K-Pos Heavy Lift Application

Operator Manual
Release 8.4

441472/E
June 2021 © Kongsberg Maritime AS
Document history

Document number: 441472 / Revision A

Rev. A January 2019 This version describes the operation of the Heavy lifting application at
K-Pos basis software release 8.4.0.
Rev. B April 2019 This version describes the operation of the Heavy lifting application at
K-Pos basis software release 8.4.1.
Rev. C March 2020 This version describes the operation of the Heavy lifting application at
K-Pos basis software release 8.4.2.
Rev. D June 2020 This version describes the operation of the Heavy lifting application
at K-Pos basis software release 8.4.2. Updated estimated stiffness
function.
Rev. E July 2021 This version describes the operation of the Heavy lifting application at
K-Pos basis software release 8.4.3.

The reader
This Operator Manual is intended as a reference manual. The manual is based on the assumption that the
operator is experienced and has good understanding of basic principles of the system. If this is not the
case, then the operator should first attend the appropriate Kongsberg Maritime training courses.

Note
The information contained in this document remains the sole property of Kongsberg Maritime AS. No
part of this document may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means, and the information
contained within it is not to be communicated to a third party, without the prior written consent of
Kongsberg Maritime AS.
Kongsberg Maritime AS endeavours to ensure that all information in this document is correct and fairly
stated, but does not accept liability for any errors or omissions.

Warning
The equipment to which this manual applies must only be used for the purpose for which it was
designed. Improper use or maintenance may cause damage to the equipment and/or injury to personnel.
You must be familiar with the contents of the appropriate manuals before attempting to operate
or work on the equipment.
Kongsberg Maritime disclaims any responsibility for damage or injury caused by improper installation,
use or maintenance of the equipment.

Comments
To assist us in making improvements to the product and to this manual, we welcome comments and
constructive criticism.
e-mail: km.documentation@km.kongsberg.com
For technical support issues, please contact km.support@km.kongsberg.com.
Kongsberg Maritime AS
www.kongsberg.com
 K-Pos Heavy Lift Application

Table of contents

System overview .....................................................................................................................................5

Heavy lift function...............................................................................................................................5
Heavy lift modes .................................................................................................................................6
Heavy lift phases .................................................................................................................................7
Free floating state ............................................................................................................................7
Upper block in position ...................................................................................................................7
Connected state................................................................................................................................8
Heavy lift functionality .......................................................................................................................9
Set point control ..............................................................................................................................9
Residual force control .....................................................................................................................9
Trim/list compensation ..................................................................................................................11
Adaptive control strategies ............................................................................................................12
Heavy lifting operation .........................................................................................................................11
Dialog boxes ..........................................................................................................................................14
Heavy lift dialog box .........................................................................................................................16
Heavy lift dialog box - Position page ............................................................................................17
Heavy lift dialog box - Control page .............................................................................................19
Sensors dialog box - Crane page .......................................................................................................21
Displayed information ...........................................................................................................................23
Posplot view in Heavy lifting mode ..................................................................................................26
Posplot view control - Show page .....................................................................................................27

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 System overview

System overview

Heavy lift function

The Heavy lift function is meant for crane vessels performing heavy lifting
operations.
It is used to improve/adapt position keeping in Surge, Sway and Yaw when lifting
heavy object, but can also be used to monitor upper block position for smaller lifts.
The functionality enhances the precision during heavy lift operations and uses the crane
hook as reference for DP position with compensation for vessel trim and list.
Depending on the actual configuration of the vessels system, different sub modes may
be available:
• Set down (used when vessel is installing or setting down a load to an earth fixed point)
• Lift up (used when vessel is removing or lifting up a load to an earth fixed point)

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Heavy lift modes

For heavy lift operations different submodes can be selected in the Heavy lift settings
dialog box depending on the conditions and requirements.

