Charging for material handling equipment is a time consuming, often frustrating task. Because charging happens frequently and requires manual intervention, it can be a major source of friction between supervisors and operators who are more focused on getting their job done than properly charging their trucks.
Wired Charging: Multiple Steps and Minutes
To charge trucks today, at a minimum, is a ten-step process. After comparing charge practices, an estimated two minutes minimum is needed for the fastest operators to get charging started. This does not account for time needed for trucks to power down before charging, for cables to be properly inspected for damage, and for operators to put away equipment after charging is done.
Wired Charging: Preparing to Charge Takes Time
To safely charge trucks requires more time and attention. Operators must turn off their truck and ensure everything powers down, put personal protective equipment on, disconnect the battery cable from the truck, inspect the charging cable before use, connect the charging cable to the battery cable, turn the charger on and make sure it’s charging, unplug the charging cable once the battery is charged, reconnect the battery cable to the truck, and put their equipment away. The connectors for wired chargers are unwieldy to plug and unplug, seats may need to be lifted to expose batteries, and fleets that use mobile chargers have to wheel chargers up to the truck in need of charging. All of these add minutes to the charging process before charging even begins and keep trucks from being used right away once they’re fully charged.
Autonomous Vehicles Require a Person to Charge Them Today
In addition to wired charging challenges for manned material handling equipment, challenges exist with autonomous vehicle charging too. Most autonomous vehicles require operator intervention to charge their batteries. Non-wireless automated chargers are prohibitively costly. This causes an operational headache: a team member must be allocated to plug in AGVs when needed, costing time and money. The lack of auto-charging also means that AGVs cannot take advantage of brief breaks in tasks to charge, so a dedicated charge time is required and more total vehicles must be purchased.
A Better Way: Automated Wireless Charging
Resonant Link’s automated, wireless fast charging requires no operator intervention. It’s the only wireless charging system suitable for autonomous and manual vehicles: one with the high powers they need to fast charge and the parking flexibility needed to reliably and easily operate. To initiate charging, vehicles park within a large parking window, up to 10" out from the center of the Transmit Base Station and 6" from either side. The Transmit Base Station which sends the power automatically recognizes the On-Vehicle Receiver mounted to the battery. If a truck is parked outside of the range, a user interface provides clear directions for where to move the truck to initiate charging.
Industry-Leading Safety
In addition to being the easiest charging system to use, wired or wireless, our wireless charging system is also designed to be the safest, which stems from our legacy of powering medical devices. Foreign object detection is one of several safety features that ensure operator safety as charging won’t start, or will automatically stop, if an object is detected. After alerting an operator or remote maintenance team to clear the charging field, charging automatically starts, ensuring the safest, speediest, and easiest to use charge experience.
Stop Wasting Time, Start Doing More
Automated, wireless fast charging saves your team valuable time, so they can get more done. And saving time is just the start. To understand your total operational cost savings, including labor, equipment, maintenance, and energy cost savings, contact our team today.
