10 August, 2011

Mobile Harbor: from new concept to new technology

Large container ships are no longer required to come into ports to transport cargo, as Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed Mobile Harbor. A Mobile Harbor is a vessel that carries a large stabilized crane with a smart spreader and multistage trolley system, enabling the loading and unloading of ship cargo on the wavy open sea. Initiated in 2009, the Mobile Harbor (MH) is one of the universitys flagship research projects to improve problems relating to the current maritime transport system, such as port congestion, environmental issues caused by heavy sea transport, increased demand for supersized container ships, and the need for port construction and expansion. Related article can be found on the TWA website: http://www.twanetwerk.nl/upl_documents/Mobile_Harbor_ZK.pdf

The essential technology to establish a Mobile Harbor is a docking system and crane system that can overcome the obstacles imposed by the sea, i.e., waves and wind. The Mobile Harbor has a unique way of mooring vessels that are anchored at sea: its flexibly designed robot arms with a square-shape vacuum suction pad at the tip reach out and attach to the hull of a container ship for docking. Each robot arm is connected to a cable and winch that further add stability to the Mobile Harbor. Foam-filled

10 August, 2011 fenders are placed between the Mobile Harbor and the container ship, thereby maintaining a safe distance to prevent collisions. The crane system consists of a multistage trolley, smart spreader, and tension controller, all of which provide the crane with functionality and stability to move around cargo containers in the sea. The crane system also has various sensors such as cameras and laser scanners, and therefore, it can gauge the movement of the spreader and ships as well as trace a target container in real time. As a result, the spreader, a container grabbing device, is free from the swing motions when lifting and putting down cargo and grabs a target container safely in the wavy open sea. The project has been implemented in collaboration with industries, research institutes, and universities in such fields as mechanical engineering, robotics, automation engineering, and ocean systems engineering. The center has received much interest in possible market migration and broader application of the Mobile Harbor from businesses and organizations, e.g., US Office of Naval Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Aramco, POSCO, and the Korean Navy.

Resource and more information KAIST PR Team, Contact: Lan Yoon (+82-42-350-2295, hlyoon@kaist.ac.kr)