At Carlsberg's high-bay warehouse in Fredericia, gear motors from SEW-EURODRIVE move up to 1,600 pallets per hour. The gear motors control the 40-meter high and 110-meter long cranes, which carry pallets in all directions - up, down, to the right and to the left.
In order to maintain the same operational reliability as the last 13 years, where the gear motors have been running with high reliability, Carlsberg, SEW-EURODRIVE and SSI Schäfer, who operate and maintain the system, have decided jointly that all gear motors must be reviewed and renovated from head to toe.
More specifically the y-axis gear motors, which move pallets up and down, are going to be completely renovated one by one. The gear motors have been running since 2008 with only two oil changes, so now it's time to give them the big turn.
Environmentally friendly extension of the system's service life
Carlsberg choosing to renovate the existing gear motors rather than replacing them with new ones has the advantage that it does not involve many new parts having to be manufactured. The main part of the repair consists of time in the workshop, which makes it an environmentally friendly extension of the system’s service life.
SEW-EURODRIVE is responsible for dismantling the units, transporting them to their own workshop in Vejle, renovating them and finally reassembling them on the cranes. Assembly and disassembly takes place in collaboration between SEW-EURODRIVE and SSI Schäfer.
The renovation process
In order to avoid downtime, SSI Schäfer has an extra y-axis gear motor in stock, which is shipped to SEW's workshop in Vejle, where it’s going to be totally renovated. This unit is placed on the high-bay warehouse’s pallet system, which itself drives the unit into the specific pallet space, which is closest to the location of the gear motor on the crane. An empty pallet is also driven into the area around the gear motor, which is located at a height of six meters. After this, a work platform will be set up at the pallet sites so that work can be done in the area.
The existing gear motor is dismantled on the crane and placed on the empty pallet in the shelf. The newly renovated unit is then mounted on the crane. All tools and crew leave the crane and the "old" gear motor is driven out by the plant's newly renovated gear motor so that it can be safely loaded on a truck.
This process is repeated and thus, a gear motor is renovated every two weeks. Disassembly and assembly of the gear motors takes approximately five hours every time.
Safety is essential for all parties involved - Carlsberg, SSI Schäfer and SEW-EURODRIVE - therefore only approved lifting gear, harnesses and tools, which are intended for this type of task at height, are used.
Facts
- The gear motor on the y-axis crane can deliver 7,460 Nm nominally and has both brake, encoder, oil compensator and temperature sensor.
- The gear motor on the x-axis crane has the same data as the y-axis gear motor, but it only delivers 3740 Nm nominally.
- The 40-meter high high-bay warehouse has room for approximately 70,000 pallets.
- The 40-meter high and 110-meter long cranes are controlled by gear motors from SEW-EURODRIVE, which move around 1,600 pallets per hour.
- Carlsberg has four gear motors mounted on each crane. One for y-axis one for x-axis and two on the pallet fork that picks up the pallets from the shelves.
- There are 18 cranes in the high-bay warehouse.