Design of the lifting mechanism with virtual prototyping technology

In the traditional design process, the design method of port machines mainly adopts the static design and has no effective dynamic technique. The technique of virtual prototype can factually simulate all kinds of running states of each mechanism under various working conditions which vary from different loads and in all kinds of processes. The results of the emulation are used for estimating and judging the data of actual movement. It also offers certain value for reference for the dynamic analysis and the calculation of port machinery, and provides technical support for the creative design and the optimization of crane, and plays an important part in expediting the development cycle and reducing the cost. ADAMS is a famous virtual prototyping modeling and analysis software. This paper introduces the application of the virtual prototyping technology based on ADAMS software which is used in the research process of the lifting mechanism of the gantry crane. The related dynamics models were established and the dynamics loads were conformed under different working conditions according to crane dynamics theories. Interrelated data, which is got in the simulation analyses, offers effective methods on dynamic design of integrated system of the lifting mechanism. It will shorten the design period of the gantry crane and will improve the efficiency and the quality of the design. The virtual prototype study on integrating system of the lifting mechanism leads to an efficient tool and a method for designing gantry crane which is economic, credible, stable and high-powered. This design method will be extensively applied in mechanism design.