Revolutionary technology presented on leading trade fair ATX: the self-propelling “shuttle carrier”


(Niedereschach/Germany) – Premiere of revolutionary sensational process automation technology made in Germany: At the automation technology trade fair ATX 2019, from 05 to 07 February in Anaheim (California), German montratec GmbH with headquarters in Niedereschach/Germany is showcasing several new product developments of their future-oriented automation and transport system montrac®. In particular the break-through technology of the innovatively new “shuttle carrier” is setting a completely new milestone in the field of intra-logistics and process automation.

“Flexibility and efficiency are the keys to success in industrial production”, Sven Worm, chairman of the board of montratec GmbH emphasizes. “With the development of the shuttle carrier we are improving the flexibility and the efficiency of applications of our intelligent automation and transport system montrac®. With montrac® we are offering tailor-made and individually customized solutions for customers, even with extremely limited or difficult installation spaces.”

On the ATX, North America’s largest annual exhibition for automation technology, montratecshowcases their innovative solutions on booth4061. “For the first time in the US, we will present the unprecedent cutting edge technology of the shuttle carrier, the new active component of montrac®”, Worm describes. “To inform trade visitors about the highly flexible and diverse applications of montrac®, we will install a completely simulated intra-logistics loop on the booth and present both the shuttle carrier and all transport shuttle types in action.”

 

Since 2017 montratec is present in the United States with its own Sales Office headed by John Olson. The Sales Office is well connected to distribution and service partners all over the country. With its local presence montratec provides customized solutions for all sorts of intra-logistics designs and works hand in hand with large corporations and integrators on productivity enhancement and efficiency increasing technology for production units.

With the ground-breaking innovation of the shuttle carrier, the modular automation and tracking system montrac®, so far consisting of a monorail system and self-propelling transport shuttles, is extended by another active component. First time it is now possible to interrupt the monorail system without interrupting the entire production process by enabling open spaces between track-bound workstations for escape paths, transport routes, and passages for employees.

The self-propelling shuttle carrier operates as a connecting robot on the floor: due to the aid of integrated sensors it recognizes the predefined route on the floor and follows at speeds of up to 25 meters/min. A height-adjustable track on top of the shuttle carrier carries transport shuttles, either empty or with cargo of up to 50 kilograms, from one track section to another track section and gets the transport shuttles back on the monorail. As battery charging takes place during docking maximum availability is enabled.

 

The use of the shuttle carrier further reduces the already low space requirements of montrac® which result from combining electrical track switches, crossings, very tight radii (of 220 millimeters), overcoming gradient angles of up to 12 degree, and integrated lifting elements. Four different types of autonomous controlled transport shuttles are moving independently with speeds of up to 55 meters/min on the monorail and communicate via infrared with both the route and the track sections.

“Due to the high-tech control system of montrac® each shuttle will be in the right place at the right time and knows exactly where to carry the products”, Sven Worm emphasizes. “Furthermore, the modular structure of montrac® enables individually a continuous adaption to changed processes and future system expansions. In addition, if necessary, each transport shuttle can be manually exchanged or removed from the monorail without stopping the entire system.”

Besides the shuttle carrier, the following will be presented at the trade fair:

-       The montrac®Shuttle MSH5: itcarries any materials or work pieces optionally up to 50 kg and moves up to a speed of 55 m/min.

The new generation of the montrac® Shuttle MSH5 has an optimized drive concept for increased stability and force transmission on the montrac® rail. With the new five beam sensor module of each shuttle controls and supervises cornering (curve control) as well as driving backwards (direction control). “Due to the optimized sensor module, a larger detection area is seen and the supervision of bigger work pieces is possible”, Worm summarizes. “In addition, we are maximizing the security of employees on the shop floor as the five-beam sensor module detects an approaching person or obstacle and stops the shuttle to prevent collisions.”

-       The montrac®Shuttle MSH4: itmoves up to a speed of 55 m/min and transports up to 30 kg.

-       The montrac®Cleanroom Shuttle MSH4 CR: it is especially developed for industrial sectors with extremely high hygiene regulations. It drives up to 30 m/min and allows loads up to 30 kg. Due to low-maintenance components and extremely low particle emissions the montrac® cleanroom shuttle has been certified by the “Fraunhofer Institute” for production in cleanroom classes ISO 5 and 7 (FED STD 209E equivalent: classes 100 and 10,000).

-       The new generation of the montrac®SmartRouter, the intelligent communication system: it controls both the shuttle carrier on the floor and the transport shuttles on the monorail.

 

„Our overall ambition is to convince by developing cutting edge technologies, designed to deliver highly flexible and unique customer-specific solutions for increased efficiency in the process automation of all industrial areas”, Worm concludes. Examples of the broad range of applications montrac® has to offer include e.g.:  production of car headlights with injection molding technology or manufacture of medical products like contact lenses. In a cleanroom environment, montrac® is used in manufacturing of sensitive products in the computer, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, and medical industries as well as in the laboratory sector.