Recom Moritsch and ABB develop control solution for luffing cranes

Recom Moritsch, an Italian manufacturer of luffing tower cranes, and ABB have developed a new automation system for the company’s second-generation tower cranes.

The project dates back to 2015, when Recom planned a design to meet the challenges of safety and reliability as construction projects approached ‘mega heights’.

This required a complete redesign of the automation system used to control the crane’s electric motors and winches.

Luffing tower cranes produced by Recom Moritsch (Photo: Recom Moritsch)

“We were looking for more than just a supplier. We were seeking a partner that would work with us to find the best solution for our cranes to guarantee greater performance and safety while also being cost-effective,” said Mariano Moritsch, chief executive officer of Recom Moritsch.

“It was clear that ABB could provide the availability and flexibility we needed. Another important factor was ABB’s extensive global service network, with numerous locations ready to provide support and to collaborate on product development.”

For the solution, ABB put forward the AC500-S safety PLC and an ACS880 industrial variable speed drive (VSD). This included a plug-in FSO safety function module that provides a variety of drive-based safety functions developed to work alongside the drive control system.

Moritsch: “From the very start, ABB’s technicians made every effort to understand our market needs in terms of safety and technological innovations. A vital factor was the absolute guarantee that the PLCs and the VSD would communicate flawlessly with one another. And the PLC uses a programming language that our technicians were already familiar with.”

The removable memory card in the ACS880 drive is key to maintaining crane availability. Should the drive fail, it would normally have to be refurbished or replaced. Now, because the application software is stored on the memory card, the only requirement is fitting a new drive and swapping out the memory card.

This, says Moritsch, has helped to refine how the drive works with the crane motors. “The ABB drive guarantees very refined control even on the customised motors that we build for our cranes. The drive has been fine-tuned over a number of stages, with ABB technicians demonstrating in detail how all our scenarios can be resolved.”

Work is continuing to develop new features. For example, rotation of the crane tower is commonly managed using a DC motor, but the market has been pushing for AC power to complete this motion. Recom and ABB are now working on a solution using the ACS880 drive.