Uninterruptible power supply for warehouse logistics system
Once again, BETESO had reason to be happy:
We received an order from one of the leading and globally active manufacturers in the field of intralogistics and industrial trucks to develop a UPS solution for use on forklift trucks. For various forklifts, optional logistics systems are used. They consist of a logistics computer with appropriate software and wireless connection to the customer’s intranet, display terminal, scanner, etc. In this way, the material flow in the warehouse can always be kept up to date in the customer’s central warehouse logistics system.
The framework
For safety reasons, the large main accumulators for the traction drive in electric forklift trucks must be disconnected on all poles from all connected loads when the vehicle is parked during breaks or is connected to the charging station. This means that there is no longer any energy supply available for the logistics system on the vehicle. Before the truck is parked, the logistics computer must be shut down each time. Afterwards it is necessary to wait until the system has started up again before the forklift driver can do his work.
In order to avoid these waiting times, our client wanted a UPS solution with separate batteries and charge controller, which is powered by the drive battery during operation. During this process, the batteries should be recharged. At the same time the UPS should pass the voltage of the drive battery to supply the connected logistics system. If the voltage of the drive battery falls below a certain value or is disconnected completely, the integrated UPS batteries should supply the logistics system.
framework conditions: Input and output voltage 12V DC, max. load current 10 A, buffering over at least 30 min.
Adaptation of our DC UPS solution
We at BETESO already had a DC UPS solution available that could meet the requirements. The challenge was to design the arrangement and assembly of the components very compactly. The installation space limitations that we had to comply with were in fact very restrictive. We also had to select a suitable housing for this. We have also provided the housing with a pressure compensation element. This prevents moisture ingress due to temperature changes. Therefore the housing and all screw-on components comply at least with protection class IP65.
We initially built eight units for the customer. They serve as test carriers in so-called reach trucks. We had to deliver very quickly and put in a lot of effort to meet the tight delivery deadline. Therefore, some solutions still correspond to the stage of a prototype, both mechanically and electrically. In the following week we expect the final specifications for the series devices. We will then revise some things again.
