CONSTRUCTION AND/OR MATERIALS-HANDLING MACHINE AND METHOD FOR GUIDING AND MOVING A WORKING HEAD

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a construction and/or a materials-handling machine for guiding and moving a working head, in particular a 3D print head, wherein at least three revolving tower cranes are attached to each other with their booms, wherein according to one aspect of the invention a guide beam carrying the working head is attached to at least two trolleys of two revolving tower cranes, and the working head is adjusted and moved in its working position by moving the trolleys along two booms of two revolving tower cranes.

Claims

1. A method for guiding and moving a working head comprising a 3D print head, wherein at least three revolving tower cranes having booms are attached to each other with their booms, and wherein a guide beam carrying the working head is fastened to at least two trolleys of two revolving tower cranes, the method comprising: setting and moving the working head in its working position by moving the trolleys along two booms of two revolving tower cranes.

2. A method for guiding and moving a working head comprising a 3D print head, wherein at least three revolving tower cranes having booms are attached to one another with their booms, and wherein a system of cables comprises adjustable control cables and is fastened to the at least three revolving tower cranes, the method comprising: setting and moving the working head in its working position by adjusting the system of cables relative to the three revolving tower cranes fastened to one another.

3. A construction and/or materials-handling machine for erecting a structure and/or manipulating a workpiece, comprising: a working head movably mounted on a supporting frame structure, wherein the supporting frame structure has at least three tower slewing cranes which each comprise an upright tower and at least one boom which is supported by the respective tower and is configured to be rotated about an upright slewing axis relative to the tower or together with the tower, wherein the tower slewing cranes are attached to one another by their booms and form a polygonal support frame.

4. The machine of claim 3, wherein the revolving tower cranes are each a mobile crane, wherein each mobile crane comprises an undercarriage with a travelling gear which is movable on the ground, and a rotary platform which is mounted on the undercarriage so as to be rotatable about an upright slewing gear axis and on which the tower of the revolving tower crane is mounted.

5. The machine of claim 4, wherein the undercarriage has a travel drive and/or the tower is mounted to rock relative to the rotary platform about a horizontal tower pivot axis and/or the tower and the boom are configured to be folded against one another.

6. The machine of claim 3, wherein the revolving tower cranes each comprise a telescopic tower which is height-adjustable by a length adjustment drive.

7. The machine of claim 3, wherein the booms of at least two revolving tower cranes are adjustable in length and telescopic.

8. The machine of claim 3, further comprising quick couplings for fastening the revolving tower cranes to one another, wherein the quick couplings are configured to positively lock and/or frictionally hold the cantilevered boom end sections to an adjacent section of a respective adjacent revolving tower crane.

9. The machine of claim 8, wherein the quick couplings comprise form-fittingly engageable coupling halves which are fixable to each other by movable latching elements.

10. The machine of claim 9, wherein one coupling half of the quick couplings is at an end portion of each boom and the other coupling half is at the tower or at the boom of the respective adjacent tower.

11. The machine of claim 10, wherein the quick couplings are switchable between a first coupling mode and a second coupling mode, wherein in the first coupling mode the cantilevered boom end section is rigidly fixed to the adjacent revolving tower crane and in the second coupling mode the cantilevered end section is held on the adjacent revolving tower crane with limited elastic movement and/or play.

12. The machine of claim 9, wherein the quick couplings are switchable between a first coupling mode and a second coupling mode, wherein in the first coupling mode the cantilevered boom end section is rigidly fixed to the adjacent revolving tower crane and in the second coupling mode the cantilevered end section is held on the adjacent revolving tower crane with limited elastic movement and/or play.

13. The machine of claim 8, wherein the quick couplings are switchable between a first coupling mode and a second coupling mode, wherein in the first coupling mode the cantilevered boom end section is rigidly fixed to the adjacent revolving tower crane and in the second coupling mode the cantilevered end section is held on the adjacent revolving tower crane with limited elastic movement and/or play.

14. The machine of claim 3, wherein the working head is suspended on a crossbeam which is mounted on two booms of two revolving tower cranes so as to be longitudinally movable.

15. The machine of claim 14, wherein the crossbeam is attached to trolleys of two revolving tower cranes, wherein the trolleys are longitudinally movable along the booms of the two revolving tower cranes by trolley drives.

