 

the outer surface of the steel structure 

clean, unobstructed and easy to maintain 

for years to come. 

Load 

control 

The development of load control sys- 

tems for container cranes has gone 

through many stages of R & D that have 

paralleled, without always adding to the 

overall improvement of technology. Different 

rope systems have been introduced– 

mechanically, hydraulically or 

electrically connected to main hoist systems– 

with varying degrees of success. 

Electrical load control systems have 

received most of the attention due to the 

development of electronics and computers. 

Rapidly manifolded calculation power 

has fascinated engineers, inspiring 

them to develop even more complicated 

algorithms for control systems while pursuing 

the elusive goal of better load control. 

All of this technical effort directed at the 

load control problem has had limited success 

– until now, with Konecranes Box- 

Hunter ® technology. 

The features and characteristics of 

many different load control systems were 

studied and considered during the development 

of the BoxHunter ® container 

crane. The auxiliary rope system was chosen 

because of its demonstrated superiority. 

The design has already been successfully 

proven on more than 100 RTGs delivered 

by Konecranes since 1995. The concept 

was modified to meet the even 

more demanding performance requirements 

of ship-to-shore container cranes. 

Active Sway 

Prevention System 

Konecranes BoxHunter ® offers a 

unique Active Sway Prevention System. It 

eliminates sway in the trolley direction, in 

the gantry direction (primary sway), 

around the headblock sheaves (secondary 

sway) and finally around the vertical 

axis (rotational sway or skew). The system 

(shown in Figure 2) also works actively 

against wind forces or any other horizontal 

forces, such as impact loads when 

lifting a container. 


7

The Active Sway Prevention System 

operates using a system of auxiliary ropes 

and winches, with the novel approach of 

employing electrically-driven winches to 

control the forces on auxiliary ropes. 

Identical winches are installed on each of 

the four corners of the trolley. 

The ropes are angled in the direction 

of the trolley and gantry travel. Each 

winch consists of a small rope drum, a fully 

enclosed gear reducer and an AC 

motor, which is controlled by an AC drive 

system as shown in Figure 3. Inverter-controlled 

AC motors are controlled independently 

by the main PLC system. The auxiliary 

ropes are reeved from the main hoist 

rope drum down to the head block and 

then up to the auxiliary winches. When 

hoisting, the auxiliary ropes are wound on 

the main hoisting drums. The other end of 

the auxiliary rope is fixed to the small 

drum on the auxiliary winch. This drum is 

used for load control. 

BoxHunter ® Active Sway Prevention 

System works automatically all the time. 

The system prevents sway accurately and 

quickly. The bottom line is that the spreader 

and/or container arrives at its final position 

more quickly and in control. 

Horizontal Fine 

Positioning System 

When the crane operator is attempt- 

ing the final positioning of the spreader or 

container with a conventional quayside 

crane he must move the trolley in the trolley 

direction or the entire crane in the 

gantry direction. The final positioning is a 

cumbersome and time-consuming operation. 

This problem is becoming even more 

critical as hoisting heights continue to 

increase. 

With the BoxHunter ® Horizontal Fine 

Positioning System the operator can 

move the spreader horizontally up to ± 

200 mm in either the trolley or gantry 

direction without moving the trolley or the 

crane. When arriving close to the final 

position of the spreader or container 

using the main crane motions he can use 

the BoxHunter ® joystick to guide the 

spreader or container to their final locations 

quickly and accurately with the Horizontal 

Fine Positioning System. The operator 

also has the ability to employ all the 


Figure 3. 

Rope Reeving Arrangement. 

other micro-motions of trim, list and skew 

in addition to the horizontal movements. 

The BoxHunter ® Horizontal Fine Positioning 

System utilises the same auxiliary 

ropes and winches as the Active Sway 

Prevention System. By manipulating the 

forces on the auxiliary ropes, the spreader 

can be moved horizontally. 

Special care is taken to ensure that 

the auxiliary ropes do not touch adjacent 

containers when loading or unloading 

deep-deck cargo or cell cargo. Auxiliary 

ropes are reeved so that they remain 

inside the envelope of the main hoisting 

ropes in most cases. Auxiliary ropes can 

Auxiliary winch. 

be manually or automatically relaxed 

when operating inside the ship’s cell 

guides. 

Conclusions 

Studies show that the greatest potential 

for improving container crane performance 

lies in reduction of the final 

spreader or container positioning time. 

Theoretical duty cycle simulations 

notwithstanding, in the real world as 

much as half of the cycle time is spent (or 

wasted) on load positioning. Using effective 

load control systems to reduce this 

non-productive time can increase container 

crane performance by 20 percent 

with marginal additional investment. 

