#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Nornickel’s Polar Transport Branch (PTB) will be the first in Russia to control a portal crane remotely. The project was implemented by participants of the Virsain startup together with the Intechcom company. Before that, only bridge crane operators could control the equipment from their office.
The project, which the developers have been working on for over four years, is designed to improve the safety and comfort of crane operators. Now the remote control system has been installed on a portal crane with a grab and will soon be put into commercial operation.
“Initially, we were developing portal crane simulators and gradually came to the idea of remote control to improve the working conditions of crane operators”, said Sava Vorobyov, technical director and co-founder of the Virsain startup.
The project implementation process required three to four weeks to prepare the network infrastructure, including cable laying, and about a week to install the equipment on the crane.
The remote control system includes cameras and network equipment, which allows the operator to control the crane from a comfortable room. Safety is a priority for the team – the measures are provided to minimize risks.
“We pay great attention to the safety aspect. All network failures or camera malfunctions are immediately recorded, and the crane goes into emergency stop”, the developers explained.
The system operator will be able to control any crane switched to remote control. Switching between cranes takes a few seconds. At the moment, one portal crane is involved in the project, but in the future it is planned to implement the system on other cranes in the Polar Transport Branch.
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Text: Anzhelika Stepanova, Photo: PTB
