SeizeCrane

Seizes the crane and sends it to the specified location. The agent enters the SeizeCrane block and is placed in the queue of the crane specified in the block’s properties where it waits until the crane arrives at the destination. When the crane reaches the specified destination, the agent leaves the block.

You can use this block to model complex crane logic, where you need to separate the crane’s movement to the agent from the transportation of the agent by the crane: for example, if you want to insert some processing of the agent (material item) between these two processes. The additional handling of the agent can be modeled using blocks from the Process Modeling library.

Use the ReleaseCrane block or the MoveByCrane block to release the seized crane.

You can select either an entire crane or a specific bridge.

• If the selected bridge is seized by another agent, the new agent will be placed in the queue of that bridge.
• If you select a multibridge crane, the agent will seize the closest available bridge that is physically able to pick up that agent and deliver it to the destination point.
• If all bridges are seized, the agent will wait in the crane’s queue until one of the bridges is released and then will check if that bridge can deliver it to the destination point.
• If more than one bridge is released at the same time, the agent will choose the closest bridge that can deliver it to the destination point.

Crane

The crane or bridge that moves the agent (material item).

Type of value: Crane
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Destination is

Defines where the crane will be sent. Possible destinations are:

Agent — the current agent location
Node — the specified network node
Attractor — the specified attractor
Conveyor — the specified conveyor
Position on conveyor — the specified position on conveyor
(x, y, z) — the point with the specified coordinates

Syntax: DestinationType destinationType
Valid values:
SeizeCrane.DEST_AGENT — specified agent
SeizeCrane.DEST_NODE — specified network node
SeizeCrane.DEST_ATTRACTOR — specified attractor
SeizeCrane.DEST_CONVEYOR — specified conveyor
SeizeCrane.DEST_POSITION_ON_CONVEYOR — specified position on conveyor
SeizeCrane.DEST_XYZ — point with specified coordinates

Node

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Node]
The network node where the crane or bridge will be sent.

Type of value: Node
Local variable: T agent — the current agent

Attractor

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Attractor]
The attractor where the crane or bridge will be sent.

Type of value: Attractor
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Conveyor

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Conveyor]
The conveyor where the crane or bridge will be sent.

Type of value: ConveyorPath
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Offset from

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Conveyor]
Defines how to calculate the offset of the exact point on a conveyor where the crane or bridge will be sent: from the beginning of the conveyor, or from the end of the conveyor.

Type of value: boolean
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Offset

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Conveyor]
The distance from the starting or ending point of the conveyor (depends on the Offset from parameter) that defines the exact destination point for the crane.

Type of value: double
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Position on conveyor

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: Position on conveyor]
The position on conveyor where the crane or bridge will be sent.

Type of value: PositionOnConveyor
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

X, Y, Z

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: (x, y, z)]
X, Y, Z coordinate of the point where the crane or bridge will move to.

Type of value: double
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

... located in

[Visible and applies only if Destination is: (x, y, z)]
Specifies where the point is located: either on Level or in Network.

Type of value: boolean destinationInNetwork
Default value: false

Level

[Visible and applies only if ...located: in Level]
The level where the destination point is located.

Type of value: Level
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Network

[Visible and applies only if ...located: in Network]
The network where the destination point is located.

Type of value: Network
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Use operation time

If this option is selected, you can directly specify the time it takes the crane to reach the agent (material item). Speed values will be recalculated for every agent to satisfy operation time.

Syntax: boolean useOperationTime

Operation time

[Visible and applies only if Use operation time option is selected]
The amount of time provided to the crane to transport the agent. The value is evaluated for every agent after On at enter action is executed.

Type of value: double
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Agent selection pattern

Defines how the crane selects agents for transportation: based either on FIFO pattern (default setting) or on Custom pattern specified by expression you have to enter in the Custom pattern parameter.

Syntax: boolean customPriority
Set new value at runtime: set_customPriority(new value)
Valid values:
true — Custom
false — FIFO

Custom pattern

[Visible and applies only if Custom option is selected]
Defines the expression that the crane or bridge evaluates to select an agent it will serve. The specified expression must return an integer. The crane or bridge first serves the agents for which the expression returns the greater value.
The simplest way to use the custom pattern is to create an integer parameter for the agent type that should be served by the crane or bridge, and then specify it as Custom pattern. For example, if your agent type has the priority parameter that represents the single item’s priority, the value of Custom pattern can be set to agent.priority.

Type of value: double
Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

Safe height

Specifies the minimum height the crane should raise the agent to in order to transport it (e.g., to avoid obstacles). It is calculated as distance between the hook and the crane's Z coordinate.

Type of value: double
Local variable: Crane crane — the crane

Actions

On enter

Here you can type Java code that will be executed when the agent (material item) enters the block.

Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

On exit

Here you can type Java code that will be executed when the agent (material item) leaves the block.

Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

On remove

Here you can type Java code that will be executed when the agent (material item) is removed from this block.

Local variable: T agent — the current agent (material item)

On seize crane

Here you can type Java code that will be executed when the agent (material item) seizes the crane.

Local variables:
T agent — the current agent (material item)
Crane crane — the crane

in

The input port.

out

The output port.

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