Compared to previous load control systems, 

BoxHunter ® ’s auxiliary rope system 

built with independent drives provides the 

best solution to combat load sway, skew 

and wind action, while delivering horizontal 

fine positioning without trolley or 

gantry movement. ■ 

Mika Mahlberg, Director, Container Cranes 

Konecranes VLC 

mika.mahlberg@konecranes.com

KCI Koneports takes 

the lead in harbour 

and shipyard crane 

maintenance 

Keeping pace with today’s highly demanding global shipping environment is 

an ongoing challenge. As a result, the port and shipyard industry has become 

increasingly focused on how to keep its cranes running with the highest 

possible operating efficiency. Responding to this trend, Konecranes VLC (Very 

Large Cranes) has formed KCI Koneports, a new global division specialising in 

maintenance and aftermarket service for all makes of harbour and shipyard 

cranes. 

In addition to providing its customers 

with a world-class service organisation 

backed by the team’s specialised 

crane expertise, KCI Koneports also uses 

unique tools in its operations. One of the 

unique tools KCI Koneports brings to this 

market is a maintenance software used in 

customer service. Into the software’s 

database KCI Koneports service engineers 

can collect precise maintenance 

information on practically all large cranes 

on the market worldwide with the purpose 

of helping the actual crane users in 

their necessary refurbishment and crane 

maintenance needs. The program subdivides 

each crane into serviceable main- 


9

tenance-structures, with all the components 

affecting maintenance and crane 

function carefully itemised. “This has been 

a mammoth task, since each large crane 

consists of at least a couple of thousand 

serviceable components,” points out 

Konecranes VLC’s President 

Mikko Uhari. 

Drawing on this 

maintenance-bystructureinformation, 

KCI Koneports 

has refined proprietary 

Konecranes 

maintenance software 

to create the innovative 

MainManPorts service 

program, which 

features e.g. a separate electronic 

inspection form for each type of crane. 

“This program ensures that no component 

remains uninspected,” says Uhari. 

“The maintenance engineer systematically 

checks each one of the crane’s serviceable 

components and inputs his 

observations straight into a laptop computer. 

After inspection, we give the customer 

a clear synopsis of the components 

to be repaired or serviced, with the points 

listed in order of priority. It’s then up to 

the customer to decide what action is 

taken and who does the work. In practice, 

a port’s own maintenance operation 

carries out most of the overhaul 

work.” 

New standards of 

inspection 

Uhari emphasises that MainManPorts 

is a core maintenance tool that has elevated 

port and shipyard crane inspection 

to an unprecedented level. “It’s a carefully 

tailored program that is unrivalled 

anywhere in the world,” Uhari asserted. 

“Another advantage for the customer is 

that an external assessor sees a crane 

from an entirely different perspective 

than a crane operator or the customer’s 

own maintenance operation does.” 

Since all data collected on the cranes 

is stored in Koneports’ shared databank, 

MainManPorts also generates substantial 

added value for its customers. “We build 

up a service history for each individual 

crane and type of crane,” says Uhari. “ In 


addition, we can make comparisons with 

other similar cranes. This in turn enables us 

to systematically anticipate and repair 

certain faults or components susceptible 

to wear before any actual 

failures occur.” 

Koneports also uses 

the data collected by 

the program to see how 

many men each individual 

service requires, 

how long maintenance 

will take and 

when it should be 

done. Then, representatives 

can create 

a maintenance calendar for 

each crane and use this to carry out 

inspections at periodic intervals and 

according to the number of hours the 

crane is in use. 

Added Value on the 

Customer’s Terms 

The fundamental business concept 

behind KCI Koneports is to first solve the 

customer’s lifting problems and then 

move beyond that basic capability into 

the sphere of improving his competitive 

situation. However, Uhari points out that 

the company will only get involved if it 

can offer its customers and their maintenance 

operation real added value. 

“We won’t under any circumstances 

try to ‘take over’ our customers’ maintenance 

operations, although of course we 

do offer a full range of services, from 

proactive measures to routine maintenance. 

It’s ultimately up to the customer 

to decide who carries out various types of 

maintenance operations. But I think it’s 

important to emphasise that as a global 

operation, KCI Koneports can provide 

every conceivable service locally 

throughout a crane’s working life. Each 

local customer can draw on our global 

data systems and support organisation to 

cover every eventuality. ” 

Uhari emphasises that providing both 

maintenance services and crane equipment 

are equally important in KCI 

Konecranes’ business operations, a philosophy 

that is reflected in the product offering 

of KCI Koneports. In addition to 

inspections and various types and scopes 

of maintenance contracts, KCI Koneports 

provides parts and customised modernisation 

services for all makes of port and 

shipyard cranes. In some cases, purchasing 

a second-hand crane may be a fast, 

low-cost option for a customer who 

needs to increase crane capacity. A second-hand 

crane, however, usually 

requires modernisation. 

”Our register contains precise data on 

more than one thousand large second 

hand cranes,” says Uhari. “This enables us 

to quickly pick out a suitable crane for 

any specific purpose. We identify a 

crane, modernise it as required and ship it 

anywhere in the world. Naturally, we also 

tailor a suitable maintenance program for 

the crane to maximise its potential.” 

