Today while operating the crane with load, the crane stopped moving. Upon investigating, all safety signals appeared to be OK. Fault messages regarding drive faults for various VFDs were present, which seemed to stem from an ethernet adapter card fault (see attached photo). It is unknown how this occurred, but suspected that it was due to a brief blip in network communications or the external drive power supply control signal. It is worth noting that the diesel generator tests took place today, and there could have been some affect from a power surge because of this.

The crane was power-cycled using the main disconnect, and safety system reset. The faults disappeared. The crane was operational again.

If this issue occurs again, it should be investigated more thoroughly. It would be worth checking if there were any generator tests or other things which could cause some sort of power surge.

There was an issue with a 20 A circuit breaker used to control motor assist functions for the telemanipulators (specifically, the rightmost CB in the panel for the right (East) manipulator set). This circuit breaker was moved to the panel for the left (West) manipulator set in the rightmost position, and then subsequently replaced with a new one, which is functioning correctly. It is suspected that the former CB which was not working was calibrated towards the low end from the factory, based on discussions with the manufacturer and extensive testing of multiple scenarios.

A spare pendant for the overhead crane was procured from COH. The pendant's functionality is the same as the original one's. The pendant was tested today by Adam Newsome - all functions behave as expected.

Important - to change to the spare pendant in the case of failure of the original one, insert a battery into it, and transfer over the small black transmitter card shown in the attached picture. The pendant will not pair with the receiver without this card. There is nothing else that needs to be set up for it to work.

The spare pendant is kept in a labeled box on top of the electrical cabinets located in the crane control room (L1 floor).

An issue was observed in which the pendant did not work to control the crane. This is the second time in recent memory this has happened. See e-log 55 for details. The same sequence of steps outlined in e-log 55 was followed, and the pendant control was re-established. It is still unclear what the root cause of this issue is, but it is suspected that the crane pendant loses communication with the receiver for some reason, and even though communication can be re-established, the reset button on the crane control console does not clear the fault message, and the system must be power-cycled in order to fully reset. This is just speculation based on what is observed. Further investigation required.

It was observed today that the crane's west light was not functioning.

[edit 2023-01-03] The crane was powered back on this morning - there do not appear to be any faults on the HMI and it seems that the crane was unaffected by the power outage.

The ARIEL target hall overhead crane was powered off for the holidays. In the new year, throw the main disconnect in the crane control room to power back on.

In preparing to troubleshoot the issue described in e-log #54, the crane was power cycled, and the pendant battery removed, to get to a "fresh start" state. Prior to this, the crane functioned normally aside from the incorrect E/W direction control on the North Aux Hoist.

Upon powering the crane back on, the pendant did not work to control the crane in any mode. The HMI had a fault present which read "305. Radio Control Receiver in Fault (3700RC)". This was accompanied by a red light in the safety control relay status summary screen, for "Radio Control Converter Communication Fault With Receiver (3714CONV)".

If the crane was placed in remote mode, the safety control relay status summary all turned green, and the reset button could be pressed, enabling remote mode. This means the issue was specific to the pendant/receiver communication specifically.

The receiver (in the cabinet in the control room) was inspected and the power status LED was on, the RF LED was off (which means there is no issue, OK), and the "OK to receive signal" LED was on - this indicates that the receiver was functioning as expected.

To further troubleshoot the issue - the crane was powered off, the receiver's antenna was disconnected and reconnected, and the multipin connector for the receiver was disconnected and reconnected. The system was powered back on, and the reset button was pressed. The fault message and the safety relay issue were cleared, and the pendant functioned again as normally expected (aside from the persistent issue from e-log #54).

It is unclear exactly what the issue was and how it was resolved, but could have been related to either a loose connector, or power cycling and resetting the system.

Update 2022-10-06: During routine inspection of the crane, Tom Kauss investigated the direction swap issue. It was determined that there was likely an issue with the initial installation of the new VFD back in March 2022, and that it was unnoticed (directional control wires crossed). The issue has been resolved by Tom Kauss and is no longer a concern. 

It was observed during operation today (Aug. 23, 2022) that the motion axes were reversed for East/West travel on the North Aux Hoist. i.e. when pressing the joystick on the local pendant in the East direction, the hoist traveled West, and vice-versa. This behaviour was not noticed (or at least not reported) before. It could potentially be related to the recent replacement which was done in March 2022 (https://elog.triumf.ca/TIS/RH-ARIEL/52), although the motion was checked after replacement. It is possible that an oversight was made in the testing at that time though.

