In recent years, Changyuan City, Henan Province has led the high-quality development of the lifting machinery manufacturing industry with innovation, built service platforms, improved the industrial chain, promoted intelligent manufacturing, and continuously promoted industrial transformation and upgrading. As of the end of last year, a total of 6 smart factories and 23 smart workshops for hoisting machinery manufacturing had been cultivated locally.
The main hook descends, the clamp arm closes, and the steel coil is lifted; after reaching the target position of the operation, the main hook descends again, the clamp arm opens, and the steel coil weighing 20 tons is stably placed in the truck bed. No manual intervention is required during the entire cargo handling process. In Changyuan City, Henan Province, intelligent unattended cranes used for lifting operations can operate all day long and are suitable for harsh environments, "black light factories" and other conditions.
In recent years, Changyuan City has continuously promoted the transformation and upgrading of the lifting machinery manufacturing industry. At present, the city has 114 complete lifting equipment manufacturing companies above designated size and 1,042 supporting manufacturing companies, with an annual output of 300,000 complete lifting machines. As of the end of last year, a total of 6 lifting machinery manufacturing smart factories and 23 smart workshops have been cultivated.
Increase technological research and development
Promote product iteration
The manipulator grabs the rib plate and accurately places it on the cover plate of the main beam of the crane, with sparks flying at the connection... In the production plant of Xinke Crane Co., Ltd. located in Changyuan City, the fully automatic production line is operating in an orderly manner.
“Look, with fully automatic production equipment, one-click operation is all it takes.” Cai Cunchao, a worker who was controlling the equipment, told reporters.
“By applying this set of welding equipment, the welding efficiency of the crane’s main beam has been increased by nearly three times.” Cai Xiaojie, the person in charge of the company, said that this set of equipment was independently developed by the company and has applied for a patent. In recent years, Xinke Company has continued to increase its crane orders through continuous innovation, and the total number of orders in 2023 will reach 3,500 units.
In addition to innovation in production processes, local crane companies are also constantly advancing in the research and development of new products.
A crane often weighs hundreds of tons, and the spreader shakes greatly during operation. How can the staff achieve precise control?
Walking into the Experimental Testing Center of Weihua Group, Shan Yingge, an engineer from the Electrical R&D Department, was standing on a simulated crane with his colleagues to perform experimental operations. "By continuously optimizing anti-sway technology, the team is working on a closed-loop anti-sway system, which is expected to realize real-time anti-sway of the crane in various environments by automatically detecting and reducing dynamic interference from the external environment," Shan Yingge said.
Since 2006, Weihua Group has begun to develop electrical anti-sway technology for cranes, and finally successfully achieved independent research and development of anti-sway precise automatic positioning control technology. With the continuous improvement of technology, the swing amplitude of lifting equipment has been reduced by more than 95%, which is at the leading level in the world.
"We will invest 4% of our annual sales revenue to6% is used for product research and development. The company has more than 1,400 authorized patents. In 2022, the group will invest more than 800 million yuan in research and development. " said Han Hong'an, chairman of Weihua Group.
Taking technological innovation as the starting point and new product research and development as the driving force, accelerating product iteration has become an important measure for the development of the crane industry in Changyuan City. The local area continues to support enterprises in building provincial-level and above key laboratories, technological innovation centers and other research and development institutions. 70 enterprises have been recognized as national high-tech enterprises, and 2 enterprises have been rated as provincial manufacturing "leading enterprises".
Build a service platform
Improving the industrial chain
“For unattended cranes to be put into production, the government’s support is the key. " said Han Zhaopeng, Vice Chairman of Giant Group.
According to reports, the Hoisting Equipment Expo and Trade Fair, sponsored by the Changyuan Hoisting Equipment Manufacturing Industry Association and hosted by the Changyuan Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, has been held for 8 consecutive years. Han Zhaopeng said that through the exhibition, Changyuan Municipal Development and Reform Commission actively promoted the cooperation between Giant Group and foreign technical teams to develop unattended cranes, and also provided opportunities for foreign markets to fully understand the company's products.