There are two heavy lift submodes:

• Set down mode
• Lift up mode

These two modes have the same functionality and features but the way the DP system
estimates the residual forces in different parts of the operation changes based on the mode.
The main difference is the special dynamic Kalman filter at the time of lift of where a boost
of the Kalman filter is applied to filter down any build-up of false residual force due to the
stiffness forces acting on the vessel from the lifting arrangement.

In both modes the Kalman filters operation will be adapted to reduce the probability of
instabilities during the heavy lift operation.

Features:

• Adaptive controller for higher precision

• Zero gain area unlinear gain
• Crane Heavy lift set point control
• Trim/list compensation
• Residual force control
• Adaptive Kalman filter settings
• Dynamic environmental compensation for crane
• Monitoring of Heavy Lift operation

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 System overview

Heavy lift phases

From the perspective of a DP system, the heavy lift operation can generally be split in three
main states where vessel behaviour and/or requirements would be different.

Free floating state

In this phase the DP system will behave as in normal operation. Setpoint control will be kept
at the vessels centre of gravity but the operator can monitor the different crane parameters
via the heavy lift view and sensor dialog.

Free floating (not connected/hoisting)

Upper block in position

When the operator selects this phase the control point for the DP system will be moved to
the upper block to better monitor the lift. The trim/list compensation will become active, if
enabled, to compensate for any ballasting or other changes to the vessels trim or list.
In this phase the operator will have full use of the heavy lift view to monitor both position
of the upper block and other critical data related to the lift.

Upper block in position

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Connected state
This phase should be selected when the vessel is connected to an earth fixed point through
the crane and lifting arrangement. In this phase the residual force regulator will be active, if
enabled by the operator.

Connected (to earth bound object)

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 System overview

Heavy lift functionality

Set point control

This function is designed to adapt the DP systems setpoint and rotation point for better
control during heavy lift operations.
The vessel control point/rotation centre will be moved to the upper block position and
will continuously be compensated for roll and pitch as well as position.
This functionality is automatically activated in any heavy lift submode as long as the
heavy lift phase is set to either “Upper block in position” or “Connected”.

Residual force control

When the vessel is moored to an earth fixed point during a lifting operation there will
be a resulting stiffness force acting on the vessel.
Stiffness force is the acting force on a vessel from the restoring force between the
connected (lifted) object and a fixed (earthbound) object.

When the vessel moves away from
the equilibrium (dotted line), by
environmental or thruster forces, a
restoring force will act to move the vessel
back to origin.
This force could be described as a
“spring”, where the force increases as
distance increase

Where mass is weight of lifted object and length is distance from upper block to hook.
The estimated stiffness during the operation can be seen in the Heavy lift detail view.

During a lifting operation with significant stiffness the stiffness and restoring forces
acting on the vessel is unknown to the DP system and could result in “false” residual
force build up that can in turn result in a position deviation for example when an object is
lifted of a structure and the mentioned

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Stiffness force is removed in an instant. The DP would then still thrust towards the
“false” residual force until the Kalman filter has time to filter out this “false” residual
force.
The DP system has functionality to avoid too much build up of residual force during a
lifting operation. At the instant the operator enters the “Connected “ phase of the
operation the residual force at that time as estimated by the DP system will be stored and
used as reference. The DP system will then detect any significant changes to the residual
forces and slowly adjust the upper block setpoint in very small steps to compensate for
the given change and try to get as closer to the lifts equilibrium position as possible.

Note
It is assumed that the stiffness forces are significantly larger than any change in
weather or other factors that has an impact on the residual forces. Thus, this
function should be used with care of significant change in weather occur during
the operation as this could lead to the setpoint changing due to the change in
weather and not the lifting arrangement being out of equilibrium.

Note
The residual force reference is reset to present value if the operator changes
position manually or the DP detects movement on the crane. This will also reset
the accumulated total maximum auto position move, which result in the DP being
allowed to move the setpoint up to the operator set limit from the new position
regardless of previous automatic moves.

