The customer is a leading energy and utilities manufacturer of solutions for heating, cooling, water and waste management. The company was building a new plant in India to produce large chillers of up to 68 tons in weight. During the plant design phase, the company had originally planned to use rail transfer carts to move heavy equipment. This would have required the installation of a fixed rail system and the use of 2 self-propelled carts working in tandem. MORELLO proposed a more efficient and cost-effective solution.
THE CHALLENGE
Transport large semi-finished chillers, up to 68 tons, during different phases of the production process to different work bays located throughout the plant. The equipment had to move both indoors and outdoors. Space was a key issue with very little room available to turn the semi-finished chillers. Another challenge was the load weight distribution as with the largest chillers the weight was concentrated at one end of the chiller.
THE SOLUTION
MORELLO worked with the Manufacturing Process Engineer to propose an alternative solution. To resolve the operations issue one self-propelled omni-directional cart, 12 meters in length, was proposed and this was preferred to the clients original plans for a rail system with two transfer carts.
Steering: the omni-directional steering was perfectly capable of resolving all directional and space issues in moving the heavy equipment. Using one heavy duty cart meant that the speed of movement was much quicker. In addition, the plant was not restricted by having a fixed rail transfer cart system in place.
Space: the company was able to optimize plant layout due to not having either the rails or a sunken bay installed, which was required for the second transfer cart.
Cost: the single cart was a more cost-effective solution. The cost of the building works for the rail/sunken bay, the bi-directional rail operation and the two rail transfer carts would have been a more costly solution.
Load Management: the construction of the cart had to take into account the uneven weight distribution within the chiller. This required careful calculation using Morello’s proprietary software to ensure safe movement and secure operations. The cart’s load could also be raised and hydraulically adjusted in order to remain horizontal at all times. This was to compensate for any gradients encountered during movement.
Safety: the cart had 4 security laser scanners positioned one on each side of the cart to guarantee safe movement of heavy loads within the plant both indoors and outdoors.
Electric Motors: the cart was fitted with a brushless electric motor which is highly precise and minimizes any maintenance requirements.
After Sales Support: on-board remote assistance can be installed on all carts which allows MORELLO to provide a speedy technical diagnosis and tech support if required immediately from its head office location. Furthermore, in the case of on-site support being required this can be managed by MORELLO’s network of international technical partners.