16. The machine of claim 15, wherein the cross member is variable in length, and wherein the cross member is telescopic.

17. The machine of claim 14, wherein the cross member is variable in length, and wherein the cross member is telescopic.

18. The machine of claim 3, wherein the working head is suspended on a cross beam carriage which is longitudinally movable along the cross beam by a carriage drive.

19. The machine of claim 18, wherein the working head is suspended from the cross beam carriage in a vertically adjustable manner.

20. The machine of claim 19, wherein the cross member is configured to cantilever beyond at least one of the cantilevers and forms a trajectory for the cross member carriage extending both inside and outside the polygon spanned by the booms.

21. The machine of claim 18, wherein the cross member is configured to cantilever beyond at least one of the cantilevers and forms a trajectory for the cross member carriage extending both inside and outside the polygon spanned by the booms.

22. The machine of claim 3, wherein the revolving tower cranes each comprise a climbing device for climbing tower pieces into and out of the tower of the respective revolving tower crane.

23. The machine of claim 3, wherein the working head is suspended by a system of cables comprising at least three control cables from the revolving tower cranes attached to each other, further comprising cable winches for adjusting the control cables relative to the revolving tower cranes and/or relative to the working head.

24. The machine of claim 23, wherein each tower of the revolving tower cranes comprises two articulation points for the articulation of two control cables, and wherein the two articulation points are spaced apart in height from one another so that the two control cables on the respective tower run in a common upright plane offset in height relative to one another with respect to the working head.

25. The machine of claim 24, wherein the two articulation points are at upper and lower end portions of the towers so that one control cable is configured to pull the working head upwards and the other control cable is configured to pull the working head downwards.

26. The machine of claims 25, wherein the control cables on the towers are deflected at the articulation points by cable pulleys and are guided to the cable winches, wherein the cable winches are in the region of the tower base and/or on the rotary platform of the respective revolving tower crane.

27. The machine of claims 24, wherein the control cables on the towers are deflected at the articulation points by cable pulleys and are guided to the cable winches, wherein the cable winches are in the region of the tower base and/or on the rotary platform of the respective revolving tower crane.

28. The machine of claim 3, wherein the tower and boom of each revolving tower crane are supported exclusively on its rotating platform and/or are formed free of ground bracing anchored in the ground.

29. The machine of claim 3, wherein the tower is configured to be dismantled from the undercarriage and/or from the rotating platform of a respective revolving tower crane, further comprising building anchors for fastening and holding the tower with a dismantled rotating platform and/or a dismantled undercarriage to an erected building part.

30. The machine of claim 3, wherein a roof spanning a working area of the working head is attached to outriggers of the revolving tower cranes forming a polygonal tensile support frame, wherein the roof is attached to upper load-bearing straps of the boom.

31. The machine of claim 30, wherein the roof is adjustable between an extended position and a retracted position, and is retractable and extendable by a roof drive.

32. The machine of claim 31, wherein the roof is rollable in the manner of a sun awning and comprises a winding roller rotatably mounted on at least one boom of a revolving tower crane, and/or is a folding roof which has sliding guides on two opposite booms of the revolving tower cranes for sliding on the folding roof.

33. The machine of claim 3, wherein a side wall is attached to at least two towers of two adjacent revolving tower cranes.

34. The machine of claim 33, wherein the side wall is retractable in the manner of an awning and has a winding roller rotatably mounted on an extension arm connecting the two towers or on one of the two towers, and/or the side wall is a folding wall which has a sliding guide on the boom connecting the two towers or two sliding guides on the two towers for displacing the folding wall.

35. The machine of claim 3, further comprising an electronic control device for controlling travel drives, and wherein the travel drives comprise cross travel drives and/or a cross slide drive and/or a height adjustment drive and/or cable winch drives, for moving the working head relative to the support frame structure.

36. The machine of claim 35, wherein the electronic control device comprises a central control unit which is configured to communicate with local control units on the revolving tower cranes and configured to control the travel drives on the revolving tower cranes, wherein the central control unit is configured to prescribe setpoint values for the travel drive adjustment to the local control units.

37. The machine of claim 35, wherein the electronic control device has a communication interface for connection to a BIM server, and wherein planning and/or CAD and/or status data relating to the structure to be constructed are stored in the BIM server, and is configured to generate and/or adapt control commands for actuating traversing drives for adjusting the working head as a function of planning and/or CAD and/or status data received from the BIM server.