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 System overview

Trim/list compensation

If the DP system detects a change of trim or list over time the DP system will change
the set point accordingly to avoid any build-up of static forces during high load
operations and ballasting.

Initial upper block position equal to
equilibrium:
Vessel trim has changed (blue arrow),
position of upper block relative to
equilibrium has changed. Vessel set point
will be updated dynamically to reflect
the change of upper block position (red
arrow):

This functionality is active in “Set down” and “Lift up” heavy lift submodes selected
in the Heavy lift setup dialog box. The function is only active in “Upper block in
position” and “Connected” heavy lift phases. The function can also be turned off
regardless of the submode and phase via the Heavy lift control dialog box

Note
The trim/list reference is reset to present value if the operator changes position
manually or the DP detects movement on the crane. This will also reset the
accumulated total maximum auto position move, which result in the DP being
allowed to move the setpoint up to the operator set limit from the new position
regardless of previous automatic moves.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Adaptive control strategies

The heavy lift functionality includes operator selection of controller strategy. These
strategies affect how the DP utilizes the proportional gains that regulate the thrust
depending on difference between position setpoint and estimated position. The
operator can select, for each axis, to use normal, adaptive gain area or Zero gain area.

Normal:
 The controller operates as in normal DP. This setting is default if the operator has
not selected any heavy lift submode.

Adaptive gain area:

 The adaptive gain area function increases the gain at lower position deviations.
This is done to increase the stiffness and response of the DP system to avoid
position deviations that could lead to higher stiffness forces acting from the crane
on the vessel. Further away from the setpoint the gain will be ramped down to
normal level to reduce the potential for instabilities.

Zero gain area:

 The function will assure that the vessel does not struggle to maintain the position
with the same accuracy as in a normal type of DP operation. This is to avoid
instabilities that can be caused by the unknown fast acting forces on the DP
system. This is because the vessel will move naturally a small distance when
lifting a large object with the vessel due to the stiffness forces acting on the
vessel. The principle of the function is to define an area around the set-point that
is defined with zero gain. The DP system will not start to compensate for a drift
off before a certain distance from the set-point. Moving further away from the set-
point, the gain will start to ramp up to normal gain level.

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 Heavy lifting operation

Heavy lifting operation

Prerequisites
In the Posplot view control, Show tab, the check boxes for Crane and Upper block pos must be
selected.

Context
For better overview of the operation it is useful to open both Posplot and Heavylift views.

Procedure
1 Click Sensors →Crane and enable the required sensors.
2 Press the HEAVY LIFT button to open the Heavy lift dialog box.
You can also use Settings →Heavy lift .

3 In the Setup tab select the required lifting mode and the hook to be used.
The selected mode is shown in the Heading pane on the top bar.

4 In the Position tab enable the necessary sensors and click Apply.
The upper block symbol is shown in the Posplot view.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

5 In the Control tab the operator can choose weather or not to use the Trim/list
compensation and/or the residual force control functionality. The operator
should also consider the maximum automatic position change the DP is
allowed to do for the given operation.

6 In the Heavy lift view observe that the Upper block in position and Connected symbol has
a green frame. This indicates that the operator can enter any of the two phases.

7 In the Control tab click the Upper block in position button when it becomes
available and then Apply. This moves the control point to the upper block. The
Upper block in position symbol in the heavy lift view becomes solid green.

Control point and setpoint is moved to upper block.

8 In the Control tab select wanted control strategy and the area of operation. For
adaptive gain also adjust gain level for each of the directions – surge, sway and
yaw.
The symbols in the Heavy lift view reflects the settings.

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 Heavy lifting operation

9 In the Alert limits dialog box Position tab select alarm and warning limits for the
upper block position.
The limits are shown in the Heavylift view.

