CN115285857B

CN115285857B - Energy-saving crane and crane method

Info

Publication number: CN115285857B
Application number: CN202210472748.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马库斯·罗斯; 佩尔·古斯塔夫森
Original assignee: Hilbert Ltd
Current assignee: Hilbert Ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-04
Filing date: 2022-04-29
Publication date: 2024-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2042-04-29
Also published as: EP4086216C0; AU2022202554A1; EP4086216A1; EP4086216B1; CN115285857A

Abstract

A crane arranged to be mounted to, for example, a vehicle, comprising a crane boom system comprising a crane component; a system of hydraulic actuators of the crane boom system operated by hydraulic fluid, the hydraulic actuators being arranged to apply movement to the crane boom system in response to received drive instructions; a sensor system; a control interface; a crane controller configured to generate a drive command to be applied to a system of hydraulic actuators. The crane controller is configured to evaluate a pressure level of a desired working pressure of the hydraulic pump for a desired movement of the crane component and a desired flow level of each hydraulic actuator, and to evaluate a wasteful contribution metric for the desired movement of the crane component. The crane controller is configured to generate an energy consumption status signal if the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than a predetermined level.

Description

Energy-saving crane and crane method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a crane and a method of a crane, and in particular to a crane intended to operate more energy-efficient than currently used cranes, which is particularly advantageous when the crane is a hydraulic crane with a power supply.

Background

Nowadays, multiple functions of simultaneously operating a crane are considered to demonstrate the skill of the crane operator. However, this is not necessarily preferred from an energy efficiency point of view, as it may generate a lot of wasted energy. The wasted energy is defined herein as energy supplied to a hydraulic system that is not used for the movement of the crane components.

The wasted energy is not only undesirable because it increases the amount of energy required by the system without performing any actual movement of the crane components, but also has the disadvantage that the wasted energy dissipates in the form of heat, which increases the temperature of the hydraulic fluid in the system. The increase in temperature reduces the quality of the hydraulic fluid and thus affects the service frequency of the system. Thus, by reducing the wasted energy, the impact of these associated problems will also be reduced.

It has been noted that a part of the energy consumed by the crane system is not actively used for the movement of the crane components, but is wasted energy because of the effect of operating multiple functions simultaneously. This has a great influence on, for example, crane systems with power supply, as it affects the available run time of the battery or fuel cell, e.g. before recharging or refilling with hydrogen. If the wasted energy is reduced, the operational life between battery charges may be increased or smaller batteries may be used, thereby reducing the cost and weight of the system on the truck. There is therefore a need for an improved solution to the problem of reducing energy waste.

As can be seen in the examples discussed in the detailed section of the description, the wasted energy may even be greater than the useful energy for actually moving the crane components. This is due to the fact that: if one function requires a high pressure, then that high pressure will be the system pressure for all functions. If the crane function used at the same time only requires low pressure but high flow, this will result in a large part of wasted energy.

In the following, some patent documents in the technical field of controlling the loading and unloading process of a crane will be identified and briefly discussed.

US20190308851A1 discloses a crane installation mounted on a vehicle. The crane arrangement comprises a first boom connected to the first upright and a second boom connected to the first boom. The hydraulic system is configured to move the crane boom by a hydraulic actuator. If the measured pressure of the hydraulic system is higher than the maximum operating pressure, the hydraulic flow is dumped into the reservoir.

US20140060030A1 discloses a crane system and a controller provided on a vehicle, the controller being configured to move a work tool using operator instructions received via an input device. An accumulator pressure associated with movement of the actuator is stored, which is further compared to a current pressure measured by the sensor. An alarm is generated if the measured value is not within the threshold.

WO2019206774A1 discloses a truck mounted crane system, wherein the crane system comprises a plurality of booms connected to each other and the crane is a mobile crane. The hydraulic actuators of crane boom systems are operated by a flow of hydraulic fluid, wherein an electric motor is used to drain fluid from a pump. Furthermore, it discloses measuring the pressure required for the desired movement of the boom, and the computing device collects data from the pressure sensor to control the pressure of the hydraulic drive.

US20170268541A1 discloses a crane system with a boom and a crane manipulator handle is arranged to control the displacement of a first hydraulic power to move the boom. In addition, when the pressure detected by the first pressure sensor reaches a predetermined minimum operating pressure, the hydraulic flow is shut off to increase the efficiency of the crane system.

