Optical detection system for lift crane

1. A crane comprising:

a carrier unit;

a superstructure mounted on the carrier unit, the superstructure including a boom;

a cable extending from a free end of the boom;

a lifting appliance coupled to the cable and suspended from the boom; and

an optical detection system comprising:

an image capture device mounted on the superstructure and positioned to have a field of view in which the lifting appliance is disposed, and configured to capture an image; and

an optical detection computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the optical detection computer is configured to:

detect one or more objects in the captured image, the one or more objects selected from: the lifting appliance, the cable, a load coupled to the lifting appliance, an object remote from the crane and a marker;

analyze the one or more detected objects; and

determine a condition of a crane component based on the analysis of the one or more detected objects.

2. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the image capture device includes a camera.

3. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the determined condition for the crane component includes one or more of: a two-block condition, an absence of a two-block condition, an approaching two-block condition, swinging motion of the crane component, cable condition, cable type, length of the cable, distance of the lifting appliance from a reference point, a relative position of the crane component to the remote object, and a distance between the crane component and the remote object.

4. The crane of claim 3 , wherein the determined condition of a swinging motion of the crane component further includes a determined trajectory of the swinging motion of the crane component.

5. The crane of claim 4 , wherein the determined trajectory of the swinging motion of the crane component includes a predicted end point of motion of the crane component.

6. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the crane component for which a condition is determined is one or more of: the lifting appliance, the lifting appliance coupled to the load, and the cable.

7. The crane of claim 1 , wherein the optical detection computer analyzes the detected object to identify one or more of: the detected object as corresponding to a known object, a position of the detected object, a number of pixels in the captured image extended across a predetermined section of the detected object or between the detected object and a predetermined reference point, and pixel locations within the captured image relative to the detected object.

8. The crane of claim 7 , wherein the known object includes additional information associated therewith stored in the computer readable storage medium.

9. The crane of claim 8 , wherein the additional information is associated with the detected object upon identifying the detected object as corresponding to the known object.

10. The crane of claim 9 , wherein the detected object is a marker disposed on the crane component.

11. The crane of claim 1 , further comprising a crane control system operably coupled to the optical detection system, the crane control system configured to control crane operations.

12. The crane of claim 11 , wherein the crane control system is configured to control crane operations in response to the determined condition of the crane component.

13. The crane of claim 11 , wherein the optical detection system further determines a zone of operation, a trajectory of a swinging crane component and an end point of motion of the swinging crane component, wherein crane control system is configured to control crane operations based on one or more of the zone of operation, the trajectory and the end point of motion.

14. The crane of claim 1 , further comprising a display configured to display the determined condition of the crane component to an operator.

15. A method of determining a condition of a crane component of a crane, the crane comprising a carrier unit, a superstructure mounted on the carrier unit and including a boom, a cable extending from a free end of the boom, a lifting appliance coupled to the cable, and an optical detection system comprising an image capture device mounted on the superstructure and positioned to have a field of view in which the lifting appliance is disposed, and configured to capture an image, and an optical detection computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, the method comprising:

detecting, with the optical detection computer, one or more objects in the captured image, the one or more objects selected from: the lifting appliance, the cable, a load coupled to lifting appliance, an object remote from the crane and a marker;

analyzing, with the optical detection computer, the one or more detected objects; and

determining, with the optical detection computer, a condition of a crane component based on the analysis of the one or more detected objects.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the analyzing step further comprises identifying the detected object as the lifting appliance or the load coupled to the lifting appliance, and the determining step further comprises determining a distance between the identified detected object and a reference point.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining step further comprises determining a two-block condition, an approaching two-block condition or an absence of a two-block condition.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the analyzing step further comprises identifying the detected object as the cable, and the determining step further comprises determining one or more of a cable condition, a cable type or a length of cable.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the analyzing step further comprises identifying the detected object as a remote object and the determining step further comprises determining one or more of a distance of the crane component to the remote object or a position of the crane component relative to the remote object.

20. A method of controlling a crane operation, the crane comprising a carrier unit, a superstructure mounted on the carrier unit and including a boom, a cable extending from a free end of the boom, a lifting appliance coupled to the cable, an optical detection system comprising an image capture device mounted on the superstructure and positioned to have a field of view in which the lifting appliance is disposed, and configured to capture an image, and an optical detection computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, and a crane control system operably coupled to the optical detection system, the method comprising:

detecting, with the optical detection computer, one or more objects in the captured image, the one or more objects selected from: the lifting appliance, the cable, a load coupled to lifting appliance, an object remote from the crane and a marker;

analyzing, with the optical detection computer, the one or more detected objects;

determining, with the optical detection computer, a condition of a crane component based on the analysis of the one or more detected objects; and

controlling, with the crane control system, a crane operation based on the determined condition.