Dan Maloney
huh, yep
Hah, yeah
That reminds me that we have to deal with cathodic protection sometimes, too
So, though we don't get to do the fun work of programming a PLC, we have to be generalists and be able to light the control room appropriately, energize the motors, and prevent corrosion of the foundation
And make it all still work while it moves
Jack of all trades master of none? That's why these projects include A LOT of people.
Thinking about the wind load question... we also have the emergency stop load, too. The mechanical engineers design the system so that the brakes can hold it against the wind. But the brakes also need to NOT break anything if you hit the emergency stop button at full speed.
It's a balance, and it's partly achieved by tweaking these hydraulic controls on the brakes to make them set over a few seconds, hopefully decelerating the bridge comfortably
In some cases we have to fix up an old bridge designed to different standards. In those cases we might need a certain motor for normal operation, but that motor has the ability to provide a lot more torque at starting. We've had to ensure that the motor controller does not allow the motor to produce more than a set amount of torque based on the mechanical calculations in these cases.
Typically on a new system they are designed so that the bridge can jam and the motor can generate full torque and not break anything.
So we've gone through our hour and we've got to wrap it up. Andy, a big thank you for your time today, this was really interesting, I really appreciate it! And thanks to everyone for stopping by!
Yep, sure. Thanks for having me.
Thanks everyone!
Thanks all!
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