38. The machine of claim 3, wherein the electronic control device comprises a communication interface for connecting to a central server for providing and/or downloading various program packages, wherein the central server has access to an internal machine data database in which various machine data sets are stored, wherein the electronic control device is adapted to control the local control units by a received and/or downloaded program package from the central server.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064] The invention will be explained in more detail in the following with respect to preferred embodiments and to associated drawings. The drawings show:

[0065] FIG. 1: a perspective view of a construction and/or materials-handling machine with a working head in the form of a concrete injection head, which is movably mounted on a supporting frame structure formed by four revolving tower cranes with booms attached to each other,

[0066] FIG. 2: a perspective view of the construction or materials-handling machine of FIG. 1 together with the control and configuration device implemented in a cloud for controlling and/or configuring the four revolving tower cranes, and

[0067] FIG. 3: a perspective view of a support frame structure formed by four revolving tower cranes for a working head similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein the revolving tower cranes are each provided with a climbing-in device for climbing in tower sections in order to be able to adapt the height of the support frame structure on a larger scale to different buildings and their construction heights,

[0068] FIG. 4: a top view of a support frame structure formed by four revolving tower cranes similar to the preceding figures, the revolving tower cranes each being provided with a double boom system with telescopic boom sections,

[0069] FIG. 5: a side view of one of the revolving tower cranes shown in FIG. 5 to illustrate the double boom system and the luffing action of the boom,

[0070] FIG. 6: a plan view of the support frame structure formed by the four revolving tower cranes of FIG. 4, with partial views a, b and c illustrating the adjustment of the support frame structure by extending and retracting the booms,

[0071] FIG. 7: a perspective view of a support frame structure similar to FIG. 1 formed by four revolving tower cranes attached to each other, the working head being adjustable relative to said support frame structure by means of a stranding comprising control cables attached to the towers of the revolving tower cranes,

[0072] FIG. 8: a plan view of a supporting frame structure formed by three revolving tower cranes with booms attached to one another, wherein the working head, again similar to the design shown in FIG. 7, is articulated to the towers of the revolving tower cranes by means of a stranding system and can be adjusted by adjusting the control cables, and

[0073] FIG. 9: a perspective view of the supporting frame structure formed by the four revolving tower cranes, similar to FIG. 3, with the towers of the four revolving tower cranes dismantled from the undercarriages of the revolving tower cranes and held by building anchors on the facade of the part of the building already erected.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] As shown in the figures, the construction and/or materials-handling machine 1 comprises a working head 2 which is displaceably or adjustably suspended from a support frame structure 3 and can be displaced in all three dimensions, as will be explained.

[0075] Said working head 2 may be of different design and/or equipped with different working tools, for example in the form of a material application head such as concrete injection head or other manufacturing tool and/or in the form of a workpiece gripper and/or other handling tool such as clamshell gripper, for example to handle different materials such as sand, gravel or bricks. If the working head 2 comprises a material dispensing head, the machine can operate like a 3D printer, whereby in principle different materials or building materials can be dispensed via the material dispensing head, for example concrete, but also alternative building materials such as clay and/or lime mixtures and/or plastics such as, for example, synthetic foams.

[0076] As FIG. 1 shows, said support frame structure 3 is formed by a plurality of revolving tower cranes 4, each comprising a tower 5 and a boom 6 supported by the tower 5, and attached to each other.

[0077] In particular, the booms 6 of the revolving tower cranes 4 may form a closed ring, understandably polygonal rather than circular, in the manner of a polygonal ring. Each revolving tower crane 4 can point with its boom 6 to the next revolving tower crane in each case, so that the booms6 extend in turn from revolving tower crane to revolving tower crane.

[0078] Each revolving tower crane 4 may in itself be a self-contained and fully functional revolving tower crane, with, for example, the boom 6 being rotatable about an upright slewing gear axis. Depending on whether the tower slewing crane 4 is a bottom-slewer or a top-slewer, the boom 6 may be rotated relative to the tower 5 or together with the tower 5 about the upright slewing axis, and a suitable slewing drive may be provided for this purpose.

[0079] In particular, each of the revolving tower cranes 4 may be in the form of a mobile crane, which may be self-propelled in order to be moved from construction site to construction site, or, if appropriate, may be moved only on a construction site itself.