The invention relates to a crane and to an evaluation of the operability of a crane, in particular in terms of energy efficiency. The main object of the present invention is to reduce wasted energy and thus save energy in crane applications, and more particularly to achieve a more energy efficient operation of a crane.

Disclosure of Invention

The above-mentioned object is achieved by the invention according to the independent claims.

Preferred embodiments are set forth in the dependent claims.

According to the invention, an estimated wasteful contribution measure, i.e. the difference between the operating pressure of the hydraulic pump for the required movement of the crane component and the estimated pressure level is determined multiplied by the estimated required flow level of each hydraulic actuator. Thus, the estimated wasteful contribution measure is an estimate of the hydraulic power wasted by the system, i.e. not used for active movement of the boom system.

According to an embodiment, the crane controller is further arranged to identify at least one of the hydraulic actuators as the proposed crane function in response to determining that the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than a predetermined level, such that the crane operator is deactivated via the control interface. The deactivated proposed crane function may be fed back to the operator via an input unit, such as a display.

As an alternative to control by an operator using an input unit, the invention may further be implemented on a crane having a control interface comprising a communication interface of an autonomous system controlling the crane and optionally the vehicle to which the crane is mounted. In this case, the external monitoring server will monitor and evaluate the performance of the crane and autonomous system in addition to or instead of monitoring and evaluating the operating skills of the operator.

A significant advantage achieved by the crane disclosed herein is energy savings by reducing wasted energy. This is a significant advantage, especially for electrically operated cranes, where less energy consumption is equal to longer use time between charges by the consumer, or smaller and less costly batteries with the same use time.

Another advantage of the solution applied by the present invention is that it does not require any additional sensors or other hardware, since it is a purely software solution, which means that it can be implemented in existing products and hardware.

A further advantage of the crane according to the invention is that feedback can be provided to the operator about the current state of the wasted energy and that an alarm is preferably generated to the driver when an inefficient operation is detected and thus a more energy efficient operation scheme is facilitated.

Drawings

Fig. 1 to 3 are diagrams showing advantageous aspects of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a vehicle provided with a crane according to the invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing a crane according to the invention.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

The crane and the method will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same or similar parts have the same reference numerals throughout the drawings. Furthermore, the components and figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

The function requiring the maximum pressure determines the working pressure level of the hydraulic pump when several functions of the crane are operated simultaneously. This means that if other crane functions requiring lower working pressures are activated at the same time, there will be wasted components. Because the hydraulic power supplied to the system is further dependent on the flow of hydraulic fluid, the wasted components will further depend on the flow requirements of other crane functions. Thus, if several functions that are not matched in terms of working pressure and a certain degree of flow are operated simultaneously, a part of the consumed energy of the hydraulic system is wasted, i.e. not used for moving crane components.

As can be seen in the examples discussed below with reference to fig. 1-3, the wasted energy may even be greater than the useful energy for actually moving the crane components. This is due to the fact that: if a function requires a high pressure, then the high pressure will be the system pressure for all functions. If the crane function used at the same time only requires low pressure but high flow, this will result in a large part of wasted energy.

Fig. 1 to 3 are diagrams showing the energy consumption during use of an exemplary crane provided with an Inner Boom (IB), an Outer Boom (OB) and an Extension (EXT). The energy consumption during the turn around (SLEW) is also shown in the figure. The energy required for movement is shown by the scribe area and the wasted energy is shown by the dot area. The energy consumed by the hydraulic system is the sum of the energy required for the movement and the energy wasted. In the figure, the Y-axis represents pressure and the X-axis represents flow.

In fig. 1, an energy consumption diagram is shown, in which a plurality of crane functions are operated simultaneously. In fig. 1, the Inner Boom (IB) requires high pressure and the Extension (EXT) requires high flow but low pressure. The amount of wasted energy for the stretching function is greater than the amount of energy for the actual movement. This occurs when all functions are driven simultaneously without regard to wasted energy.

In this example, the total input is 49.6kW and the waste is 30.8kW, i.e. the waste energy is 164.44% of the useful energy.

In a specific example, by not operating the Inner Boom (IB) function (which is the function requiring the highest voltage) simultaneously with the Swivel (SLEW), the Outer Boom (OB) and the Extension (EXT), the wasted energy can be reduced from 30.8kW to 12.9kW, see fig. 2, wherein the Inner Boom (IB) is activated at another point in time and is not shown in fig. 2. Here, the total energy input is 28.3kW and the wasted energy is 12.9kW, i.e. 83.78% of the useful energy.