Technical excellence: 

increasingly important 

Increasingly, selling cranes in today’s 

marketplace means selling electronics 

and information technology. For aftermarket 

operations, the competence of 

today’s service engineers is measured 

against new, increasingly tougher criteria. 

“For example, there is a growing 

demand for replacing a crane’s electrical 

system and to digitalise crane opera-

tion. We have also just introduced a super 

inspection service for cranes known as a 

Crane Reliability Survey (CRS), which, 

among other things, assesses a crane’s 

remaining working life,” Uhari mentions. 

Konecranes VLC offers more cutting- 

edge services for port cranes that are 

available through KCI Koneports. 

”We have developed a special tool to 

roll back or relocate cranes based on our 

patented Fluidts technology. Additionally, 

we have also patented technology used 

in raising the working height of older port 

cranes, for which there is a growing 

demand as ship size increases. ‘Amputation’ 

and removal of a crane’s old legs 

and installation of new, longer legs calls 

for specialised expertise that few companies 

in the world can offer,” Uhari continues. 

In terms of crane structure and engineering, 

KCI Koneports has become a 

For more information, please contact 

your nearest office: 

global centre of excellence, drawing on 

expertise gained by Konecranes VLC in its 

new crane business. Divisions acquired 

through corporate acquisition, notably 

the aftermarket service group of Germanbased 

Noell and Caillard of France, have 

also contributed to KCI Koneports’ leadership. 

Both companies are continuing 

maintenance operations under their 

familiar brand names. 

“We have effectively circulated the 

additional capabilities these divisions 

brought us throughout our organisation,” 

says Uhari. “Our maintenance operation is 

now extremely well-structured and effective 

throughout the world.” ■ 

Asia Kee Seng Lim phone: + 603 7880 3100 fax: + 603 7880 3200 

Finland Urpo Ylönen phone: + 358 20 427 2613 fax: + 358 20 427 2599 

France Gerard Lesueur phone: + 33 2 35 25 95 14 fax: + 33 2 35 25 95 82 

Germany & BeNeLux Arnoud Versteden phone: + 49 511 77040 fax: + 49 511 7704 477 

USA Allan Cameron phone: + 1 770 277 3777 fax: + 1 770 277 4333 


11

CORPORATE NEWS CORPORATE NEWS CORPORATE NEWS 

CXT Industrial cranes and hoists 

progressing towards completion 

The new industry benchmark, the CXT 

wire rope hoist range will be fully 

completed during the year 2002. 

Parallel to the development of the new 

hoist range a new series of crane drives 

and end carriages including a new steel 

structure design has been developed. The 

CXT cranes enjoy a clear lead in 

industrial crane technology. 

The innovative CXT wire rope hoists 

have been gaining market share in 

industrial crane and monorail applications. 

Already more than 10000 hoists 

have been delivered for handling loads 

up to 40 tons. The biggest frame size with 

a lifting capacity up to 100 ton will be 

introduced by the end of year 2002. 

The concurrent development in CXT 

Industrial cranes follows the same pattern 

as for the CXT hoist; high performance, 

space saving, excellent load handling 

and increased safety. The new end carriage 

range with wheel diameters up to 

500 mm has excellent dimensions. Togeth- 

Flag Rising Ceremony at New 

Hoist Factory in Shanghai 

To introduce the latest crane technology 

to the market of China, KCI Konecranes is 

building a state-of-the-art hoist and crane 

component factory in Shanghai. The flag 

rising ceremony was held on May 14, 

2002. 

Konecranes (Shanghai) Company, 

Ltd.’s new facility is located in 

Taopu, Putou District at Futurity 

Island industrial park. The whole facility 

was completed during summer 2002 and 

the factory made its first deliveries in September 

2002. Initially the Shanghai factory 

will manufacture modern CXT wire rope 

hoists and industrial crane components. 

The factory has a planned capacity of up 

to 5,000 wire rope hoists per year. 

The new facility will house all KCI 


er with the new main girder designs the 

CXT Industrial cranes provide maximum 

space under the hook and require minimum 

building height. The new crane travelling 

motors, gears and next generation 

high duty rating frequency controls with 

extended power range provide customers 

easy and safe load handling with 

minimal load swing. ■ 

Timo Toni 

Marketing Director, Standard Lifting Equipment 

timo.toni@kcigroup.com 

Konecranes’ Shanghai operations including, 

component and standard and 

process duty industrial crane sales, marketing 

and project co-ordination of harbour 

and shipyard cranes (Very Large 

Cranes) as well as spare part and maintenance 

service operations. 