The controls should be checked and the issue should be rectified as soon as possible. The Aux Hoist controls are not run through the PLC, but rather handled directly within the hoist's control box. It is recommended to go online with the PLC and check if there is any hint as to why this is occurring, before making any modifications. If no info can be gained, it is recommended to try swapping the VFDs for East and West motion, and check if that rectifies the issue. It is possible that the VFDs are programmed specifically for their direction output, and they simply need to be swapped. 

The position limit modification described in e-log 49 has been reverted. Currently the South soft limit is set back to 0.36m.

The limit was tested and confirmed (craned stopped at 0.33m position which is acceptable due to coasting). The entire bridge range of motion was checked to ensure there were no adverse effects - all is OK. The South bumpers need to be reinstalled - this will take place in the coming weeks.

Changes noted in crane log book.

Relevant work permit: A2022-05-30-3

Edit (2022-06-08): the bumpers have been re-installed.

The North Aux Hoist VFD which had failed (e-log 50) was replaced today by Tom Kauss and Adam Newsome on Work Permit A2022-03-15-1.

The hoist's motions were all tested - it is functioning normally again.

Naimat Khan noticed after using the crane that some grease dropped onto a spreader bar, and believes it is a leak from the main hoist (see attached photo). The hoist should be inspected.

Edit: Dan McDonald notes that this has been observed since the crane was installed and is likely due to excess grease dropping out. Perhaps not a major concern.

An issue was observed in which the North Aux hoist failed to travel West when commanded to, but the East motion was functioning. The up/down motion was also functioning. The North Aux Hoist Trolley failed during regular usage, seemingly randomly, when it was about 70% towards the West end of travel. Note that the West motion VFD inside the North Aux Hoist is the one previously taken from the South Aux Hoist (the same issue with the North Aux Hoist was observed last year, and the VFD was swapped, and a new one was installed in the South Aux Hoist).

A replacement VFD (Delta TDN007E1100WM0) will be ordered and installed, and this e-log will be updated.

Edit 2022-03-15: the replacement VFD has been installed and the system is operational. See e-log 52.

Edit: as of May 30, 2022, the modification has been reversed, and the crane is functioning normally as per the manufacturer's limits. 

Modifications have been made to the crane to allow for the South Aux Hoist to reach closer to the South wall during the ARIEL Hot Cell installation period. These modifications are temporary, and were considered to be a safer and simpler alternative to the modification proposed by the hot cell contractor workers, which involved installing a sort of come-along on the wall and pulling the hoist closer to obtain the desired reach. The following modifications were made:

1. Removal of the bumpers on the south side (T. Kauss). There are no bumpers on the South side of the crane’s bridge currently.

2. Modification of the PLC program to reduce the software limit by approximately 4 inches (A. Newsome). The previous soft limit was set at 0.36 m and it was reduced to 0.26 m (~3.9 inch reduction).

 These changes have been tested – the crane stops in the expected position. However, it is very close to the wall now. If you are using the crane anywhere near the South wall: exercise extreme caution. The crane automatically slows down when approaching the South wall, and there is plenty of time for the operator to react and further slow the motion by only holding the joystick down at about 20% speed. I strongly recommend operating at about 20% speed when close to the wall (on top of the automatic speed reduction I mentioned).  

• These changes are based on Work Permit A2022-01-06-1
• Changes have been noted in the crane’s logbook

See attached screenshot of PLC program indicating that the new limit has been reached.

Contact me (Adam Newsome) for more detailed information.

The load cell which is located on the crane itself to display the load to operators was reported not working during the week of November 15. It is planned to investigate on Nov. 25 and this e-log will be updated with the status.

Edit (2022-02-02): the load cell is functioning again. No changes were made.

The bridge motion was slowed due to encoder homing issue. It is likely that the problem which occurred yesterday caused an velocity fault (mismatch between encoder speed and commanded speed), which unlatches the homing status for the bridge motion axis.

When the bridge was in the southmost position (bumper pressed against wall), the position readback was: 0.353 m, encoder count = 5164003.

The bridge was moved to the "zero position" as indicated on the remote display - the tick was aligned with the zero.

The encoder was homed at this position. The home position readback was: 0.356 m, encoder count = 5164447. Note that this position is in alignment with the measuring tape zero mark, not pressed up against the wall.

The bridge was run to its full extreme positions in either direction to confirm proper slowdown and stopping behaviour. It appears to be functioning normally again.

A fault occurred which presented as "114. Main Hoist Cable Broken (3200PX)". This occurred when a SEG block was suspended approximately 1 m off the ground.

