Analysis of energy usage for RTG cranes. (15th April 2017) - Papaioannou, Vicky
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study and analyse the energy that is used by the various motors of a crane of the Rubber Tyred Gantry type. For this reason a single Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) crane has been instrumented at port of Felixstowe and data has been collected during normal operation for eight days. This data has been analysed in terms of active and idle modes and also in terms of energy usage by the various motors. From this analysis it is possible to determine that on average about half of the energy consumed is potentially recoverable. It is also estimated that the recovery of this proportion of energy could lead to savings of 32, 600 L of fuel and 8100 tonnes of CO2 per year at Port of Felixstowe. Highlights: The RTG crane in Port of Felixstowe is only active about 50% of the time. 60% of the energy is used by the hoist and 30% by the gantry motor. The average percentage of recoverable hoist energy ranges from 70% to 80%. The average percentage of recoverable gantry energy ranges from 3% to 5%. The average total percentage of recoverable energy ranges from 50% to 57%.