[0080] In particular, such a mobile crane may comprise an undercarriage 7 which can be supported and moved on the ground by means of an undercarriage 8, for example in the form of a crawler undercarriage or also a wheeled undercarriage. A corresponding travel drive drives at least one undercarriage axle or the crawler tracks.

[0081] As shown in FIG. 1, said undercarriage 7 may be supported on the ground by floor supports 9 in the working position to increase tipping stability. If necessary, a bracing of the tower 5 and/or the boom 6 to the ground may be provided additionally or alternatively.

[0082] A rotating platform 10 may be disposed on said undercarriage 7 and rotated relative to said undercarriage 7 about an upright rotation axis. As figurel shows, a ballast 11 may be provided on said rotating platform 10 for balancing the boom 6 and/or loads tugging on the revolving tower crane 4.

[0083] Advantageously, the respective boom 6 may be braced to the ballast 11 or the rotating platform 10 via a bracing 12.

[0084] In order to be able to move the revolving tower crane 4 in a simple manner from construction site to construction site, the respective tower 5 can advantageously be designed to be adjustable in length, in particular telescopic, wherein a length adjustment drive can comprise, for example, one or more hydraulic cylinders accommodated in the tower or a cable drive.

[0085] Advantageously, the boom 6 may be capable of being luffed up and down relative to the tower 5, and in particular may also be capable of being folded against the tower 5 in order to achieve a compact transport configuration, wherein a corresponding luffing drive may be provided here for luffing the boom 6 relative to the tower 5, which luffing drive may comprise, for example, an adjustment of the guy 12.

[0086] Advantageously, the boom 6 can also be adjusted in length, in particular telescoped, whereby a corresponding adjustment drive can be provided here, for example comprising one or more hydraulic cylinders or a cable drive.

[0087] The tower 5 can be swivelled or luffed down together with the boom 6 from the upright working position into a horizontal transport position and for this purpose is hinged to the said rotating platform 5 so as to be pivotable about a horizontal tower pivot axis. For example, a tower luffing drive may include a hydraulic cylinder between the rotating platform 10 and the tower 5.

[0088] As FIG. 1 shows, the revolving tower cranes 4 are attached to each other with their booms6, whereby each boom 6 can be attached with its cantilevered end section to the tower 5 of the respective next revolving tower crane 4. The attachment may be to the tower 5 itself, or to an adjacent section of the boom 6, or to a mating boom, if any, or to a tower top, if any.

[0089] Advantageously, a quick coupling 13 is provided for attaching the boom 6 to the respective adjacent tower of the next crane, which can positively and/or non-positively lock the cantilevered end portion of the boom 6 to the adjacent revolving tower crane 4. Such a quick coupling 13 may comprise retractable and extendable or pivotable locking elements, as already explained in more detail at the outset.

[0090] Advantageously, said quick couplings 13 can each be switched between a rigid latching state, which does not permit any relative movements, on the one hand, and a damping and/or yielding holding state, on the other hand. For example, the respective quick coupling 13 may comprise two coupling halves which can be moved against each other, at least one of which is attached, for example by means of spring elements or other resilient and/or movable elements, to the associated connection part, namely to the cantilevered end section of the boom and/or the counterpart of the adjacent crane, in particular its tower 5. In said damping and/or compliant coupling mode, the respective boom 6 is still hinged to the tower or adjacent structural section of the next crane, but can move in a limited manner. In this moving mode, the entire support frame structure, that is, the revolving tower cranes 4 can be moved together, allowing certain compensating movements, for example, when the support frame structure comprising the revolving tower cranes is moved from one building section to an adjacent building section.

[0091] In order to block the compliance of the respective quick coupling 13 in order to achieve the highest positioning accuracy in the working mode of the working head 2, the compliant elements, for example said springs, can be blocked, for example by extending a latch.

[0092] Said quick couplings 13 can be designed to be statically load-bearing in the rigidly locked latching state, in particular, in order to minimize deflection of the interconnected booms. If the booms to be connected have longitudinally extending upper and lower load-bearing straps in a conventional manner, said quick coupling 13 can latch together both the upper and lower load-bearing straps of two booms 6 to be connected. The upper load-bearing strap of one boom 6 may be interlocked with the upper load-bearing strap of the other boom 6, and the lower load-bearing strap of one boom 6 may be interlocked with the lower load-bearing straps of the other boom, so that an overall stable, static load bearing connection is provided between the booms 6.