10 Once, either the load touches down during a set down operation, or the crane
starts to take significant load in a lift up operation, the operator should select the
Connected phase and push Apply. You can also double press the H.LIFT CONNECT
button on the operator panel.
Note
The Connected button will cycle between only “Free floating” and Connected
phases. This means that if the phase is set to “Upper block in position” a push on
the button will change the phase to “Connected”. If the phase is set to
“Connected” a push on the button will set the phase to “Free floating”

The Connected symbol in the Heavy lift view becomes solid green.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Dialog boxes
Alert limits dialog box - Position page
Use this page to set the position and heading warning and alarm limits including the
limits for the movement of the upper block.

How to open
Click Alerts→Position and heading.

Example

Details
Position

Warning and alarm limits can be set for position deviation. When the vessel's
actual position differs from the position setpoint by more than the warning limit,
a warning message is shown. When the vessel's actual position differs from the
position setpoint by more than the alarm limit, an audible signal is given and an
alarm message is shown.
When active, the position limits are shown as black circles — solid for alarm and
dashed for warning, in the Position Deviation pane. When inactive, the position
limits are shown as grey circles.

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 Dialog boxes

Note
In all modes, the position limits are inhibited until a requested change in position
is completed.

Heading

Warning and alarm limits can be set for heading deviation. When the vessel's
actual heading differs from the heading setpoint by more than the warning limit,
a warning message is shown. When the vessel's actual heading differs from the
heading setpoint by more than the alarm limit, an audible signal is given and an
alarm message is shown.
The limits are active only when the yaw axis is under automatic control.
When active, the heading limits are shown as black lines — solid for alarm and
dashed for warning, in the Posplot view. When inactive, the heading limits are
shown as grey lines.
Note
In all modes, the heading limits are inhibited until a requested change in heading
is completed.

Upper block

Specify warning and alarm distances within which the upper block can move before
warning/alarm is sounded.
Warning/Alarm
To change the limits, either enter new values directly in the text boxes, or use the
up and down arrow buttons to increase or decrease the current values. Warning
limits can never be set higher than the corresponding alarm limits.
Active
To activate the limits, select the Active check box. You can activate either the
alarm limit only, or both the warning and alarm limits. You cannot activate only a
warning limit. If you select the Active check box for warning, the corresponding
alarm limit is also activated.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Heavy lift dialog box

Use this dialog box to define the necessary settings before you start heavy lifting
operations.

How to open
Either press the HEAVY LIFT button on the panel or click Settings→(Modes) Heavy lift.
This dialog box has several pages.

Heavy lift dialog box - Setup page

How to open
Either press the HEAVY LIFT button on the panel or click Settings→(Modes) Heavy lift.

Example

Details
Mode

Depending on the operation you can select Set down or Lift up mode.
MAX heading change

You can define the limit for heading change in degrees and activate it selecting
the check box.
Crane A/B

Define which of the hooks on the crane will be used during the lifting operation.

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 Dialog boxes

Heavy lift dialog box - Position page

At least one sensor must be enabled, but all sensors (if more than one available) can be
enabled for redundancy.

How to open
Either press the HEAVY LIFT button on the panel or click Settings→(Modes) Heavy lift.

Example

Description
Select the sensors which will be used as a source for the crane position.

Details
OK
The OK status for each sensor is shown in the corresponding OK check box. The
status for all channels from the sensor must be OK for the check box to be selected.
This check box is for information only.
Enable
Each sensor has an associated Enable check box. Selecting this check box enables
the signals from the sensor. The system will automatically disable a sensor if it is
not OK. The Enable check box is deselected and made unavailable.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Operator Preference

Specify how much the operator would like each sensor to be use by the system.

System weight

Thea actual weight used for each sensor. Depending on operator choice and any error
state on the sensor.

Measured

The angle as measured by the sensor.

Correction

Any known variance from the measured angle.

Used

The actual angle used by the system.

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 Dialog boxes

Heavy lift dialog box - Control page

How to open
Either press the HEAVY LIFT button on the panel or click Settings→(Modes) Heavy lift.