The new facility has a 4,300-sqm factory 

and 1000-sqm office on 13,300-sqm 

land area. ■ 

For further information 

communications@konecranes.com

CORPORATE NEWS CORPORATE NEWS CORPORATE NEWS 

New Orders from Established Relationships 

During the last 20 years, StoraEnso has built seven new 

paper mills that utilize literally hundreds of cranes 

installed and maintained by KCI Konecranes. This 

proven long-term relationship, plus extensive project organisation 

experience and an impressive track record of promises 

kept has set the stage for KCI Konecranes to win the order 

for StoraEnso’s newest paper mill. 

Stora Enso Langenbrugge N.V., Belgium has ordered 11 

EOT cranes and runways from KCI Special Cranes Oy for the 

world’s biggest newsprint mill. The new mill will produce 

paper rolls 11.1 meters wide and produce 400,000 tons of 

newsprint per year. Konecranes’ deliveries to the site will 

take place between April and October, 2002. ■ 

Crane Technical data: 

Expanding Relations in China 

Investment in Chinese paper mills is reaching what may be a world-record level. The 

number of paper machines installed and planned make it possible to believe that the 

much-talked-about ”one-start-up-per-month” target will be reached soon. Investment 

in Chinese paper mills is reaching what may be a world-record level. 

Once again, the reputation and 

reliability of the crane provider 

chosen has been more important 

than the lowest price on the market, 

as the Chinese position themselves to be 

long-term participants in the global paper 

industry. KCI Konecranes has been booking 

orders for cranes to run on top of several 

makes of paper machines in China. 

Chandong Huatai Paper Co., a close 

neighbour of the plant Konecranes supplied 

last year at Shandong Chenming, 

ordered a typical Wet End + Dry End + 

Winder crane package with SM 712 and 

SM 812 hoisting machinery. All crane 

movements are controlled by inverter drives, 

and feature all the latest KCI 

Konecranes technology to help the operator 

position and operate the crane safely. 

1. 78/120/78/7,5 t Span 33,2 m Wet End Crane 

2. 60/60/7,5 t Span 33,2 m Dry End Crane 

3. 60/60 t Span 25 m Crane for Winder Annex 

4. 5,5 t Span 28 m Crane for Roll Wrapping Line 

5. 2 x 15 t Span 33,2 m Deinking Plant Crane 1 

6. 2 x 10 t Span 13,5 m Deinking Plant Crane 2 

7. 60/60/7,5/7,5 t Span 28 m Crane for Roll Maintenance 

8. 2x2,5 t Span 12,5 m Core Handling Crane 

9. 15 t Span 13,8 m Steam Turbine Crane 

10. 5 t Span 13 m Workshop Crane 

11. 17 t Span 8,37 m Vacuum Pump Crane 

1. 35/70/35/7,5 t Span 25,5 m Wet End 

Crane 

2. 35/35/7,5 t Span 25,5 m Dry End Crane 

3. 35/35 t Span 16,6 m Winder Crane 

Taishan Paper Co. and Shandong 

Bohui Paper are speeding up production 

on new lines, reinforced by installation of 

two+three new KCI Konecranes paper 

machine cranes with SM 612 and SM712 

winches. 

Taishan Paper Co.: 

1. 20/40/20 t Span 25,5 m Wet End Crane 

2. 20/20 t Span 25,5 m Dry End Crane 

Bohui Paper: 

1. 30/60/30 t Span 25,5 m Wet End Crane 

2. 30/30 t Span 25,5 m Dry End 1 Crane 

3. 30/30 t Span 25,5 m Dry End 2 Crane 

The momentum persists in the Chinese 

paper industry, and KCI Konecranes’ Chi- 

nese organisation continues to grow, 

building its service capability up to the 

level that Konecranes customers have 

come to expect worldwide – ever since 

the original launch of the Spacemaker 

concept. ■ 

Hannu Piispanen, Sales Manager, 

Konecranes Components Corporation 

hannu.piispanen@konecranes.com 


13

VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS 

CMS Gold Award 2002 for Noell Konecranes 

CMS Gold Award 

2002 for Noell Konecranes. 

On 4th March, 2002 Noell Konecranes 

received the CMS Gold Award 2002 

for their achievements in the design and 

manufacturing of a new heavy lift module 

for the FLUIDTS ® air gliding system. The 

newly developed lifting modules have a 

bearing capacity of 375 t each – an 

improvement of 125 t over the previous 

standard modules rated at 250 t each. 

The prize was presented by Dr. L. Foà, 

chairperson of the CMS collaboration 

board of the CERN Institute in Geneva, 

In 2002, Caillard (member of KCI Koneports) 

moved from its former CAILLARD 

premises. The new locations is near the 

container terminals at the Port of Le 

Havre. ■ 

Gérard Lesueur, General Manager 

CAILLARD KONECRANES (France) 

B.P. 727 - 76060 LE HAVRE CEDEX 

gerard.lesueur@konecranes.com 


Sebastian Brandes (1st from right) and Adolf 

Franke (2nd from right) from Noell Konecranes 

in front of the huge CMS magnet. 

