This book introduces and develops the mathematical models used to describe crane dynamics, and explores established and emerging control methods employed for industrial cranes. It opens with a general introduction to the design and structure of various crane types including gantry cranes, rotary cranes, and mobile cranes currently being used for material handling processes. Mathematical models describing their dynamics for control purposes are developed via two different modeling approaches: lumped-mass and distributed parameter models. Control strategies applicable to real industrial problems are then discussed, including open-loop control, feedback control, boundary control, and hybrid control strategies. Finally, based on the methods covered in the book, future research directions are proposed for the advancement of crane technologies. This book can be used by graduate students, engineers, and researchers in the material handling industry including those working in warehouses, manufacturing, construction sites, ship building, seaports, container terminals, nuclear power plants, and in offshore engineering.

This book reports on the latest developments in sliding mode overhead crane control, presenting novel research ideas and findings on sliding mode control (SMC), hierarchical SMC and compensator design-based hierarchical sliding mode. The results, which were previously scattered across various journals and conference proceedings, are now presented in a systematic and unified form. The book will be of interest to researchers, engineers and graduate students in control engineering and mechanical engineering who want to learn the methods and applications of SMC.

The rapid movement of machines is a challenging control problem because it often results in high levels of vibration. As a result, flexible machines are typically moved relatively slowly to avoid such vibration. Therefore, motion-induced vibration limits the operational speed of the system. Input shaping is one method that eliminates motion-induced vibrations by intelligently designing the reference command such that system vibration is cancelled. It has been successfully implemented on a number of systems, including bridge and tower cranes. The implementation of input shaping on cranes provides a substantial increase in the operational efficiency. Unfortunately, most cranes, once erected, have limited or no base mobility. This limits their workspace. The addition of base mobility could help extend the operational effectiveness of cranes and may also expand crane functionality. Mobile cranes may also be better suited for use in harsh and/or distant environments. Teleoperation of oscillatory systems, such as cranes, then becomes another avenue for advancement of crane functionality.

Boom cranes are one of the most dynamically complicated types of cranes because they possess rotational joints as opposed to the linear tracks of bridge and gantry cranes. In addition, if the boom crane is placed on a mobile base, additional complexity is added to the system. However, mobile boom cranes have huge potential benefits as they can be quickly transported from one location to another. Furthermore, if they utilize their mobile base during lifting operations, then they can have an extremely large workspace. All cranes share the same limiting weakness; the payload oscillates when the crane moves. A command-generation approach is taken to control the payload oscillation. Input shaping is one such command-generation technique that modifies the original reference command by convolving it with a series of impulses. The shaped command produced by the convolution can then move the crane without inducing payload oscillation. Input shaping can accommodate parameter uncertainties, nonlinearities, multiple modes of vibration, and has been shown to be compatible with human operators. This thesis focuses on three aspects of mobile boom cranes: 1) dynamic analysis, 2) input-shaping control, and 3) experimental testing. A majority of the thesis focuses on analyzing and describing the complicated dynamics of mobile boom cranes. Then, various input-shaping controllers are designed and tested, including two-mode shapers for double-pendulum dynamics. In order to experimentally verify the simulation results, a small-scale mobile boom crane has been constructed. The details of the mobile boom crane and its important features are presented and discussed. Details of the software used to control the crane are also presented. Then, several different experimental protocols are introduced and the results presented. In addition, a set of operator performance studies that analyze human operators maneuvering the mobile boom crane through an obstacle course is presented.