Content area
The construction industry heavily uses many different categories of heavy equipment on a daily basis. Generally, such equipment is used extensively and lasts a long time with limited to no possibility of updating or enhancing. Especially, with the current advancements of technology, there is a need to modernize such mechanical equipment. With regard to equipment control, most equipment requires users to stay close to or directly control the equipment. In this paper, the authors propose an upgrading system that allows the remote operation of heavy equipment through push and pull mechanism. By utilizing a single-board computer such as Raspberry Pi with linear actuators, the system can allow the users to control the heavy equipment remotely. The proposed system is successfully demonstrated by upgrading an indoor tower crane in the D. Dorsey Moss Construction Lab at Purdue University. This type of upgrade could support other heavy equipment in the construction field through integrating various sensors and actuators for digital enhancement.
Details
1 School of Construction Management Technology, Purdue University, USA
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of West Florida, USA
3 Department of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University, USA
4 School of Engineering Technology, Purdue University, USA