Material Handling News

A line of conveyors uses a series of 24 VDC motors to drive the tread rollers, which eliminates the need for drive belts, chains, and line shafts. Conventional 24-volt conveyors employ a DC motor and a set of gears built inside the conveyor roller. This design places the assembly on the side frame of the conveyor, which dissipates heat better and helps the motors last longer.

Creating order out of chaos is one of the main functions of a material handling system. A new unscrambler orients incoming cases into a single-file line at speeds of up to 100 cartons per minute. The cartons can then be fed into a high-speed material handling system. Cartons are aligned on the edge rather than the center of the conveyor making them less likely to skew.

Pick-to-light systems can boost order-picking productivity and accuracy by enabling workers to look for indicator lights rather than looking for labels. A new system uses long-life LED indicator modules that can be mounted on shelves, pallet racks, and automated carousels. The systems are available in a wide variety of hardware and software configurations and use 418-MHz wireless communications to direct pickers to the right picking locations.

An automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) with 13 cranes traveling in a 100 foot-tall high-bay in-house rack system enables high-efficiency at IKEA's first North American distribution center. This case history article describes how the system processes up to 600 pallets an hour per crane.

DotCode-128 is a new 2D bar code made of a grid that can be produced easily with ink-jet technology and still be optically read. The code does not require a line of connected dots to make up a full code — a property that allows for greater variability in the encoded dots. The code offers the capacity for messages of up to 400 characters and requires no royalty fees for its use.

A new wireless data-collection computer provides both data scanning and voice recognition capabilities. The small, light-weight product can be used in rugged industrial environments or out on the sales floor of retail shops. A touchscreen and backlit keys make the device easy to use even in dimly lit environments.

A new manually propelled electric lift truck is designed for light-duty stacking and loading and unloading trailers. With no drive-motor, the product is cost-effective and well-suited for warehouses and small manufacturing operations. An optional steel platform lets the lift be used as an adjustable work table.

A lift truck was one of 10 pieces of equipment used in a Department of Defense test of biodiesel fuels. The lift truck test ran through a cycle of idling, hydraulic usage while idling, and driving with and without hydraulics over a 3.6 mile course. CO emissions were found to increase somewhat with the B20-soy fuel, while hydrocarbons and NOx remained about the same as with conventional fuel.

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A Reason to Air Dirty Laundry

Doing the laundry is not usually anyone's favorite task. And it may become a thing of the past if researchers at Monash University, in Victoria, Australia, are successful in their efforts. They have developed a way to coat fibers with titanium dioxide nanocrystals that are capable of breaking down food and dirt when exposed to sunlight. Natural fibers, such as wool, that have been treated with the crystals have been found to automatically shed food and grime when worn out in the sun.

What do other engineers think of this?
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CR4 — GlobalSpec's Engineering Community.

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LEED the Way to a Green Distribution Center

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is a point-based system for designing buildings that use energy efficiently. But LEED has been criticized for being cumbersome and not weighting various building features fairly. Are your facilities energy-efficient and environmentally friendly? Do you think LEED certification is a useful, motivating force?