May 2020

28 n MOTORS May 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com EV wheel-hub motors ‘revolutionise’ crane safety A n Australian company called Roborigger has developed a wireless load-control system for cranes that allows operators to rotate and stabilise loads remotely, avoiding the need for them to be nearby when the loads are being lifted. The technology is being rolled out to construction, oil and gas, and logistics companies, as well as to port operators around the world. The system uses gyroscopic and inertial forces to control crane loads as they are lifted and lowered, making working safer and more efficient. Workers no longer need to risk injury by handling heavy loads by hand. Instead, the loads are positioned remotely from a safe distance using the wireless remote controls. Data can be gathered for every lift – including the time, weight, and location of the loads being lifted – and transmitted to a cloud-based platform, simplifying maintenance and remote troubleshooting. Internet-linked software allows users to access this data anywhere fromWeb browsers running on computers or smartphones. As Perth-based Roborigger was looking to upscale from small prototypes to versions capable of managing loads of up to 15 tonnes, it needed a robust, sophisticated motor with a high torque output. It found such a machine in the form of a compact, lightweight permanent-magnet synchronous motor-and-inverter package developed by Protean Electric, originally for use as wheel- hub drives in electric vehicles. Protean has its roots in the pioneering British developer of pancake motors, Printed Motors (later renamed PML Flightlink), which was founded in 1963 and split in 2009 to form Protean and Printed Motor Works. Last year, Protean was acquired by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) and is part of the Chinese-based Evergrande Health’s New Energy Vehicle Group. It has operations in the UK, China and the US. Protean has more than 200 patents (and 120 pending) across 75 patent families. Protean’s motors are designed to be deployed in a vehicle’s wheel hub, rather than onboard the vehicle as happens with most other EV drive technologies. Several manufacturers are currently evaluating the company’s ProteanDrive Pd18 wheel-hub drive package for use in passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and urban mobility pods. One customer is Local Motors, a US digital start-up developing a 3D-printed autonomous urban passenger shuttle vehicle. Roborigger found that the lightweight, high-torque wheel-hub motor could be used to stabilise heavy crane loads and to control them accurately. The Australian company first applied the technology to a system capable of handling loads of up to 15 tonnes, and has recently uprated it to handle up to 40 tonnes. In early prototypes of its system using other motors, Robrigger ran into reliability problems caused by gearbox backlash. The Protean direct-drive technology is said to overcome these issues. It also results in a simple customisable set-up that allows additional high-level start-up and protection functions demanded by crane users. The drives’high-speed control loops – claimed to be twice as fast as most other commercially available motors – allows Roborigger to achieve high-speed control. If the motor is delivering 100Nm of torque, and then receives a demand to double the torque to 200Nm, it can achieve 90% of that change within 2ms of receiving the request. The Protean drive has a control bandwidth of around 500Hz. Following 18 months of collaboration with Protean, Roborigger is now selling its technology is Australia and Singapore, and is planning to roll it out in Europe, Japan and the UK later in 2020. Currently, it is using one drive per system, but it is looking at applications that would use two motors to deliver more power. “We are committed to making the construction, oil and gas and mining industries safer,”says the company’s founder, Derick Markwell,“and the seamless integration and adaptability of this technology opens up a realm of possibilities”. “It has been fascinating collaborating on a project outside the automotive and mobility sectors,”adds Protean Electric’s chief technology officer, Chris Hilton.“Roborigger is an excellent example of how the inherent capabilities of Protean motors offer solutions for systems requiring high power and precisely calibrated control across all industries.” n Innovative motors originally developed to power next-generation electric vehicles have been adopted in a newly deployed technology that is claimed to revolutionise the safety of lifting loads using cranes. Roborigger’s load-control system allows cranes to be controlled wirelessly from a safe distance (left). The system is powered by a motor (above) originally designed as a wheel-hub drive for electric vehicles.