With the rapid development of the new energy industry, the efficiency and accuracy of storing the key material, lithium-ion battery separators, are crucial to measuring the core competitiveness of enterprises. Building a highly customized intelligent warehousing system that meets the needs of new energy enterprises will greatly improve the turnover speed and reliability of warehousing operations, and promote the sustainable development and market expansion of enterprises in the new energy industry.

The customer is a leader in the world’s lithium-ion battery separator industry. To develop its services, it needed to build an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) for efficient inbound and outbound management of lithium-ion battery separator products.

Wayzim introduced a Stacker Crane Multi-level AS/RS, which greatly improved the utilization rate of the customer’s warehousing space and material turnover speed through automated handling and information management, and laid a solid foundation for the customer’s further service development.

To fully meet the customer’s needs, Wayzim deployed multiple Double-reach Pallet Stacker Cranes and automatic conveying lines and used both WMS and WCS for unified scheduling to create an automated and intelligent Stacker Crane Multi-level AS/RS. Pallets carry materials to perform automated turnover operations in the conveying lines and automated warehouses, significantly improving the storage density and inbound and outbound efficiency while greatly reducing the operating costs of the enterprise.

In the first-phase project that has been successfully put into operation, the storage capacity of the AS/RS reaches 8592 pallets and the inbound-outbound circulation efficiency is about 160 pallets/h. Automated material transportation enhances the flexibility of the whole production process, improves the response speed, and considerably promotes the operational efficiency of the customer.

01 Double-reach Pallet Stacker Crane

Modular and lightweight design: The product structure is optimized based on FEA software analysis, decreasing the dead weight of the entire device by up to 10%. Electrical components are located at a height of less than two meters for easy maintenance and operation. Some mechanical parts share common parts/spare parts, which are highly replaceable and easy to maintain.

Double closed-loop PID for smooth operation: Using the double closed-loop PID control and mast anti-sway technologies, the operation of the stacker crane follows the S-shape speed curve to achieve smooth start/stops under higher speed running conditions.

Comprehensive safety monitoring and protection system: A comprehensive protection system is equipped with, including level 5 safety protection in the horizontal direction, level 4 safety protection in the lifting direction, wire rope overload looseness detection, contact-type intelligent goods anti-collision protection, and visual monitoring of abnormal situations.

02 Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor

Variable frequency motors/Servo motors are used to drive the lifting platform to reciprocate up and down for the vertical transportation of materials. This method is suitable for multiple specifications of lithium-ion battery separator products, allowing cross-warehouse linkage and dynamic circulation of materials among factory buildings. To meet the customer’s requirements for transportation efficiency and reduce energy consumption as much as possible, the carrying weight of the equipment is 550 kg and the lifting speed is 40 m/min.

03 WMS/WCS

With the dynamic location allocation, batch management, First In, First Out (FIFO), and inbound and outbound management functions, WMS/WCS monitors the inventory level and order status of lithium-ion battery separator products in real time, optimizes inventory distribution, and improves the response speed and operational efficiency of the whole supply chain to meet the lean production requirements of the customer.

Considering the warehouse layout and operation efficiency, a single factory building is divided into three storage areas and an AS/RS is deployed with stacker cranes as the core based on the actual height of the warehouse, making full use of the vertical space. Materials are transferred among storage areas in one factory building through conveyor lines in front of shelves, and transferred among factory buildings through vertical reciprocating conveyors. This design not only significantly improves the circulation efficiency, but also maintains the dynamic balance of materials in multiple factory buildings and storage areas, thus ensuring the adaptability and timely response of the warehousing system to various demands.

A high-precision 3D model of the warehouse for 3D visual effects allows the customer to monitor and manage automated equipment in an all-round way. When the equipment breaks down, the model can help the customer quickly locate the problem and provide fault information, thus reducing downtime and improving the operation efficiency and reliability of the overall warehousing operation. 

Wayzim’s warehousing solution can serve a variety of material storage needs in the new energy industry. With the professional ability to build high-cleanliness factory buildings, Wayzim can ensure that the working environment reaches the standard for 300,000-level clean rooms while strictly abiding by the particle control standard, and provide dust-free and safe storage for new energy materials.

In the future, Wayzim will closely track cutting-edge technologies and market trends of the new energy industry, and commit itself to providing more comprehensive and intelligent solutions for the automated warehousing management of the whole industry chain.