Upon inspection, it was determined that the cable was in fact not broken, but wrapped around itself. There are no guides, and it is possible for the cable to double wrap if loaded in an usual fashion. This condition triggered the "Hoist Rocker Switch 1" sensor, 3200PX. The sensor is not visible or accessible from ground level, and could not be inspected, but it was confirmed that there was no 24 VDC PLC input at 30000EA:I.Data[7].0, as would be expected under normal operating conditions.

To rectify the issue:

• The sensor was bypassed in the control panel by connecting wire 32001 directly to 24 VDC after confirming that there would be no adverse affects from doing this.
• With careful supervision, the load was lowered, while watching the cabling.
• The load was removed from the crane.
• The hoist was then lowered to its extreme lower limit, and the cable unwrapped itself naturally as it was being lowered.
• The sensor bypass was removed.
• The sensor began functioning normally again when the wrapping issue was resolved.
• The hoist was raised and lowered multiple times to confirm the cable wrapping issue was no longer present.

The crane is returned to its normally functioning state. Operators will keep a lookout for any more issues relating to the hoist cable. The crane will be inspected on Sept. 22, 2021.

See E-Log 44 for details on North Aux Hoist failure.

A replacement VFD was ordered by Adam Newsome and installed by Tom Kauss.

Adam and Tom replaced the VFD in the South Aux hoist (which had been relocated to the North Aux hoist). The original braking resistor was used. No functionality changes to the system.

Both Aux hoists were tested: E/W travel, up/down travel. Each hoist is functioning correctly. E/W speeds were compared between the two hoists and found to be the same (~14 Hz for slow speed, ~95 Hz for fast speed).

The replacement job is complete and the issue outlined in E-Log 44 is resolved, although the original cause for failure has not been determined.

Current state of system as of Sept 9, 2020:

• The North Aux hoist is fully functioning (contains original VFD from South one)
• The South Aux hoist is fully functioning (contains newly replaced VFD with original braking resistor)
• The North Aux hoist limit switch flag has been temporarily bypassed to allow for crane work in the target hall (not a safety issue - extended bumpers are installed and the regular bridge limit switches are functioning normally... this is only to allow the bridge to run its full length of travel when the North Aux hoist is at its fully East position)

Next steps:

• Reinstall North Aux hoist limit switch flag (TBD when Target Hall installation work is done)

An issue was observed in which the North Aux hoist failed to travel West when commanded to, but the East motion was functioning. The North Aux hoist Trolley was stuck in a position up against the East wall.

Present during troubleshooting: Adam N, Maico D, Tom K, Allon M, Travis C

After troubleshooting, it was determined that:

• There were no fault messages on the HMI display relating to this issue
• The HMI indicated "Bridge Not in North Limit and/or Auxiliary Trolley North Not in East or West Limit" - the Bridge was not in the north limit as described, and this message implies the PLC thought the North Aux hoist was somewhere along the middle of its travel
• The West run signal was reaching the remote receiver from the crane pendant
• The West and East run signals were correctly reaching their respective input pins on the VFD (DI1, DI2)... upon swapping wires and commanding it to run East, the West direction still did not function
• The VFD was displaying the correct output frequency information on its display when commanded to run East, but not west
• The limit switch was not related to this issue

Upon swapping out the VFD with the working one from the South Aux hoist, the North Aux hoist Trolley was able to move both East and West, as normal. It was therefore determined that the VFD had failed and must be replaced.

Current state of system as of July 3, 2020:

• The North Aux hoist is fully functioning (contains VFD from South one)
• The South Aux hoist is disabled (no VFD, breakers shut off)
• The North Aux hoist limit switch flag has been temporarily bypassed to allow for crane work in the target hall (not a safety issue - extended bumpers are installed and the regular bridge limit switches are functioning normally... this is only to allow the bridge to run its full length of travel when the North Aux hoist is at its fully East position)

Next steps:

• Adam Newsome requested quote for replacement drive (Delta Electronics TDN007E1100WM0) - will advise when replacement arrives
• Install replacement drive into South Aux hoist upon arrival (note: check EMC level modification)
• Verify entire system functioning as normal
• Reinstall North Aux hoist limit switch flag

The non-existent safety limit switch for the target hall door which prevents remote motion has been bypassed in the crane PLC control panel to allow for remote operation of the crane. This will be un-bypassed when a switch is installed. Specifically, a jumper was placed from terminal 18001 to 20121 and 20141 which will enable the hall lock safety relays 2012SR and 2014SR. The crane is currently operational in both local and remote mode.