CAILLARD NEW OFFICES! 

Latest Konecranes VLC Shipyard 

Crane deliveries and orders 

Deliveries during 2002: 

■ One Goliath Gantry Crane of 1000T lifting 

capacity to Gdynia Shipyard in 

Poland 

■ Three Konecranes - Munckloaders 

to U.S. Maritime Administration, the 

cranes were installed on LASH vessels 

Cape Florida, Cape Flattery and Cape 

Farewell 

Switzerland. CERN is the European Organisation 

for Nuclear Research, the world's 

largest particle physics centre, which has 

been associated with the work of many 

Nobel Prize winners. 

CERN uses large accelerators to 

increase particle velocity until it is close to 

the speed of light, and then allows them 

to collide with other particles. Detectors 

observe the effects of these collisions. The 

FLUIDTS ® air gliding system is used to 

move and remove the magnet sections 

of the accelerators (7 x 2,000 t each) to 

analyse the material parts inside the magnet. 

In 1992, Dr. Mikko Karppinen from the 

Helsinki University of Technology analysed 

several heavy load transport systems for 

the CERN institute. In his investigation 

report he described FLUIDTS ® to be the 

best technology available world-wide. ■ 

Dirk Groth, Marketing Manager 

Noell Konecranes GmbH 

dirk.groth@noellkci.com 

■ Four Konecranes – Munckloaders to 

Westwood Shipping Lines, the cranes 

were installed on the vessels Westwood 

Rainier and Westwood Columbia. 

The latest booked orders include: 

■ Two 600T Goliath Gantry Cranes for 

Dalian New Shipyard and Dalian Shipyard 

in China 

■ Two 10T Floating Dock Cranes for Dubai 

Drydocks in UAE 

In both projects Konecranes will supply 

the design, engineering and key-components 

to local companies who will manufacture 

the steel structures for the cranes. ■

VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS VLC NEWS 

LATEST KONECRANES VLC 

SHIP-TO-SHORE CRANE 

DELIVERIES AND PROJECTS 

During 2001 Konecranes VLC delivered 

two Post Panamax size container 

cranes to Aarhus (Denmark), one Panamax 

size container crane to both Oslo 

(Norway) and Kotka (Finland) and one 

wide span container crane to Bristol (UK). 


■ One additional Post Panamax size crane 

to Aarhus, Denmark 

■ One additional Panamax size crane to 

Kotka, Finland 

■ One Panamax size crane to 

Copenhagen, Denmark 

■ Two Super Post Panamax size cranes to 

Savannah, USA 

■ Two Post Panamax size cranes to 

Barcelona, Spain 

■ Two Post Panamax size cranes to 

Algeciras, Spain 

■ One Panamax size crane to Oulu, 

Finland 

■ Two Panamax size cranes to St Petersburg 

During 2001 Konecranes VLC delivered 

52 RTG (Rubber Tyred Gantry) Cranes; 

21 units to North America, 16 units to 

South and Central America and 15 units 

to Asia. 


■ Maryland Port Administration, Baltimore, 

USA- 6 RTG’s 

■ JSC Petrolesport, St. Petersburg, 

Russia – 1 RTG 

■ PSA Sines Terminais de Contentores, 

Portugal – 3 RTG ‘s 

■ Ceres Gulf Inc., New Orleans, 

USA – 2 RTG’s 

■ Altamira Terminal Portuaria, 

Mexico – 3 RTG’s 

■ Port of Houston Authority, USA 10 RGT`s 

The Barcelona and Algeciras cranes 

are of the new Konecranes BoxHunter ® 

design, which features Active Antisway 

System and Horizontal Fine Positioning System. 

LATEST KONECRANES RTG 

CRANE DELIVERIES AND 

ORDERS 

LATEST 

SHIPUNLOADER 

DELIVERY AND 

ORDERS 

PORT OF LE HAVRE 

In October 2002, Konecranes VLC Corporation 

delivered to Port of Le Havre a 35 t 

Gantry Type Grab Unloader. The contract 

was awarded to Konecranes in January 

2001 after a demanding evaluation and 

selection procedure. The customer’s main 

emphasis was the supplier’s ability to 

design and manufacture the best quality 

equipment to fulfil their demanding performance 

criteria. 

The entire electrical system featuring 

KCI Konecranes motors and motor controls 

will be designed and supplied by 

Konecranes. 


Port of Le Havre (France) 

■ 30 t Stockyard Gantry Crane for unloading 

of coal from stockpile 

■ The crane is equipped with Konecranes 

AGD Control System featuring electrical 

synchronisation of the four main drives 

■ KCI Konecranes will supply all motors 

and motor controls 

Comalco (Australia) 

■ KCI Konecranes will supply its unique 

AGD Control System with main drive 

machinery to the 48 t grab unloader to 

be delivered to Comalco in Queensland, 

Australia. The main contractor for 

the unloader is Voest-Alpine Materials 

Handling. 


