TS System - Design Notes - Nov 2024

High Bay Warehouse Use Case

• Moving a weight in a high-bay warehouse.
• The picker takes the load from a slot in the storage bay.
• It holds it up.
• A stop is withdrawn and the load starts to be lowered.
• A rack underneath the platform holding the load is pushed downwards.
• The rack drives a pinion attached to a pulley.
• The pulley drives a belt; the pulley is a variable diameter device - this alters the speed of the pulley.
• The belt drives a wheel at the other end of the belt, which moves the picker with the load along the storage bay.
• When and if the load reaches the ground level, a motor takes over to drive the picker to its destination.
• The motor is not needed if the picker reaches its destination before the load reaches the ground.
• The system is flexible: the motor only takes over if or when the load has reached the floor.
• Springs are not needed in the system.
• The potential savings with this system are that the weight of the load is used to transport it horizontally along the bay in the warehouse instead of starting an electric motor to lower it and transport it along the ground.

Mathematical Model of TS system

These are the first steps in drafting a mathematical model of the TS system. The forces at play in the system will be described mathematically and energy equations will be drawn up that obey the laws of conservation of energy. The dimensions of the system will also be taken into account and an attempt will be made to establish the relationships between the dimensions and their relative sizes.

Notes:

The potential energy of the load is a function of the mass of the load and the elevation of the load.
PE: potential energy
h: height of load (meters)
m: mass of load (kg)
PE = mh (mkg)

Transfer of PE (potential energy) to KE (kinetic energy) of the drive pulley.
KE = ½ Iw²
I = angular momentum of the pulley
w = angular velocity of the pulley

Assumptions:

• no friction
• no energy lost in the rack/pinion/pulley belt system
• Forces moving the TS system horizontally.
• Total width of TS system [TSW]
• TSW = LW (load weight) + trolley width
• Distance traveled = D

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