FEATURE Automated warehousing


Diverse battery solutions can help any size warehouse


Robert Brown, Marketing Executive at industrial battery manufacturer, Ultralife, explores the benefits that carts can bring to any size of warehouse and the crucial role that battery solutions play there


A


lthough any building that stores raw materials or goods before distribution is called a “warehouse”,


there are vast diff erences from one such building to another. For instance, the largest warehouses are the size of 90 football fi elds, storing enormous quantities of products; however, many are small. Still, all of them will be under pressure to maximise productivity whilst maintaining an effi cient and safe working environment. This can be realised through the implementation of technology, such as powered carts known as “mobile workstations”.


Demanding environments In online retail, next-day delivery is becoming increasingly expected by customers, so a large warehouse is likely to be tasked with processing hundreds of thousands of products per day, making every second count. This may require a single person to apply about 1,000 labels per day to boxes scattered throughout the building – and yet, the nearest desktop computer may be a fair distance away. The solution is to have a large cart with a desktop computer and a printer, to wheel around when labels need to be printed. When wheeling a cart, it is not practical to keep unplugging the devices it is carrying from AC mains and, in a large warehouse, the nearest plug socket could be some distance away. An alternative is to attach to the side of the cart a portable power solution powered by batteries. This may require more power than can be delivered by a single battery, so some power systems – such as Ultralife’s X5 – supports the use of multiple batteries. In Ultralife’s X5 Power System, one or two 276Wh hot-swappable Lithium Iron Phosphate smart batteries can give 120VAC at 60Hz, which can power devices like computers, monitors, USB hubs, scanners and printers up to a maximum of 150W. From a safety perspective, large


30 March 2024 | Automation


warehouses are likely to house many bulky packages, some weighing over 25kg, making it unsafe for a worker to carry to a desktop computer for processing. A mobile cart can process goods on the receiving dock before they are picked up by a forklift truck and placed in a rack several meters above the ground. As there may not be an AC mains supply in the loading dock, and trailing wires could get tangled up between boxes and equipment, battery-powered carts are well-suited for this application.


All environments benefit


Although the X5 Power System is a perfect way to bring safety and productivity benefi ts to large warehouses where space is not a problem, smaller warehouses may not have enough room for a large cart and power solution to be used – admittedly, they may not be processing such a high volume of parcels, either.


In these cases, small pole/mobile carts may be used instead, transporting a barcode scanner and a tablet computer that only require USB-C or USB-A power.


For these warehouses, Ultralife has developed the X5-LITE charging solution that uses the same 276Wh hot-swappable Lithium Iron Phosphate smart battery as the X5 Power System, but in a small battery cradle. In a small warehouse, the time needed to walk between packages and a desktop computer may be considerably shorter, so it may seem like this does not have such a big impact on productivity. However, it can add up over time, as 15 seconds each hour comes to 36.5 hours a year – nearly a full working week for a warehouse operative. With regards to safety, trailing wires and extension cords can be hazardous, particularly in a small warehouse where there is not much room to get around. As well as not requiring an AC mains cord, battery-powered carts can house the cables for the devices they are transporting inside a plastic housing.


So, although not all warehouses are the same, they can all benefi t from using the latest battery technology to power carts, for improved safety and productivity.


automationmagazine.co.uk


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