Cranes on computer

Mobile crane planning software vendor Cranimax has launched a tower crane module for AutoCAD.

Launched at Intermat last year, Cranimax has since sold 74 units of the TowerManager module, sold with an average of 15 crane models.

The software enables users to assemble and place top-slewing tower cranes in an AutoCAD environment, with plan, elevation and isometric views and a scale drawing. Users can move the cranes around within the environment. The software automatically detects potential clashes in plan view, and the software can also highlight critical clearances or dangerous positions of the crane.

Self-erectors are not currently available, but should be included by the end of the year, the company said.

Users can build up the environment without needing to know the ins and outs of AutoCAD: Cranimax also supplies a library of simple and complicated shapes and objects. Users can plan the below-the-hook set up with a library of rigging objects. This software also generates a parts list.

Those customers who do not want to fork out for a full AutoCAD licence can buy a copy of ‘affordable alternative’ software BricsCAD.

The base cost of the programme is EUR4,000 without cranes. A library of 15 crane models will cost an extra EUR2,500, and the company has library drawings for all manufacturers, it said.

A second tower crane module to computer design software AutoCAD has launched a new revision that offers help planning the erection and dismantling of tower cranes.

The module, MethoCAD, plots tower cranes on to site. With the new revision, users can virtually place a mobile crane within the confines of the job site, and check the necessary boom length and clearances. The software displays maximum loads allowed.

The software also includes a new section of safety pictures and videos of examples of best practice for working at height, and working near power lines, as well as practices flagged up by some safety organisations as unsafe.

A virtual reality module, first shown in April 2006 at the Intermat show, has also been included in the new software. In this module, users can sit in the crane cabin, operate the crane jib, and walk between buildings to check clearances.

Existing versions of MethoCAD can already improve safety on site, according to the company. Crane drivers will overload a crane primarily to get a job done. This risky behaviour is unnecessary for users of the software, the company argues: "If the tower crane's layout had been studied, one would have discovered that the position of the crane or the foreseen jib was not adequate." For planning lifts, the software shows a plan view of the crane and allowed loads plotted over the job site.

When several tower cranes are placed close together, they could clash. The software calculates oversailing heights in elevation drawings. A specific computer algorithm detects potential collisions.

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