Simulation-based performance analysis for a novel AVS/RS technology with movable lifts

Jerman, Boris (author), Ekren, Banu Yetkin (author), Küçükyaşar, Melis (author), Lerher, Tone (author)

This paper studies a novel autonomous vehicle-based storage and retrieval system (AVS/RS) design with movable lifts (AVS/RS/ML). In the proposed system, there are aisle-captive lifts that are able to travel along the warehouse aisle to position themselves at the target column location. Those lifts can lift up/down the autonomous vehicles to/from the target storage compartment when they are in standstill. This novel design is proposed as an alternative to existing AVS/RSs to balance the resource utilizations as well as to provide an inexpensive solution with highly utilized autonomous vehicles (i.e., AGVs). As an initial work, for this novel system, two alternative operating designs under different racking configurations are experimented. We compare those two designs by their throughput rate performance metrics under the arrival rate scenarios with highly utilized AGVs (i.e., 95%). Besides, we experiment with two warehouse capacity scenarios: 900 and 1800 storage compartments. The results show that designs with two separate I/O point locations provide a better throughput rate than designs with single I/O point location. Besides, a decreased number of columns in the system improves the system's performance.

• Language: English
• Keywords: logistics, automated warehousing, AVS/RS, movable lifts, simulation modelling, material handling system
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 11, iss. 5, art. 2283
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134919
• UDC: 519.876.5:625.712.61(045)
• ISSN on article: 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app11052283
• COBISS.SI-ID: 56899843
• Publication date in RUL: 11.02.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Applied sciences
• Shortened title: Appl. sci.
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2076-3417
• COBISS.SI-ID: 522979353

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 04.03.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: logistika, avtomatizirano skladiščenje, AVS/RS (sistem za avtomatsko vskladiščenje in izskladiščenje), premična dvigala, numerično modeliranje delovanja, transportni sistemi

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: L5-2626
• Name: Skladiščenje 4.0 – Model integracije skladiščno-komisionirnih in robotskih sistemov