In another specific case, the wasted energy can be further reduced to 1.3kW by limiting the operation of the Outer Boom (OB), see fig. 3 (thus the outer boom function is not shown in fig. 3, as it is activated separately at another point in time). In this case, the total input energy is 14.2kW, and the wasted energy is 1.3kW, i.e. 9.68% of the useful energy.

From these examples, it can be seen that the simultaneous use of functions with high pressure requirements and functions requiring low pressure but high flow should be avoided to reduce energy waste. For an automatic crane function, where the target position of the crane top or the target geometry of the crane component is known, and the movements of the individual crane functions are planned by the crane controller, this aspect can be taken into account when planning the movement scheme to achieve the target.

The energy supplied by the hydraulic pump to the crane system depends on the hydraulic power, which is calculated by multiplying the pressure supplied by the pump by the flow. Different hydraulic cylinders for crane functions such as crane turning, first boom movement, second boom movement and extension/retraction of the second boom telescopic boom system have different working demands in terms of pressure and flow. The required pressure may further depend on the load and the position of the individual crane components, but may be monitored using pressure sensors and future movements may be further evaluated based on inputs from the pressure sensors and/or known parameters of the planned movement.

The simplest version of the energy efficient path planner is to move only one crane function at a time to reach a target angle or length and thus a target position or geometry. For example, turning the portion first, then the first boom, then the second boom, and then by moving the extension. By doing so we do not waste any energy at all. However, the time to complete the movement will be much longer than normal with multiple functions at the same time, and the crane components may collide with some obstacles in the vehicle or the environment.

Thus, to solve these problems, the path planner has to be more intelligent, the simplest approach being to first move the known high voltage functions, typically the first boom and the second boom, which can be assumed to be high voltage or measured as high voltage.

Examples of paths:

The first boom and the second boom are moved to their target angles with the available flow to reach the target position, the swivel is moved to its target angle as quickly as possible and the extension is driven at the same time, but the previous flow is used for the swivel to reach the target as quickly as possible and the extension is moved to the target position.

In order to reach the target location, it is possible that practical problems like bending of the boom system etc. will require a slight repositioning of the crane top approaching the target in order to reach the target accurately. This may be performed as a final adjustment or, if these factors are known from the beginning, these factors may be further considered in planning the movement.

The planner described above is a "simple" example of a planner to show a crane and a method as defined by the appended claims. If this should be implemented in the product, a more complex method in the planner may further take into account the effects of bending, pressure, flow requirements, distance from the start position to the end position when planning a path that is as efficient as possible but does not slow down the crane.

Referring to fig. 4 and 5, the present invention will now be described in detail. The invention thus relates to a crane 2 arranged to be mounted to, for example, a vehicle 4 or any other object such as a ship, a building, a wind turbine.

The crane comprises a crane boom system comprising a crane part 6, the crane part 6 comprising a crane top 8, the crane top 8 being arranged at the free end of the outermost crane boom.

More particularly, the crane component 6 may comprise a crane mast arranged to rotate or swivel about a vertical axis perpendicular to the vehicle plane, a first (inner) boom connected to the crane mast, and a second (outer) telescopic boom connected to the first boom and provided with one or more extensions. Additional components, such as additional telescopic booms (also referred to as booms) or crane tools, may form part of the crane component.

Furthermore, the crane comprises a system 10 of hydraulic actuators of the crane boom system, which system 10 of hydraulic actuators is arranged to be operated by a hydraulic fluid having a hydraulic flow, wherein the hydraulic fluid is discharged from the hydraulic pump 12 with a variable working pressure. The hydraulic actuator is further arranged to apply a movement to the crane boom system in response to the received drive command 14 such that the crane top 8 is moved from the current position to the target position.

The crane further includes a sensor system 16, the sensor system 16 being configured to monitor a current position of a crane component and an operational state of the system 10 of hydraulic actuators, and to generate a sensor signal 18 in response to the monitored current position and operational state.

Thus, the sensor system is configured to monitor the current position of the crane component and comprises a sensor arranged to measure the angle of the crane boom or the extension length of the telescopic boom as compared to the reference plane. The sensor system is also configured to monitor an operating state of the hydraulic pump and the system of the hydraulic actuator and to generate a sensor signal in response to the pressure and flow measured at a particular portion of the hydraulic system. Thus, the sensor system is used to monitor the current position and operating state of the crane.