15

@ KONECRANES KNOW-HOW 

DEDICATED FEATURES 

IN KCI DRIVES 

Today’s advanced crane technology 

tightly integrates mechanical, 

electrical and controls, which 

makes it nearly impossible to 

reach a safe, reliable and optimised 

solution with distributed (or diverse) 

suppliers. The crane manufacturer who 

fully understands the customer’s product 

requirements has the best grasp of all the 

interactions and relations between structure 

and components. Integrated systems 

developed and applied by crane 

manufacturers provide additional advantages 

in functionality, reliability and maintainability. 


Figure 1. Field bus 

configuration for Rubber 

Tyred Gantry crane 

PLC System hardware configuration 

Konecranes utilises the Profibus DP 

field bus between distributed peripherals 

(inverters, PLC, sensors.) A typical configuration 

in crane application is shown on 

Figure 1. 

Local digital and analogic sensors are 

connected to remote units, which transfer 

data through bus to PLC. The transfer 

means, fibre optics, provide reliable operation 

compared to separately wired configuration. 

In addition, the field bus provides 

advanced features for data collection 

and diagnostics on inverter events during 

operation. The information data frames, 

as shown on Figure 2, have been identified 

within the Profibus protocol depending 

on the content to avoid any disturbances 

between control and monitoring 

messages. While the field bus is actively 

utilised to change drive variables even 

during operation, the monitoring data is 

collected for maintenance and continuous 

product development purposes. 

DYNA torque control 

Torque control with inverter drives is by 

no means a new idea. However, most drives 

are still designed with speed reference 

as the only adjustable control factor, 

which in some cases causes problems 

due to rigidity of the control system. 

KCI has proven torque control solutions to 

overcome issues that arise with speed reference 

control systems. 

Torque control applications 

addressed by Konecranes products 

include: 

■ Jib crane boom slew 

■ Trolley free rolling 

■ Grab lowering 

■ Load sway control 

■ Master-Slave hoisting, mechanically 

connected separate machineries 

■ Master-Slave traversing, unbalanced 

load distribution with two machineries 

■ Multi-motor drives with unequal loading 

Single drive applications 

Boom slewing 

A general problem while accelerating 

and decelerating large structures with 

high inertia is that dynamics cause 

deflections and vibrations. A machinery 

drive system with rigid speed reference 

cannot acknowledge the behaviour of 

the moved structure and tends to amplify 

structural resonance. 

An inverter with torque reference continuously 

controls the slewing motor. 

Direction and torque references are given 

by the cabin operator or from the 

control PLC. Torque reference is held posi-

tive on the motor shaft according to 

direction reference. The slewing motion is 

controlled by accelerating or decelerating 

torque. When the direction reference 

is not activated, the inverter keeps the 

motor magnetising on, which results in 

almost zero torque on the motor shaft. 

When a new direction and torque reference 

is given, the inverter is able to 

respond quickly and smoothly. 

The inverter can also control the 

brake, but generally this is activated by a 

pedal brake switch (the brake is not 

motor mounted.) Torque control is always 

activated with a steady motor (zero 

speed) which is achieved by holding the 

machinery by pedal brake, motor brake 

or by friction in the system. The start from 

zero speed enables smooth acceleration 

compared to a start with traditional 

speed reference control, which opens 

the brake on a certain frequency and 

causes additional structural vibration. 

Trolley free rolling 

Cranes with cabins and drivers 

onboard have specific requirements in 

respect to operator preference. Operators 

used to old-style resistor-start controls 

occasionally claim that the driving 

“touch” of the crane is not to their liking 

or what they are used to. It is true that 

inverter or PLC controls have predetermined 

acceleration and deceleration 

ramps, which do not give the operator 

the possibility of modifying these movements. 

While positioning the trolley, some 

operators prefer to adjust the deceleration 

with the controller instead of letting 

the control system to take over. 

A torque-controlled inverter continuously 

controls the motor with torque refer- 

Figure 2. Communication 

between PLC and inverter 

ence. Direction reference holds the 

torque positive on the motor shaft. When 

the direction reference is not activated, 

the inverter maintains the magnetising of 

the motor in the “on” position until a new 

direction and torque reference is given. 

The brake is closed and magnetising 

stopped when the actual speed is below 

the brake closing reference. 

A typical torque-controlled inverter 

drive system configuration is shown on 

Figure 3. The torque reference Tref for the 

controller is given by analogy input. Combinations 

of the torque reference and 

direction define the torque direction on 

the motor shaft: 

When 

Tref > 0 and S1 active => shaft 

torque to direction S1 

Tref > 0 and S2 active => shaft 


Tref < 0 and S1 active => shaft 


Tref < 0 and S2 active => shaft 


When the direction reference is deactivated, 

there are three alternative 

stopping modes to choose from: 

■ Stopping with the brake, which is activated 

immediately after the direction 

reference is disconnected. The inverter 

controls close the brake and the motor 

is de-energised. 

