Shuttle (warehouse technology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A shuttle (also canal vehicle or satellite vehicle ) is a device for the automatic operation of canal warehouses.

Application in channel storage

Channel storage systems are rack storage systems for piece goods with several loading units in the individual compartments. The compartments are called channels and can hold up to 30 load units. Compared to standard shelves with one loading unit per compartment, channel storage systems have a higher packing density because the volume share for service aisles is lower. They are often used in deep-freeze warehouses where the room to be cooled should be as small as possible or should have the highest possible volume utilization. Compared to flow racks, in which the loading units stand on inclined roller strips, and compared to roller pallet systems, they have the advantage that there are no moving parts on the rack.

The shuttle is moved in front of the respective channel by a relocating device . There it moves into a rail profile that also carries the loading units. Removal is carried out by driving under and lifting the loading unit. The relocating device is usually a modified storage and retrieval unit , but there are also solutions with forklifts or transfer vehicles .

For energy supply, the shuttle is either connected to the transfer device via a trailing cable or it has an integrated energy storage device ( battery or PowerCap ) and can therefore drive within a channel in an energy-self-sufficient manner, i.e. independent of the transfer device. The loading units are predominantly pallets; there are special solutions, e.g. B. for containers or for paper coils .

Since only the foremost loading unit can be accessed per channel ( LIFO principle ), the channels are usually filled according to type. FIFO can be implemented when channels are operated alternately as storage and retrieval channels, which reduces the degree of volume utilization, or when both channel ends can be accessed. If the storage / retrieval performance is low, optional single-user access is also possible via the detour of relocations. Since free spaces must be available for the relocation, there is a lower degree of filling than with standard shelves.

Variants of shelf operation

Similar to the canal vehicle system, a compact vehicle is moved along a shelf front with the help of a transfer device and placed on rails that are integrated into the shelf. However, the loading units are not parked in the vehicle's tramline, but to the side of it. In this way, each loading unit can be accessed directly. In combination with mobile racking technology, storage is similar to that of channel storage. This type of storage and retrieval vehicle has already been implemented in a wide variety of designs: with different concepts for energy and data supply, various load handling devices and for a wide range of loading units from small containers to cars to steel coils.

The shelf operation with compact individual vehicles has the advantage that the share of the payload in the moving masses is significantly more favorable compared to the usual storage and retrieval unit (SRM), so that savings in energy consumption are possible. For both types of systems it also applies that, in contrast to warehouses with storage and retrieval units, they do not depend on cuboid free spaces, but can be adapted to any building structure by varying the individual channel or route lengths. If the vehicles are not coupled to the conversion device via a cable, i.e. cannot operate autonomously, there is the advantage that several vehicles can be moved sequentially by the same conversion device. In combination with suitable infeed and outfeed devices, this enables handling rates that are well above that of conventional storage and retrieval machines. In addition to the pure shelf operation, autonomous shuttle vehicles can also be used to transport the load directly from the warehouse to the destination via a corresponding rail system in order to save handling processes.

  • Canal vehicle for pallet storage in a test facility at Fraunhofer IML, Dortmund

  • Autonomous storage vehicle ( ALF ) for Euro pallets, transfer device in the foreground

  • Autonomous vehicle ( MultiShuttle ) for KLT warehouses with side loading / unloading of boxes

  • Shuttle system for the highly dynamic storage of small parts in containers

literature

  • M. ten Hompel, Thorsten Schmidt, Lars Nagel: Material flow systems, conveyor and storage technology . ISBN 978-3-540-73235-8
  • Heinrich Martin: Transport and warehouse logistics . ISBN 3-528-44941-1
  • Magazine article Universal multishuttle in hoists and conveyors 2-2005