In addition, the crane comprises a control interface 20, which control interface 20 is arranged to receive, preferably from an input unit 22, operational instructions defining the required movements of the crane components.

The crane further comprises a crane controller 24 configured to generate a drive command 14 of the system 10 to be applied to the hydraulic actuator of the crane boom system based on the received set of operating commands defining the desired movement of the crane component.

The input unit 22, such as a steering unit, may be used by an operator to operate the crane remotely or at the site of the work task of the crane. The control interface of the crane may alternatively comprise an interface to an autonomous system that controls the crane and optionally also the vehicle to which the crane is mounted.

For example, a crane operator may generate an operating command for raising the first boom of the crane and simultaneously extending the second boom telescoping extension by pulling the first and second control levers at the steering unit. The operating command will be received through the control interface and the crane controller will generate a drive command to be applied to the hydraulic system such that hydraulic fluid is supplied to the hydraulic cylinder and the extension cylinder of the respective first boom.

The crane controller 24 is further configured to evaluate the pressure level of the required working pressure of the hydraulic pump 12 for the required movement of the crane component 6 and the required flow level of each hydraulic actuator based on the generated sensor signals 18 and/or the predetermined operating state.

The crane controller 24 is further configured to evaluate a contribution measure for the waste of the required movement of the crane component 6 based on the difference between the operating pressure of the hydraulic pump 12 for the required movement of the crane component 6 and the evaluated pressure level and the further evaluated required flow level of each hydraulic actuator. If the required movement of the crane component is compared to the energy required by each of the hydraulic actuators involved at a particular point in time, the contributing measure of wastage is a measure of energy wastage.

The crane controller 24 is then configured to compare the estimated wasted contribution measure to a predetermined level, and in response to determining that the estimated wasted contribution measure is greater than the predetermined level, the crane controller 24 is configured to generate an energy consumption status signal 30, the energy consumption status signal 30 indicating that the current crane operation is inefficient from an energy consumption perspective. From an energy consumption perspective, the energy consumption signal 30 indicates when the current crane operation is inefficient, e.g., as a result of an operator's altered input operation instructions, and may also be configured to indicate when the crane operation is efficient again. Thus, positive feedback to the operator will be available. The value of the energy expenditure state signal 30 may be stored over time and then available for further analysis.

According to an embodiment, the predetermined level is a predefined percentage of the required hydraulic power for the required movement of the crane component 6. The predetermined level may be in the range of 25% -50% of the hydraulic power required for the desired movement. Alternatively, the contribution measure of the waste may be constant, configurable by e.g. an operator, a fleet manager, or preset when the crane is mounted e.g. on a vehicle.

The energy supplied by the hydraulic pump to the crane components is defined as the integral of the hydraulic power over the operating period. The hydraulic power is calculated by multiplying the pressure supplied by the pump by the flow. Different hydraulic cylinders for crane functions such as crane turning, first boom movement, second boom movement and extension/retraction of the second boom telescopic boom system have different working demands in terms of pressure and flow. The required pressure may further depend on the load and the position of the individual crane components, but may be monitored using pressure sensors and future movements may be further evaluated based on inputs from the pressure sensors and/or known parameters of the planned movement.

In a further embodiment, the control interface 20 is configured to generate an alarm signal 32 if the energy consumption state signal 30 is generated, and the alarm signal 32 is a light signal, an acoustic signal and/or a haptic signal. Preferably, the input unit 21 is a manipulation unit 22 to be operated by an operator, and wherein an alarm signal 32 (indicated as a dashed arrow in fig. 5) to the operator is transmitted by visual, audio or tactile communication means through the manipulation unit 22.

The crane interface 20 may be further arranged to receive an operation mode command, such as from an operator, in response to which the crane controller is arranged to avoid generating the energy consumption status signal.

In another embodiment, the crane controller 24 is further configured to identify at least one of the hydraulic actuators as a proposed crane function in response to determining that the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than a predetermined level, such that the crane operator deactivates or reduces its energy consumption via the control interface 20. Preferably, the proposed crane function whose energy consumption is deactivated or reduced is identified as a crane function having a low estimated pressure level and a high estimated flow level relative to the other hydraulic actuators, or as a crane function having a high pressure relative to the other hydraulic actuators. Preferably, the proposed crane function is indicated and presented to the crane operator via the input unit 22, and the operator can then adjust the crane operation accordingly.