■ Stopping with deceleration ramp, 

which is generated by the inverter following 

the closed loop speed reference 

deceleration ramp. 

■ Stopping with free rolling, which is generated 

by magnetising the motor until 

the actual speed is below the brake 

closing speed. Then brake is closed and 

motor de-energised. 

During the operation, the actual 

torque on the motor shaft can be limited 

with a predetermined inverter parameter. 

Adjustable parameters for speed reference 

as well as “slow down” and “stop” 

limit switches are available also. 

Fast mode change, Grab lowering 

A rope-driven grab, when filling, 

should be lowered by the hoist machinery 

to provide the best charging. Once the 

grab is closed, the closing machinery 

(including the ropes) takes its share of 

load suspension. Without compensation, 

the filling ability of the grab is insufficient. 

A closed loop system with speed reference 

does not enable proper control 

over charging. Konecranes’ grab control 

software has been implemented to switch 

fluently from speed reference mode to 

torque reference mode by a digital input 

(part of the operator’s controller) during 

lowering, without stopping between the 

stages. 

Lowering of the grab is implemented 

so that a small predetermined constant 

torque reference is held on hoisting 

machinery, while the closing machinery 

closes the grab. The hoisting machinery 

senses the load increase (due to grab filling) 

and lowers the grab according to 

torque reference. This dual function allows 

the grab to maintain hoist rope tension 

and provide a smooth start. 

Continuous torque control 

An example of a continuous torque 

control application is the active sway 

control system in Konecranes’ Rubber 

Tyred Gantry crane. The loading device 

(spreader) is controlled by four auxiliary 

ropes, which are separately driven by 

torque-controlled drives. The control algorithms 

aim to equalise torques between 

machineries in case of sway or other disturbances. 

The crane’s PLC sets the 

torque reference according to a measured 

load when crane movement is activated. 

Each auxiliary drive system has its 

own PLC controller, which by adjusting 

the torque prevents and dampens sway. 

The inverter controls the brake and torque 

is kept on the motor until the brake is 

closed. 

Snag load protection 

A snag load can occur when loading 

or unloading cargo. The risk is that the 


17

@ KONECRANES KNOW-HOW 

Figure 3. Torque controlled inverter 

configuration 

loading device can be jammed into 

external structures while hoisting. Jamming 

causes an immediate stop of the 

loading device. Depending on the elasticity 

of the ropes and supporting structure, 

the loading of the hoisting machinery 

is increased by rotating inertia 

according to the stopping time of the 

machinery. Generally the overload limiter 

senses the jamming situation and stopping 

is initiated by a hard-wired circuit 

which engages the brake and interrupts 

the power supply to motor. However, this 

is not the fastest way to stop the machinery. 

In Konecranes drives, snag protection 

is initiated when the measured load is 

exceeded by a predetermined factor 

during the hoisting movement. The initiation 

activates a fast stop mode, which 

immediately switches the hoisting mode 

with speed reference to maximum negative 

braking torque reference mode and 

engages the brake. The torque direction 

change is much faster than brake closing 

time. Combined with the initiation of the 

fast stop, the occasional loading of the 

machinery is reduced significantly. 

Combined Multi-Drives 

Master-Slave hoisting 

Although torque control provides 

notable benefits for single drive applications, 

even more advantages are realised 

with multi-drive systems. Mechanicallyconnected 

hoisting systems, like twin 

drum or twin motor systems, can easily 

begin to vibrate or even tackle against 

each other if driven by two separate drives. 

This problem can be avoided with 

the Master–Slave drive connection. 

The master drive has speed and direction 

reference as normal and gives as output 

the run and actual torque information. 

The master drive also controls the 

brake and its “slow down” and “stop” limit 

switch functions. The slave operates in 


torque reference mode, with run and 

direction references given by the master. 

Special care is taken in abnormal or 

tripping situations. If one drive stops, both 

drives are stopped. 

Master–Slave traversing 

An unbalanced situation occurs with 

travelling motion when both sides of a 

moving crane are unequally loaded. In a 

case where there are two synchronised 

but separate speed reference- controlled 

inverters driving both sides of the crane, 

the inverters may start to tackle against 

each other while trying to follow the 

speed reference path. 

Unbalanced loading conditions typically 

occur in connection with: 

■ the travelling trolley of an overhead 

crane with a long span reaches the 

end of the span 

■ a gantry crane with cantilever travelling 

The advanced solution is to drive the 

other side of the crane as the master unit 

with speed reference. The master outputs 

the actual torque and run references. 

Brake control, “slow down” and “stop” 

limit switch functions are initiated through 

the master. The slave unit is controlled 

with torque reference according to outputs 

from master. If tripping occurs, both 

drives are stopped and prevented from 

re-start until the obstruction has been 

removed. 

