Research on dynamic modeling and control strategy of four anti-swing cable system for ship-mounted cranes

Ship-mounted cranes are becoming increasingly essential to modern ocean shipping. However, due to the continuous influence of waves, currents, and winds, achieving accurate and fast lifting is difficult because of the large payload swing during the lifting operation. Therefore, this study proposes a Four Anti-swing Cable System (FASCS) for ship-mounted cranes. Firstly, a dynamic model of the FASCS was established by using Robotics and Newton method, and a tension control method (TCM) is designed to reduce the swing angle of the payload. Concurrently, a sliding mode variable structure controller with improved reaching law (SMVSC-IRL) is designed to control the cooperative movement of the anti-swing cables and prevent the occurrence of snap. The dynamic characteristic analysis by MATLAB/Simulink shows that the swing angle suppression effect reaches 89.3% on average, and the projected area of the payload trajectory was reduced by 60%, which can significantly improve the efficiency of ship-mounted cranes lifting operations. In addition, the length and speed of cables in errors can approach 0 within 7 s, and the strong robustness of the designed SMVSC to control the cooperative motion of the anti-swing cables is proved. The results of this study contribute to the in-depth optimization and engineering verification of the FASCS for ship-mounted cranes.