The crane interface 20 may be further arranged to receive instructions for causing the crane controller to enter an energy efficiency alert mode. In the energy efficient alert mode, feedback will be generated to the operator to prompt the operator to operate the crane in an energy efficient manner. This will give the operator of the crane the opportunity to decide when to operate the crane according to the invention and when to selectively operate the crane in a normal mode according to techniques known in the art.

In another embodiment, the crane further comprises a communication interface 34 for transmitting crane operation data to the crane monitoring server, and the crane controller 24 is further configured to transmit the generated energy consumption status signal 30 to the crane monitoring server via the communication interface. An optional communication interface 34 is indicated in fig. 5 as a dashed box. The communication may be performed using any available wireless communication protocol, such as via bluetooth, the internet.

The crane controller may be implemented by one or more processing units. These processing units may have different dedicated tasks, for example by so-called edge computation. Edge computing is a distributed computing method that brings the computation and data store closer to their desired locations in order to increase response time and save bandwidth. For example, one processing unit may perform the actual control of the crane and the other processing unit may perform calculations and analysis by extracting data from the crane operating program, which may advantageously be communicated to an external crane monitoring server.

According to another embodiment, the crane comprises at least one electric motor 26, which at least one electric motor 26 is arranged to be powered by a battery system 28 and/or a fuel cell, and is further arranged to drive the hydraulic pump 12. In fig. 5, the electrical energy from the battery system to the electric motor is shown by the thick arrow, which also indicates the driving power of the hydraulic pump. Instead, the hydraulic pump is driven by a diesel engine on the vehicle.

According to the invention, a vehicle 4 is provided, comprising a crane 2 as described above.

The invention also relates to a method of a crane 2 arranged to be mounted to, for example, a vehicle 4. The crane has been described in detail hereinabove and reference is made thereto. The method will now be described with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 6.

The method comprises the following steps:

A-evaluating the pressure level of the required working pressure of the hydraulic pump for the required movement of the crane component and the required flow level of each hydraulic actuator based on the generated sensor signals and/or the predetermined operating state.

B-evaluating a wasteful contribution measure for the required movement of the crane component based on the difference between the operating pressure of the hydraulic pump for the required movement of the crane component and the evaluated pressure level and the further evaluated required flow level of each hydraulic actuator.

C-comparing the estimated wasted contribution measure to a predetermined level, and in response to determining that the estimated wasted contribution measure is greater than the predetermined level, the method further comprises:

D-generating an energy consumption status signal indicating that the current crane operation is inefficient from an energy consumption point of view.

Some embodiments of the method are listed below. They have the same technical features and advantages as the corresponding features of the crane described above. Accordingly, these technical features and advantages are not repeated or explained to avoid unnecessary repetition.

Preferably, the predetermined level is a predefined percentage of the required hydraulic power for the required movement of the crane component.

In a further embodiment, the method comprises generating a warning signal if the energy expenditure state signal is generated, and the warning signal is an optical signal, an acoustic signal and/or a haptic signal.

In yet another embodiment, the method includes identifying at least one of the hydraulic actuators as a proposed crane function in response to determining that the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than a predetermined level, such that a crane operator deactivates or reduces its energy consumption via the control interface.

Preferably, the proposed crane function whose energy consumption is deactivated or reduced is identified as a crane function having a low estimated pressure level and a high estimated flow level relative to the other hydraulic actuators, or as a crane function having a high pressure relative to the other hydraulic actuators.

In another embodiment, the method includes transmitting crane operation data to a crane monitoring server and transmitting the generated energy consumption status signal to the crane monitoring server via a communication interface.

The invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments described above. Various alternatives, modifications, and equivalents may be used. Accordingly, the above embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A crane (2) arranged to be mounted to, for example, a vehicle (4), the crane comprising:

-a crane boom system comprising a crane component (6), the crane component (6) comprising a crane top (8) arranged at a free end of an outermost crane boom;

-a system (10) of hydraulic actuators of the crane boom system, the system (10) of hydraulic actuators being arranged to be operated by a hydraulic fluid having a hydraulic flow, the hydraulic fluid being discharged from a hydraulic pump (12) with a variable working pressure, and wherein the hydraulic actuators are further arranged to apply a movement to the crane boom system in response to a received drive command (14);

