Crane Oscillation Control: Nonlinear Elements and Educational Improvements

Command Generation has been shown to be a practical and effective control scheme for eliminating payload swing on industrial cranes. However, this technology has not been used to its full potential. One reason is that nonlinear crane dynamics degrade the performance of current command generators, making them challenging to use. A second reason is that few crane operators are aware of this technology. Therefore, this thesis strives to alleviate these problems through the completion of three major tasks. First, new command generation algorithms are developed that compensate for nonlinear crane dynamics. Two major sources of non-linear dynamics are targeted: nonlinear drive dynamics, and non-linear physical dynamics of tower cranes. Second, command generation are examined from an educational perspective; both in the classroom and in the working field. Third, three experimental crane devices were built to fulfill the two prior tasks.Ph.D.Committee Chair: William Singhose; Committee Member: Donna Llewellyn; Committee Member: Nader Sadegh; Committee Member: Neil Singer; Committee Member: Steven Danylu