Online Condition Monitoring of Gantry Cranes Based on Integrated Optical Fiber Sensing System

Gantry cranes play a critical role in accelerating the shipment process at container ports. The complex operational environments of ports heighten the necessity for monitoring key parameters of gantry cranes in order to monitor operational conditions and prevent safety issues. To overcome the limitations of conventional sensors in ports, an optical fiber sensing (OFS) system integrated with distributed temperature sensing (DTS), distributed vibration sensing (DVS), and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technologies was proposed. This system was used for real-time online monitoring of two gantry cranes (aged and recently deployed) for comparison. Temperature fields of crane power cables were constructed, and temperature variations were rapidly captured by DTS during on-site experiments. Vibration characteristics of the crane girder were extracted using DVS under artificial interference. The operating states of gantry cranes were identified through the analysis of vibration distribution maps. Besides, the temperature, acceleration, and stress concentration of the critical components were monitored accurately by FBGs. This study presented novel insights into the condition monitoring of gantry cranes via OFS and predicted the potential to prevent unexpected failures, enhance safety and efficiency, and extend the lifespan of gantry cranes.