Industrial revolution 4.0 – automatic warehouse systems

Projects

Challenge

  • Designing a power supply system for a large, fully automatic storage system,
  • The system has to operate 24/7,
  • Quick docking for charging is required,
  • High reliability and long life.

Solution

  • Analysing the requirements concerning electrical parameters, life and operating reliability, selecting a suitable cell technology with high current output and very long cycle life,
  • Close integration with the design of the storage system. Mechanical components of the batteries designed for docking of the robots to the charging station,
  • Designing an electronic system to control the operation and charging with the function of communication with the robot fleet management system,
  • System data exchange with the battery in real time to enable determining the distance between the robot and the nearest docking station,
  • Incorporating self-diagnostics of the power supply system for early detection of worn-out batteries to schedule a replacement at a time that does not result in system stoppage.

Result

  • The power supply system for storage robots has an actual life of approx. 6000 cycles and reduction of internal capacity to approx. 80% of the initial capacity,
  • A dedicated docking connector was developed, corresponding to the cycle life of the battery (mating cycles),
  • The electronic control system (BMS) serves the functions of an automatic storage system.