Original title: "New and High-quality Productivity" Infuses New Vitality into the Traditional Construction Industry (Subheadline)
Bid Farewell to Working at Heights: Workers Operate Tower Cranes in the Office (Headline)
On April 10, at the construction site of the Lingnan Digital Creative Center project in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, which is undertaken by the South China Company of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, Luo Shaopan, the chief technical engineer of the project, was busy giving instructions on the site. Batches of building materials were hoisted to the working area. Soon, two 5G tower cranes will be erected in the foundation pit of this construction site.
The tower crane operator is sitting in the office and precisely hoisting the materials by manipulating the operating lever. (File photo)
5G Remote Control Makes Tower Crane Operators' Work at Heights a Thing of the Past
Tower crane operators, often referred to as "airborne commanders," usually have to work at a height of 60 meters above the ground for 8 hours. The application of the "5G-based Intelligent Remote Control Technology for Tower Cranes" in the project has made the high-altitude work of tower crane operators a thing of the past.
Traditional tower cranes have problems such as poor operating environment, high risks, and low work efficiency when working at heights. To solve this problem, the China Construction Advanced Technology Research Institute, affiliated with China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, independently developed the "5G-based Intelligent Remote Control Technology for Tower Cranes." That is, it uses 5G communication to realize the information interaction between the information collection system and the remote control system. By building a remote control platform, the working environment of tower crane operators has been changed from a high-altitude cockpit to indoor work, and the work efficiency has been improved through intelligent auxiliary technology.
Huang Yadan, a 5G tower crane worker, has returned from working at heights to the ground. After debugging and using the control room, she told the reporter, "As a female tower crane operator, it was a bit troublesome to climb to a height of 60 meters for work every day, especially when it came to eating and using the restroom. Now that I can operate the tower crane indoors on the ground, I feel a great sense of security."
The 5G tower crane is equipped with countless high-definition cameras, and all areas can be monitored in real time, which is equivalent to having several more "eyes" to detect potential risks and hazards. It can also check the "blind spots" that could not be seen with the naked eye before. The remote tower crane is not restricted by the work location. Just by switching the computer operation interface, it is possible to control a tower crane several kilometers away. "Now I can operate multiple tower cranes by myself, which has greatly improved the hoisting efficiency," Huang Yadan said. The control terminal of the somatosensory seat restores the full-element information display of the front-back tilting, left-right tilting, and 360-degree rotation states of the cockpit, combined with the extraction of effective information. According to the working conditions of the hook, the most effective video images are extracted in real time and displayed to the operator, bringing an immersive operating experience.
"Not every project has a 5G tower crane. As a representative of new and high-quality productivity, the 5G tower crane technology is currently only applied in key projects, green projects, etc. Affected by comprehensive factors such as construction cost, there is still a short distance to its full-scale promotion in the next step," Luo Shaopan said.
Luo Shaopan (on the left) and the construction worker went deep into the construction site to inspect major potential hazards such as the ultra-high formwork support system to ensure the safety of the construction. Photo by Lin Shuren
Dust Prevention and Temperature Reduction: A Green "Protective Coat" Added to the Construction Site
Construction sites often have drawbacks such as heavy dust and high noise. To minimize the impact of on-site construction on the surrounding environment as much as possible, this project has invested in an intelligent dust prevention canopy system during the earthwork excavation stage.
When viewed from a high altitude, the dust prevention canopy is like a green lawn covering the ground, with multiple functions such as dust prevention, noise reduction, sunshading, and temperature reduction. Under the control of the workers, the canopy can be freely retracted.
The reporter saw that this dust prevention canopy is denser and thicker than the conventional dust prevention net. This net can be recycled, and its durability can reach 3 years. It is composed of a supporting steel structure system, a track system, a dust prevention net unit, a transmission system, a balance system, a sprinkler system, etc. Workers can remotely control the opening and closing with one click through a mobile phone app. At the same time, it is also equipped with a dust and noise monitoring system, which automatically turns on the sprinkler to reduce dust. The effects of noise reduction, sunshading, and temperature reduction are obvious, forming a green "protective coat".
Luo Shaopan introduced that through this layer of "protective coat", not only has a series of problems such as dust pollution, exposed bare soil, inability to work in high temperatures, and poor safety and civilization image during traditional foundation pit construction been solved, but also all-weather construction has been achieved, realizing "painless construction".
"At first, I didn't know what this net was for. It was like a big cover, and sometimes I even thought it was a bit troublesome. Whenever we needed to lift something with the tower crane, we had to ask for permission to open it." Chen Kun, a worker of the canopy, said that when the canopy was first put into use, it caused some trouble to his work, but he soon changed his mind. "There used to be a lot of dust, and it was very sunny. It was very uncomfortable to work in the foundation pit. With this canopy, the clothes we dry on the construction site get less dusty. It can also block the sun, and it will spray water beside us when we work, so there is less dust when we work."
The reporter learned that the current construction industry has explored a relatively mature "intelligent construction" system, which focuses on promoting aspects such as standardized design, industrialized production, digital construction, intelligent operation and maintenance, and industrialized interconnection, improving the intelligent management level of the construction process, and enabling workers to have "painless construction"; at the same time, it improves efficiency, reduces consumption, and enhances the quality of the project, realizes digital, networked, and intelligent project management, and ultimately leads the project to upgrade from traditional extensive management to refined management, achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
(Source: Southern Workers' Daily, Author: Lin Tingyu, All-media Reporter, Correspondents: Han Xiaolu, Wang Yuqi)
