SICK’s AOS system offers collisions prevention solution

Photo by Sick AG

Container terminals operate on a 24/7 basis. Therefore the demand to the availability of equipment is extremely high. Collisions involving the boom of STS cranes and ships pose the greatest risk. Accidents of this type account for >30% of the costs of quay crane insurance claims, actually they are the single largest cost item in this area. Collisions of cranes with other cranes and other equipment occur almost as frequently. Along with damages – including damage to customers’ property such as parts of the ship – collisions may result in extended downtime of cranes and other port equipment, even extended berthing time for vessels requires high costs.

In order to reduce the risk for accidents and to provide trouble free operations any time, SICK launched their new AOS  – Advanced Object Detection Systems.

The AOS system uses cutting-edge LMS511 and LMS111 2-dimensional laser measuring sensors. These sensors feature high-speed sampling technology and provide state-of-the-art filter technologies like multiple echos. The outstanding performance increases the reliability of the systems and allow 24/7 operation even in bad weather conditions – for example dust, fog, rain, snow or sand storms at ports elsewhere. Self-monitoring functions of the LMS scanner such as auto-calibration and anti-pollution technology greatly supports the availability of mission-critical systems.

The AOS systems come with preconfigured fields for warning, slow-down and stop and can be adapted to customer requirements. Evaluation features include blanking of objects, reference contours, etc. Fields can change dynamically, depending on the status of the inputs.

With Flexi Soft, the AOS systems use a high-performance, modular safety controller. This allows for easy integration into the control architecture of the complete system. The controller feature sophisticated, unique self-testing functions with a patented software to check at any time the availability of the laser scanner system regarding all configured field sets and installation position. For the self-testing functionality, the Flexi Soft controller uses an unremovable test target, such as the legs of a crane, and checks cyclically at any time all scanner functions with this specific target. Therefore this combination of cutting-edge laser scanner technology and the Flexi Soft controller provides the highest diagnostic coverage and maximized reliability.

SICK launched the AOS system for boom collision prevention and crane-to-crane collision prevention with the AOS502 STS, which features two LMS511, one scanner on each side of the boom, and for pathway collision prevention on all possible moving cranes with the AOS104 RTG, which features four LMS111, one scanner per each leg.

In view of the unique benefits of the SICK AOS system, AOS is the outstanding technology for collision prevention.

For more information, please visit http://www.sick.com.

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