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Product: Flywheel
still energy   (+2)  [vote for, against]
battery powered dampering for craned items

Driving past a construction site got me looking at the heavy crane.

Segways are a clever device at staying balanced under nervous inputs.

<some cellular chemistry>

Can an attachable device be made for craned items so that they can be quickly stabilised after/while under an unwanted motion? A computable angular momentum, as needed. device. Realtime actors of opposite vector. Of course the bigger the item, the bigger or more bricks of a dynamic still are needed.

Quicker production, higher winds. safer.

Let the construction of the immense towers, that have space for the gentler lift curve engines, begin.
-- wjt, Jul 30 2021

The quicker the attachment/deattachment, the more realistic this idea is.
-- wjt, Jul 30 2021


Of course, anything can be done manually with trained monkeys.
-- wjt, Jul 30 2021


A Segway Tower Crane would get my vote [+]
-- xenzag, Jul 30 2021


A crane generally lifts via cables. That being the case correcting load swing can't be done without having something to pull against. A crane using a stiff elevator contraption would be able to use a gyroscope as a counter-torque, but that design would be less likely to go wide in the first place.
-- Voice, Jul 30 2021


I don't think attaching a device to the load would be effective, but you could program a computer to control all the dynamic movements of a crane. I would imagine that the crane operator would designate several pickup-landing sites and routes between them. The computer could then make an optimally efficient movement following those routes, taking into account wind and load. Put some sway sensors at the top to make sure it doesn't sway any more than expected based on the load and winds. There will still be manual control with each lift, for example pulling up the slack as the load is attached, and easing it to the ground while a worker spins it to the correct orientation.
-- scad mientist, Jul 31 2021


Without something to pull against, it would be hard. But you probably could program the crane to vision track the load and dynamically damp moves. Of course you're very likely to end up with a motion sick operator.
-- MechE, Aug 02 2021


I was thinking a reaction wheel but because of weight constraint, swarm drones might be another, better method.
-- wjt, Aug 07 2021



random, halfbakery