[0093] Alternatively or additionally, said quick couplings 13 may also comprise additional stiffening elements which, in the manner of a stiffening sleeve, connects a section of one boom 6 to a section of the other boom 6 and can be stiffened, in particular slid over it. For example, such stiffening elements in the manner of a rail or sleeve or bandage may, for example, connect and stiffen the upper load-bearing strap of one boom 6 to the upper load-bearing strap of the other boom 6. Similarly, a stiffening member may be provided for one or each of the lower load-bearing straps.

[0094] In order to couple the booms 6 or to engage the quick coupling 13, it is advantageous that the booms 6 are adjustable in length, in particular telescopic, as this allows the cantilevered end sections to be extended in order to engage the coupling halves. Alternatively or additionally, the rocking capability of the booms 6 may be used to engage the quick couplings 13. Alternatively or additionally, a pivoting motion, that is, a rotation of the booms 10 about the upright pivot axis could be used to engage the quick couplings 13.

[0095] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the working head 2 may be suspended from a horizontal cross member 14 which is movably mounted on two preferably parallel booms 6. For this purpose, said cross member 14 may comprise slide or trolley shaped bearing elements at its ends, which may be moved along the respective boom 6.

[0096] In particular, however, the trolleys 15 movably arranged on the booms 6 can also be used for suspending said cross member 14 and moving said cross member 14. Via said trolleys 15, hoist cable with load hooks attached or fastened thereto can be lowered and lifted during normal crane operation, and if necessary said load hook can also be used to suspend the cross member 14 from the respective trolley 15. Advantageously, however, the cross member 14 may be rigidly attached to the trolley 15 or may have only very limited movement.

[0097] The trolleys 15 may be moved longitudinally along the respective boom 6 by means of a suitable trolley drive, for example a cable drive.

[0098] As shown in the figures, the cross member 14 may be designed to be variable in length, in particular telescopic, in order to be able to compensate for parallelism errors or slight misalignments of the booms 6 when the cross member 14 is moved along the booms 6 carrying it and differently spaced boom sections are reached.

[0099] The working head 2 may be mounted on said cross member 14 so as to be transversely movable, that is to say movable in the longitudinal direction of the cross member 14. For this purpose, a cross beam carriage 16 may be longitudinally moved on the cross member 14 by a suitable carriage drive.

[0100] Furthermore, the working head 2 is advantageously adjustable in height relative to the cross member 14. For example, a length-adjustable and/or height-adjustable upright-extending head support 17 may be provided on said cross beam carriage 16 and may be height-adjusted and/or length-adjusted accordingly by a height-adjusting drive.

[0101] If said working head 2 is a material application head, for example a concrete injection head, the material to be applied can be supplied to the working head 2 from a supply source 18, for example from a concrete mixer or from a concrete pump, cf. FIG. 1.

[0102] Alternatively or in addition to the described height adjustability of the working head 2 relative to the crossbeam 14, a height adjustment can also be achieved by adjusting the tower heights if the towers 5 of the revolving tower cranes 4 are height adjustable, in particular telescopic, in the manner described.

[0103] Advantageously, such a height adjustment of the towers 5 can be used for a rough height adjustment, for example when the next floor of a building is to be manufactured. Fine height adjustment of the working position of the working head 2 can then be made by adjusting the working head 2 relative to the cross member 14.

[0104] As FIG. 3 illustrates, a height adjustment of the towers 5 of the revolving tower cranes 4 can be achieved on a larger scale by means of a climbing device 19, which allows additional tower sections to be climbed into the tower 5 or, conversely, if the height is to be lowered, allows the tower sections to be climbed out of the tower 5. Such a climbing device 19 may comprise a climbing frame movable along the respective tower 5 for climbing tower pieces in and/or out, wherein a guide is provided for longitudinally movable supporting of the climbing frame relative to the tower or supporting of the tower 5 relative to the climbing frame 20. Said climbing frame 20 may be arranged at the base of the tower 5, but may also be arranged at a higher section of the tower 5. In order to be able to push the already existing tower 5 further upwards for climbing in a new piece, a lifting device may be provided, for example comprising a hydraulic cylinder, in order to be able to raise or lower the tower piece which can be moved relative to the climbing frame, depending on whether an additional tower piece is to be climbed in or climbed down.

