Caterpillar Inc.
MACHINE HAVING HOISTING SYSTEM WITH INSTRUMENTED FAIRLEAD

Abstract:

A hoisting system for a machine includes a winch assembly, and a boom such as a sideboom that is pivotable. The hoisting system further includes a fairlead supported at a fixed orientation such that a feed angle of a hoisting cable extending through the fairlead varies in response to pivoting of the boom. A hoisting control system for the machine includes a cable state sensing mechanism resident on the fairlead and structured to produce cable monitoring data indicative of at least one of a cable feed length, a cable feed angle, or a cable load, and an electronic control unit structured to output an alert based on the cable monitoring data.