Example

Details
Operational phase

You can select which operational phase the vessels heavy lift operation is
presently in.
Auto setpoint control

You can select/deselect the functions that automatically alters the position setpoint.
You can also change the maximum allowed automatic position change to limit the
automatic movements of the vessel. The Mx auto setpoint change is used to limit the
total allowed automatic setpoint move from the two above functions. The vessel will
not be allowed to move more than this distance unless the crane or vessel is manually
moved.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Control strategy

You can select for each axis which control strategy you would like to use.

Area

You can define the area in which adaptive gain area or zero gain area
control strategy will be applied. The settings are the maximum allowed
deviations for this function to be active. This means that for any deviation
higher than these values the high precision function will not be active.
Gain

These settings are only applicable for the adaptive gain area strategy. You
can adjust the how much the gain is changed. This is a % of the maximum
limits set by the engineer that configured the system. A higher gain % here
will result in more aggressive adjustment of the gains.

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 Dialog boxes

Sensors dialog box - Crane page

You must enable at least one crane sensor input in order to measure the position of the
upper block. As a minimum, the boom, slew angel and the crane GPS (if available)
must be enabled. For High stiffness submode also the load and pay-out of the hook in
use needs to be enabled. However, you can enable all signals for better display of the
operation in the Heavy lift view.

How to open
Click Sensors→Crane.

Example

Details
None

When this option button is selected, no value is selected.

Measured

If you want to use sensor readings, click this option button. The text box shows
the value.
Manual

If you want to enter the tension value manually, click this option button and enter
the required value in the text box.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Crane GPS

You can choose whether to use or not the GPS on the crane.

Rate on/off

You can choose whether to use boom and slew rate signals. Recommended to have
these turned on if available as it makes it easier to detect changes in boom position.

Enable meas all

Selects measured for all sensors.

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 Displayed information

Displayed information
Heavy lift view
This view shows the information necessary to monitor heavy lift operations.

How to open
Place the cursor in the upper left corner of the working area so that the drop-down list
becomes visible. Click the arrow and select the view from the list.

Example

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Details

Shows the controller strategy for each of the

directions surge, sway and yaw when
the respective function is selected in the Heavy lift
dialog box, Control page.
If the position deviation exceeds the configured
limit the check box in the heavy lift view will
turn from solid green to only display a green
frame. This is to indicate that the function is
enabled in this axis but is currently not in use and
Normal strategy in use is indicated with filled
centre of the box for normal control strategy.

Shows the calculated stiffness of the crane during heavy lifting

operations. Also shows which phase the operator has chosen. If
phase is set to free floating none of the boxes will be filled.

Shows if any of the automatic setpoint control functions are

active. Green frame indicates that the function is enabled but
not active while filled green indicates function active.

Shows the Upper clock global setpoint and present

position. Top part shows how much the automatic
setpoint control functions has moved totally since
reset. The “Total actual auto vessel move” section
indicates how much the actual setpoint has been
changed. This is limited to the operator chosen
“Max auto setpoint change”. The “Total estimated
auto vessel move” section indicates how much the
vessel would have been moved if the limit was not
in place.

Shows the limits defined for the movement of the upper block
and the deviation between upper block and upper block position
setpoint.

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 Displayed information

Shows information about each of the cranes.

The graphic shows the position of the upper block and the alert
limits set by the operator.

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K-Pos Heavy Lift Application Operator Manual

Posplot view in Heavy lifting mode

When the Heavy lifting mode is active you can follow the movement of the crane and
the vessel.
In addition to the standard shown information you can choose to show the positions of
the crane and upper block.

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Posplot view control - Show page
How to open
Right-click the view and click View control.

Example

Description
During heavy lifting operation you need to show the symbols for crane and upper
block position. During other DP operations you may choose to hide them in order not
to distract the overview.
©2019 Kongsberg Maritime