Raymond Kalawe, weight handling equipment director, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, explains: “These cranes do not have rear windows, so we looked into alternative methods to assist drivers. We have had a few reversing accidents involving cranes in the past, but none in at least 10 years.”
The group has 13 truck cranes in total and about 200 warehouse cranes. It is due to receive a new 100 US ton Grove and will install a reversing camera on it as well, Kalawe says.
The crane camera system consists of a rear-mounted sensor array with camera, microphone and ultrasonic emitter and receiver. Data goes to an LCD screen mounted high in the crane’s cab.
On the rear array, an integral heater prevents the camera lens from fogging or icing up. The microphone helps the driver hear if someone is approaching. Another sensor uses sonar to estimate the distance to the nearest object. It emits ultrasonic pulses, which bounce off obstacles and return to a receiver, and estimates the distance based on the time lag. The unit displays the distance of objects from the crane in a bar chart at the bottom of the display.
Kalawe says that it took 24 technician-hours to install the first units, partly because they needed to design and fabricate a mounting bracket. The first HCS-700 devices, bought from Sonar Safety Systems for $775 (EUR530) cost $2,584 in total, but the cost should come down as technicians become familiar with the wiring.
Sonar Safety Systems has sold about 300 units of the Hindsight 20/20 HCS-700 in the USA, primarily to utility companies for their truck fleets, according to sales leader James Deokar. He says that the HSC-700, which has been on the market since 2005, has a retail price of $1,135 (EUR775) for those without large fleets. The company is the North American division of Korean manufacturer Tanhay, which makes the equipment in Korea and China.
