Partial retrofit of an order picking warehouse
It was becoming increasingly difficult to procure spare parts for an order picking warehouse from the 1990s, including the control technology based on Simatic S5, as the control components had been discontinued for some time. The risk of long, incalculable downtimes in the event of a component failure grew steadily. Continuous safe operation was no longer guaranteed. HEITEC was commissioned to analyse the current situation and the risk of failure and to carry out the retrofit.
Realisation
Firstly, the general condition of the warehouse, the condition of the electrical and drive technology as well as the control and management systems and the repair reports were analysed for indications of spare parts availability and service requirements. Based on the analysis, it was decided to carry out a retrofit of the control technology in the area of conveyor technology, as this was where most of the faults were occurring with an increasing tendency. In particular, there were problems with the positioning of the cross transport carriage, the failure of which would have led to a total breakdown of the warehouse. The Simatic S5 controllers installed were responsible for controlling the conveyor technology and for order management and system visualisation. HEITEC replaced these two S5 controllers with a Simatic S7-1500, which combined the functionality of the two old controllers. The distance measuring system on the cross transport carriage was replaced by a modern, optical laser measuring system that is significantly less sensitive to damage and wear, and the inverter for the drive was replaced by an inverter with a positioning function. With the use of Simatic S7, many functions such as the control of the proportional valves for the hydraulics could be implemented directly in the control system. As the S5 controllers in the storage and retrieval machines were running stably, they did not need to be replaced and a serial connection to the new controllers was established. This partial retrofit shows that the entire control technology does not necessarily have to be replaced during a retrofit, resulting in a much more cost-effective solution.
Customer benefits
- Cost-effective solution through partial retrofit
- Increased availability of the warehouse
- Reduction in the risk of failure and reduction in malfunctions