[0105] By climbing additional tower sections into the towers 5 of the revolving tower cranes 4, these can grow with the building to be erected and buildings of almost any height can be erected. Advantageously, the revolving tower cranes 4 remain supported on the ground, whereby cross bracing towards the building facade can be provided if necessary.

[0106] As FIGS. 4 and 5 show, revolving tower cranes 4 with double boom systems may be used, in which case the connection between two adjacent cranes may be made by means of two “half” booms in each case.

[0107] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, such a tower crane with double boom system may comprise two booms6 hinged to a common tower 5, which may extend at an angle of 90° with respect to each other, for example, as viewed along the longitudinal axis of the tower 5, although this angle may be different depending on how many revolving tower cranes 4 are clamped together to form a support frame structure 3.

[0108] As FIG. 4 shows, the booms6 of two adjacent revolving tower cranes 4 are directed towards each other so that they extend along a common straight line and are adjacent to each other with their cantilevered end sections. The boom ends, which are adjacent to each other at the end faces, can then be secured to each other by a quick coupling 16 in the manner described.

[0109] Also in such revolving tower cranes 4 with double boom, the booms6 may be designed to be adjustable in length, in particular telescopic, cf. FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0110] FIG. 4 illustrates once again in detail the mobility of the working head 2 in plan view. On the one hand, the cross member 14 can be moved longitudinally along opposite, parallel booms 6 via the trolleys 15. On the other hand, the working head 2 can be moved transversely by moving the cross beam carriage 16 along the cross member 14. This allows you to approach any position above the ground plan of the area to be built on. The height adjustment is then accomplished in the aforementioned manner by adjusting the height of the working head 2 relative to the cross member 14 and/or, if necessary, by adjusting the height of the towers 5.

[0111] As FIG. 6 shows, the support frame structure 3 is easily adaptable to different building sizes and floor plan shapes, especially if the booms 6 are adjustable in length. By lengthening or shortening the booms6, the distances of the towers 5 of the revolving tower cranes 4 from each other can be adjusted in order to erect larger or smaller buildings, whereby here not only square polygonal trains can be realized as shown in the partial views a, b and c of FIG. 6, but also an adaptation from square to rectangular and vice versa can be made, for example by shortening or lengthening only two of the four booms.

[0112] To protect the working area of the working head 2, the support frame structure 3 may also support a roof 30 spanning the working area, cf. FIG. 4 and FIG. 9, and/or at least one side wall 31 may be attached to the revolving tower cranes 4, cf. FIG. 3 and FIG. 9. The roof 30 and the side wall 31 can be formed in the manner already explained at the beginning and can be attached to the booms 6 and the towers 5, respectively.

[0113] As FIGS. 7 and 8 show, the working head 2—or a further, additional working head—may also be suspended from and moved relative to the support frame structure 3 via a stranding 20 if necessary, which support frame structure 3 is also formed here by four or three revolving tower cranes 4 which are attached to one another via their booms6.

[0114] As shown in FIG. 7, the system of cables 20 can comprise cables extending in four cardinal directions or in four different vertical planes, wherein advantageously two cables 21, 22 can be provided for each cardinal direction or each vertical plane, which can run from articulation points arranged at different heights, in particular can guide the working head 4 once diagonally upwards and once diagonally downwards in the respective cardinal direction or vertical plane, cf. FIG. 7.

[0115] Said articulation points of the stranding 20 can advantageously be provided on the towers 5 of the revolving tower cranes 4, in particular on upper and lower end sections, cf. FIG. 7. However, in order to be able to use the telescoping capability or height adjustability of the towers 5 without having to adapt the rope control system, it would also be conceivable to provide the articulation points of the stranding 20 only on the telescoping tower section. Alternatively, it would also be possible to provide at least the upper articulation points on the booms 6.

[0116] As FIG. 8 shows, such a stranding 20 may also be attached in a simple manner to a support frame structure 3 spanned or formed by only three revolving tower cranes 4, which revolving tower cranes 4 may here be attached to each other in an analogous manner via their booms6 to form a rigid, stable support frame structure 3.

[0117] Said articulation points can be formed by deflection pulleys 23, via which the control cables 21 and 22 are deflected or guided to corresponding cable winches, by means of which the control cables 21 and 22 on each revolving tower crane 4 can be adjusted independently of one another, but nevertheless in coordination with one another. As shown in FIG. 7, the upper and lower articulation points can be offset sufficiently far from each other in height so that the working head 2 can be fixed or guided both upwards and downwards by the respective control cables 21 and 22. Nevertheless, it would also be possible, if necessary, to feed both control cables from above.

