Industrial Automation

By:
Dr Rahul Singhal
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical-Mechatronics Engineering
 Unit 2
Automation in Material Handling

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Introduction
Material handling
● The movement, storage, protection, and control of materials throughout
manufacturing and distribution process.
● The aim of material handling is to insure safety, efficiency, at low cost, in a timely
manner.
● For a larger system, the term commonly used as logistics.
Material handling equipment
● Material transport equipment
● Storage systems
● Unitizing equipment
● Identification and tracking systems 3
Course on Industrial Automation
Material Handling Equipments
Classified into five categories;
● Transport Equipment
○ Used in material transport inside factory, warehouse or other facility.
○ Main types are Industrial Trucks, Automated Guided Vehicles, Rail Guided
Vehicles, Conveyors, Hoists and Cranes
● Positioning Equipments
○ Used to handle parts and other materials at a single location.
Example- Loading or unloading parts from a production machine in a work cell
● Unit Load Formation Equipments
○ Unitizing equipment constitutes
■ Containers use to hold individual items during handling
■ Equipment used to load and package the containers (palletizers and
depalletizers)
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Material Handling Equipments
Classified into five categories;
● Storage Equipments
○ Storage methods and Equipments can be classified into 2 categories
■ Conventional Storage Methods-Bulk storage, rack system, shelving and
bins, drawer storage
■ Automated Storage Systems- Designed to reduce labor for the storage
purpose
● Identification and Control Equipments
○ In order to allow track of material being processed or stored there is need of
specific labelling. Some common practice is the use of Bar Code, RFID etc.

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Material Transport Equipment

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Course on Industrial Automation
Industrial Trucks
● Divided into two categories - nonpowered and powered
● Non-powered trucks are also referred as hand trucks because of the direct use of
human hand in push/pull
● Material quantities and distance to be moved are normally low
● Hand trucks could be two-wheel or of multiple-whee

(a) two wheel hand truck, (b) four-wheel dolly, and (c) hand-operated low-lift pallet truck
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Course on Industrial Automation
Industrial Powered Trucks
● Self propelled trucks guided by the workers.
● Common types are:
○ Walkie Trucks
■ Battery powered vehicles
■ Two wheeled forks without provision of riding on vehicle
■ Control handle at the front to steer the vehicle
■ Forward speed is limited to walking human speed (5 km/h)
○ Towing Tractors
■ Powered using Combustion Engines or Electric Motors
■ Designed to pull one or more trailing carts over the smooth
surface
■ Used for moving large amount of materials between major
collection and distribution areas
■ Used in air-transport operations for moving baggage and
freight on airport (a) walkie truck, (c) towing tractor.
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Industrial Powered Trucks
● Common types are:
○ Forklift Rider Trucks
■ Power sources are either internal combustion engines
(gasoline, LPG or CNG) or electric motors (on-board
batteries)
■ A cab for the worker to sit in and drive
■ Load carrying capacity 450 kg-4500 kg
■ Depending on the application, trucks with high rich or narrow
aisles operating capacity may be used

(b) forklift truck

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Course on Industrial Automation
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVS)
● Uses independently operated, self propelled vehicles guided along defined pathways.
● Powered using on-board batteries, operational typically 8-16 hrs
● Pathways are unobtrusive
● It can be divided into following:
○ Towing vehicle for driverless trains
○ Pallet Trucks
○ Unit load Carriers
■ Driverless automated guided train
■ AGV Pallet Truck
■ Unit Load Carrier

(a) driverless automated guided train, (b) AGV pallet

truck, and (c) unit load carrier. 10
Course on Industrial Automation
Applications of Automated Guided Vehicles
● AGVS is useful when materials need to be moved from various load points to unload
● The principle AGVS application in production and logistics are:
○ Driverless train operations
○ Storage and distributions
○ Assembly line applications
○ Flexible manufacturing systems

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Course on Industrial Automation
Vehicle Guidance Technology
It is the method to define the pathways of AGVS and can also include control strategies so
that AGVS could follow the defined path

Modern commercial AGVS use technologies like-

● Imbedded Guide Wires

● Paint Strips
● Magnetic Tape
● Laser Guided Vehicles (LGV)
● Inertial Navigation

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Course on Industrial Automation
Automated Storage Systems
● To increase storage capacity
● To increase storage density
● To recover factory floor space presently used for storing work-in-process
● To improve security and reduce pilferage
● To improve safety in the storage function
● To reduce labor cost and/or increase labor productivity in storage operations
● To improve control over inventories
● To improve stock rotation
● To improve customer service
● To increase throughput

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Course on Industrial Automation
Automated Storage Systems
● Fixed aisles Automated storage/retrieval systems (Rack + Storage/Retrieval linear 3
axis motion system)
● Carousel Storage Systems (storage baskets attached to a chain-driven conveyor)

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Course on Industrial Automation