AC drive response time 

The change from DC to AC drives has 

been rapid over the past few years. A 

common discussion topic among drive 

suppliers is whether AC drives can meet 

the requirements for response time. From 

the operator’s viewpoint, any response 

time (or the delay from actuating a controller 

to motor motion) exceeding 250 ms 

is characterised as a delay. 

Analysing the basic technology of 

both DC and AC motors shows why there 

is a measurable difference. When motor

sizes increase, DC motors are generally 

magnetised with a separate magnetising 

circuit. Magnetising before the start is 

compulsory for a DC motor to avoid a 

runaway situation. Due to separate circuits, 

the magnetising current can be 

continuously on and therefor the start is 

fast, almost without delay. 

AC motors are instead magnetised 

through the stator coil (no separate circuit 

exists.) The time constant for large 

motors is generally between 0.5 to 2 seconds 

from a so-called “cold start,” if magnetised 

with current used in general applications. 

Misleadingly, this lag time has 

been characterised as typical response 

time for AC motors in crane applications. 

Accepted technology to shorten the 

delay is to increase the magnetising current 

– the bigger the current is, the faster 

the motor can be loaded. 

CRANE LAUGH 

Coming back to the operator’s viewpoint 

on response time, different operational 

situations are typical: 

■ Cold start, eg. after long idle time 

■ Repetitive start, eg. during positioning 

■ Floating 

Cold start 

Konecranes drives use the nominal 

motor current for magnetising, which is 2- 

3 times the typical magnetising current. 

Because the magnetising time constant is 

inverse to the ratio of currents, fast starts 

can be achieved. The brake opening 

delay (typically 250 to 300 ms) is utilised 

for magnetising and it does not lengthen 

the response time. 

In case of large motors, the magnetising 

current can be supplied to the motor 

continuously, which enables an immediate 

start limited only by the brake open- 

ing delay. However, continuous magnetising 

current cannot always be used – 

in the case of shared drives (a common 

inverter for two motions) the switch from 

one motor set to another occurs without 

current. 

Repetitive starts 

During crane cycles, repetitive starts 

occur more often while positioning. If the 

new start is activated after brake has 

been closed during the extended magnetising 

period, the only delay is the 

brake opening time. This delay is equivalent 

to that experienced with DC motors. 

The post-magnetising period can be chosen 

by a parameter, with typical values 

from 0.5 to 1 second, but could be 

extended as necessary (or even be continuous) 

and limited only in case of 

shared drives. The latest generation of 

Konecranes drives allow the inverter itself 

to measure the required magnetising 

time and brake opening delay. 

Floating brake open 

The fastest start is achieved by holding 

the brake continuously open and driving 

zero speed with the inverter. The 

control PLC can give continuous direction 

reference with zero speed, which results 

in inverter-to-drive zero speed with torque 

on at the motor shaft. This function can 

be activated by a parameter for a certain 

time or by a separate button on the 

joystick. By pressing the button, the operator 

can have full control and immediate 

response for situations requiring fine positioning. 

■ 

Hannu Oja, Chief Engineer, 

Konecranes VLC Corporation 

hannu.oja@konecranes.com 


19

Maintenance 

Services 

365.2 MEUR 

44 % 

Sales* by Business Area 

Asia-Pacific 

81.9 MEUR 

11 % 

Special Cranes 

227.3 MEUR 

27 % 

Total Sales 756.3 MEUR 

* Including internal sales 

Sales by Market* 

Americas 

277.4 MEUR 

37 % 

General 

Manufacturing 

23 % 

Steel & other 

warehousing 

3 % 

Transport, 

Shipping 

1 % 

Shipyards 7 % 

Sales by Industry 

Standard 

Lifting 

Equipment 

244.9 MEUR 

29 % 

Nordic and 

Eastern Europe 

183.4 MEUR 

24 % 

EU 

(without Nordic) 

213.6 MEUR 

28 % 

Personnel By Business Area 

Maintenance 

Services 

2,481 

56% 

CORPORATE 

FIGURES 

Petrochemical 

Automotive 4 % 3 % Construction 

2 % 

Harbours 12 % 

1 % 

Refuse 

Handling 

Special Cranes 

705 

16% 

Others 

6 % 

Pulp and Paper 

9 % 

Power Plants 

6 % 

Headquart 

Staff 

106 

3% 

Resellers 

6 % 

OEM 

Crane Builders 

7 % 

Primary Metals 

10 % 

Standard 

Lifting 

Equipment 

1,109 

25% 

KCI KONECRANES GROUP 

AT A GLANCE 

Headquarters: 

KCI KONECRANES INTERNATIONAL PLC 

P.O.Box 661 • FIN-05801 Hyvinkää • Finland 

Tel +358 (0)20 427 11 • Fax +358 (0)20 427 2099 www.konecranes.com 

VS 007 . ONEPARTNER/MARTINPAINO 10/2002

Konecranes World №7

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