Walking into the Giant Group factory, Han Zhaopeng pointed to a small screen on the lifting equipment. “Although this lifting and overload limiter is inconspicuous, its role is crucial. "He explained, "Once the crane is overloaded, the lifting overload limiter will immediately cut off the power supply to ensure the safety of equipment and personnel. ”
"How to purchase supporting equipment?" the reporter asked.
“Hengda Electromechanical is two kilometers away. Now supporting equipment can be purchased in the park, which is very convenient. " Han Zhaopeng said.
The park Han Zhaopeng mentioned is a professional park for lifting equipment. In March 2022, Changyuan Economic and Technological Development Zone introduced manufacturers of supporting equipment such as lifting overload limiters and reducers to invest in and build factories, turning the park into a lifting machinery manufacturing base with high concentration and complete chains.
“When we came to Changyuan to invest and build a factory, we were interested in the benefits of industrial chain agglomeration here. In the park, we deeply cultivated the products and delivered them to downstream manufacturers on the same day. " said Xu Jin, the person in charge of Henan Hengda Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Company.
Up to now, in addition to plates, more than 20 types of products involved in crane production have supporting manufacturing companies in the lifting equipment professional park, including 126 main beam manufacturing companies, 15 reducer manufacturing companies, and about 150 motor manufacturing companies. The park has formed a relatively complete lifting industry chain with a relatively centralized layout, mutually supporting products, and a complete lifting industry chain from design, manufacturing to installation and after-sales.
Promote cross-border integration
Accelerate application implementation
Scan the QR code and select a parking spaceAfter coding, the three-dimensional parking lot started to operate. In less than two minutes, an empty parking space appeared in front of me. The intelligent three-dimensional garage of Changyuan People's Hospital covers an area of 882 square meters and provides more than 300 parking spaces. It was designed and built by Weihua Group.
“In the past, crane equipment was mostly used in the industrial field, and we have been exploring more life application scenarios.” Liu Yonggang, chief engineer of Weihua Group, said that mechanical parking equipment is a sub-project of lifting machinery, and the technical principles are the same as cranes. Weihua Group promotes cross-border integration in different fields by integrating existing technical resources.
The latent AGV (automatic guided vehicle) equipment is an intelligent handling robot independently developed by Weihua Group. A single unit of the equipment can carry 1,000 kilograms and operates at a speed of 1.2 meters per second under load. It is mainly used for the transfer of entire pallets of goods and the selection of entire items. "Handling robots and cranes are both special lifting equipment. We integrate crane manufacturing technology into the robot and ultimately realize the application in logistics scenarios." Liu Yonggang introduced.
Under the guidance of digitalization and intelligence, the crane industry has achieved joint development with multiple industries, and more lifting equipment has also realized multi-functional applications in emerging scenarios.
Guide the new energy heavy truck to accurately park at the designated location of the battery swap station. The battery swap robot starts, grabs the battery and puts it into the charging slot. Then it grabs the fully charged battery and puts it into the truck. In less than 5 minutes, the new energy heavy truck completes the replacement of the battery pack. In the past, it took five or six hours to fully charge a new energy heavy truck; now, through unattended battery swapping stations, battery replacement can be completed quickly. "No more mileage anxiety!" said Zhang Baojun, a driver who came to Xinke Company to pick up goods.
In the process of communicating with new energy heavy truck drivers, Cai Xiaojie discovered that drivers often suffer from range anxiety when driving. However, new energy heavy truck batteries are large and heavy, making them extremely inconvenient to transport. After a year of hard work, Xinke Company developed a heavy-duty truck battery swapping station that integrates heavy-duty truck charging equipment with intelligent lifting robots to achieve efficient and convenient battery replacement.
The heavy truck battery swap station is suitable for short- and medium-distance transportation scenarios in ports, mines and other industries. The battery swap station uses sensing equipment and intelligent control systems to realize autonomous obstacle avoidance, automatic lifting and precise positioning of the lifting robot, and ultimately realizes fully automatic unmanned battery replacement, alleviating users' mileage anxiety.
"We will continue to comply with the development trend of deep automation and intelligence in logistics, expand the application fields of the crane industry, develop new application scenarios such as automatic conveying and sorting systems, vertical circulation types and other multi-type three-dimensional garages, and continuously improve industrial competitiveness." said the main responsible comrade of the Changyuan Municipal Party Committee.
