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The charge for power

15 February 2021

Power Charging from Fronius means lead-acid batteries can benefit from rapid or opportunity charging.

Many industries, such as food and beverage or Omni-channel retail, didn’t seem to stop in 2020. If anything, they were busier than ever as demand increased and 2021 is looking to be starting in the same way. The logistics element of numerous industries typically relies on electric forklift trucks to move goods from the racking or stores to the end location. The increase in consumer demand has led to longer operating times and shorter charging times for the traction batteries used to power the forklift trucks. Thanks to the Power Charging option from Fronius, the low charge level of lead-acid batteries can now be increased in a short time by means of rapid or opportunity charging.

"Back-up batteries come with high procurement costs and extra workload in day-to-day operations."

The last 12 months couldn’t have been predicted. When businesses were writing their 2020 business plans, forecasts and budget, the pandemic was not on the agenda and Corona was a lager! Many companies saw an increase in demand that couldn’t have been predicted - online was the nation’s only way to order a lot of what they needed and wanted. This led to higher levels of activity and we needed to adapt the way our logistics operations worked needed to adapt. With the home nations still under lockdown restrictions and no clear sign of when they will end, logistics and operations managers may see the trends of 2020 roll into 2021.

Looking at our past experiences, flexibility is critical. As the usage of forklift trucks increases, the batteries that power them may need additional charging to ensure they can keep going, sometimes for longer or extra shifts. This presents users of lead-acid batteries with particular difficulties, as they usually take around eight hours to charge. Back-up batteries come with high procurement costs and extra workload in day-to-day operations.

Opportunity charging

The new Selectiva 4.0 generation of chargers from Fronius provides an innovative solution for charging lead-acid batteries in extra-quick time: using the Power Charging option, the state of charge can be boosted from 30 to 80 percent in under three hours. This allows seasonal fluctuations or a change to multi-shift operation to be implemented with no need for additional manual input.

Increased efficiency

The time available between shifts when batteries can be charged is frequently limited. The Power Charging option is a solution for the easy and efficient opportunity charging of lead-acid batteries. For example, a work break will often be enough to top up a traction battery using opportunity charging. This avoids the battery having to be changed shortly before the end of a shift. Just 30 minutes charging is enough to get up to two additional running hours out of a forklift.

Fronius Selectiva 4.0 battery chargers will also reduce the back-up battery pool required thus reducing the frequency of battery changes which saves time for the operators, frees space for storing product and reduces investment costs in additional batteries.

Safe

The system is monitored by a temperature sensor ensuring rapid, safe charging with no risk of overheating. The Power Charging option lets users enjoy maximum availability of their forklift fleet while rationalising costs. Selectiva 4.0 battery chargers can be used to charge lead-acid batteries of different sizes, voltages and capacities thanks to the innovative Ri charging process, helping to simplify assignment and reduce the potential for user error.

Fronius offers gentle rapid and opportunity charging for lead-acid batteries with Selectiva 4.0 battery chargers enabling you to benefit from maximum fleet availability while rationalising your costs and reducing your carbon footprint.

For more information, visit www.fronius.com/intralogistics

 
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