-a sensor system (16), the sensor system (16) being configured to monitor a current position of the crane component and an operational state of the system (10) of hydraulic actuators, and to generate a sensor signal (18) in response to the monitored current position and the operational state;

-a control interface (20), the control interface (20) being arranged to receive a set of operating instructions defining a desired movement of the crane component, and

-A crane controller (24), the crane controller (24) being configured to generate a drive command (14) of a system (10) to be applied to the hydraulic actuator of the crane boom system based on the received set of operating commands defining a desired movement of the crane component,

Characterized in that the crane controller (24) is further configured to evaluate the pressure level of the required working pressure of the hydraulic pump (12) for the required movement of the crane component (6) and the required flow level of each of the hydraulic actuators based on the sensor signals (18) and/or predetermined operating states generated,

And is configured to evaluate a wasteful contribution measure for the required movement of the crane component (6) based on a difference between the hydraulic pump (12) operating pressure for the required movement of the crane component (6) and the evaluated pressure level and a further evaluated required flow level per hydraulic actuator, wherein the crane controller (24) is configured to compare the evaluated wasteful contribution measure with a predetermined level and in response to determining that the evaluated wasteful contribution measure is greater than the predetermined level, the crane controller (24) is configured to generate an energy consumption status signal (30), the energy consumption status signal (30) indicating that the current crane operation is inefficient from an energy consumption perspective.

2. Crane (2) according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined level is a predefined percentage of the required hydraulic power for the required movement of the crane component (6).

3. Crane (2) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control interface (20) is configured to generate an alarm signal (32) if the energy consumption status signal (30) is generated, and the alarm signal (32) is an optical signal, an acoustic signal and/or a haptic signal.

4. A crane (2) according to claim 3, wherein the control interface (20) comprises a steering unit (22) to be operated by an operator, and wherein the alarm signal (32) to the operator is transmitted by visual, audio or tactile communication means through the steering unit (22).

5. The crane (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the crane controller (24) is further configured to identify at least one of the hydraulic actuators as a proposed crane function in response to determining that the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than the predetermined level, in order for a crane operator to deactivate or reduce energy consumption of the crane (2) via the control interface (20).

6. Crane (2) according to claim 5, wherein the proposed crane function to deactivate or reduce the energy consumption of the crane is identified as a crane function with a low estimated pressure level and a high estimated flow level relative to other hydraulic actuators or as a crane function with a high pressure relative to the other hydraulic actuators.

7. The crane (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a communication interface (34) for transmitting crane operation data to a crane monitoring server, wherein the crane controller (24) is further configured to transmit the generated energy consumption status signal (30) to the crane monitoring server via the communication interface.

8. Crane (2) according to any of claims 1-7, further comprising at least one electric motor (26), the at least one electric motor (26) being arranged to be powered by a battery system (28) or a fuel cell and being further arranged to drive the hydraulic pump (12).

9. A method of a crane according to claim 1, the method comprising:

A-evaluating a pressure level of a desired working pressure of the hydraulic pump for a desired movement of the crane component and a desired flow level of each hydraulic actuator based on the sensor signals and/or a predetermined operating state generated,

B-evaluating a wasteful contribution measure for the required movement of the crane component based on the difference between the operating pressure of the hydraulic pump for the required movement of the crane component and the evaluated pressure level and further the evaluated required flow level of each hydraulic actuator,

C-comparing the assessed contribution measure of the waste to a predetermined level, and in response to determining that the assessed contribution measure of the waste is greater than the predetermined level, the method further comprises:

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined level is a predefined percentage of a required hydraulic power for a required movement of the crane component.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, comprising generating an alarm signal if the energy consumption state signal is generated, and the alarm signal is an optical signal, an acoustic signal and/or a haptic signal.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, comprising: in response to determining that the estimated contribution measure of wastage is greater than the predetermined level, at least one of the hydraulic actuators is identified as a suggested crane function for a crane operator to deactivate or reduce energy consumption of the crane via the control interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the proposed crane function that deactivates or reduces the energy consumption of the crane is identified as a crane function having a low estimated pressure level and a high estimated flow level relative to other hydraulic actuators or as a crane function having a high pressure relative to the other hydraulic actuators.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, comprising: the crane operation data is transmitted to a crane monitoring server and the generated energy consumption status signal is transmitted to the crane monitoring server via a mobile communication interface.

15. Vehicle (4) comprising a crane (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 8.