[0118] By linking the control cables 21 and 22 at different heights, as shown in FIG. 7, the working head 2 can be precisely guided in its alignment.

[0119] Independently of the suspension of the working head 2 via a system of cables 20 or via the movable crossbeam 14, an electronic control device 26 may be provided for moving and/or positioning the working head 2, which may control the respective travel drives, in particular the trolley travel drives and/or the travel drive of the cross beam carriage 16 and/or the height adjustment drive for adjusting the working head 2 relative to the cross beam 14 and/or the cable winches of the system of cables 20 on each revolving tower crane 4.

[0120] Advantageously, a local control unit 27 may be provided on each revolving tower crane 4, which may control the travel drives on the respective revolving tower crane 4 including the trolley drives and the aforementioned cable winches of the system of cables 20. The local control units 27, like the higher-level control device 26, may each be of electronic design, comprising, for example, a microprocessor and a program memory for executing one or more control routines in the form of a software module.

[0121] Advantageously, said local control unit 27 may not only control the traversing drives, but may also comprise a load monitoring module which monitors the tilting moment introduced into the respective revolving tower crane 4 and compares it with a maximum tilting moment. Advantageously, in order to coordinate the adjustment movements on the various revolving tower cranes 4, in particular the movement of the trolleys 15 and/or the telescoping of the towers 5 and/or the adjustment of the system of cables 20, the control device 26 comprises a higher-level or central control unit 28 which can communicate with the plurality of local control units 27. In particular, the plurality of local control units 27 can execute control commands from the central control unit 28 for the corresponding traversing drives, in particular for adjusting the trolleys 25 and for telescoping the towers in and out, and/or feedback traversing movements detected via a sensor system to the central control unit 28 in order to coordinate the adjustment of the traversing drives so that the working head 2 is moved in the desired manner.

[0122] Said central control unit 28 can thereby also control the other travel drives that are not specifically assigned to a revolving tower crane 4, in particular the travel of the cross beam carriage 16 and the height adjustment movements of the end beam 17.

[0123] Said higher-level control unit 28 can be a control device separate from all revolving tower cranes 4, for example in the form of a central control server, but alternatively can also be formed by one of the local control units 27, which in this case acts as a master control unit, so to speak.

[0124] As FIG. 2 illustrates, the control device 26, in particular the higher-level control unit 28, can also be connected to a central data server 29, in particular to a so-called BIM module, where BIM is an abbreviation for Building Information Model and contains a variety of relevant information for the building to be constructed, in particular CAD data, logistics plans, status data on parts of the building that have already been constructed, planning data, etc. The connection to such a BIM server 29 can be provided, for example, via a cloud with any access restrictions or barriers that may be provided. The connection to such a BIM server 29 can be provided, for example, via a cloud with any access restrictions or barriers that may be provided, see FIG. 2.

[0125] As FIG. 9 shows, the revolving tower cranes 4 forming the load-bearing structure can also grow with a building beyond their maximum telescopic or climb-in height by anchoring the revolving tower cranes 4 with their towers to the facade of an already erected part of the building by means of building anchors 50.

[0126] Once the respective revolving tower crane 4 has reached its maximum height, for example by telescoping or by inserting corresponding tower sections, the tower 5 of the crane can be dismantled from its slewing platform and/or its undercarriage and anchored to the already erected building facade by means of building anchors 50. In order to be able to grow further, a tower section below the climbing device can first be anchored to the facade with one or more building anchors so that another tower section can be climbed in. By moving or attaching additional building anchors to a building section or tower section that is further up, the tower 5 can continue to grow piece by piece while attached to the building section.

[0127] As FIG. 9 shows, a roof 30 supported by the cranes and/or a side wall 31 attached to a boom 6 or one or more towers 5 may also grow in height.

[0128] An auxiliary assembly crane 60 can be helpful in bringing in new tower sections to be climbed. Such an auxiliary crane 60 may advantageously take the form of an additional boom on one of the cranes forming part of the support structure 3. Such an auxiliary crane integrated into the support structure or a separate auxiliary crane 60 can also be used in supplying the construction site, which has grown in height, with building materials and/or tools and/or other materials.