High-bay warehouse with explosion protection zone for a wide variety of stored goods at Fuchs Lubritech in Kaiserslautern, Germany

Fuchs Lubritech GmbH is one of the world's leading producers of specialty lubricants and release agents for all industrial applications such as the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, construction and agriculture. The product range comprises more than 1,000 special products tailored to the respective application. At the headquarters in Kaiserslautern, a new laboratory, administration and production center was built with a high-bay warehouse linked to production. It serves as a raw material warehouse, for production supply as well as a finished goods warehouse with connected order picking zone. As general contractor, HÖRMANN Logistik realized the complete new high-bay warehouse and the three-aisle extension with connected conveyor technology and WMS.

Concept

The storage of highly flammable and highly combustible products required a special fire protection concept. A system of fire prevention is used by reducing the oxygen content in the entire high-bay warehouse. This prevents a flame from developing in the first place. By injecting nitrogen, this inerting system creates a low-oxygen atmosphere in the warehouse, similar to that on a mountain peak at an altitude of 4,500 meters. For stored goods with a very low flash point and for highly flammable products, a special zone has also been set up in the high-bay warehouse that can be flooded with CO2. A detection system permanently monitors this zone and issues warnings in the event of an emergency. In the explosion protection area of the warehouse, mechanical and control sparking must be avoided under all circumstances. This applies primarily to the storage and retrieval machines, which are equipped with special explosion-proof drives and explosion-proof sensors. Essential electrical components are installed outside the explosion-proof area. Special mechanical components in the chassis area and on the telescopic fork were designed with materials that prevent sparking. The control system of the transfer cars calculates the optimum travel curve by means of an integrated travel curve control system, thus enabling jerk-free acceleration and deceleration, which is an important safety factor, especially when containers and drums are filled with liquids. The same applies to the storage and retrieval machines, whose self-learning compartment fine-positioning control system permanently updates the coordinates
and thus considerably reduces positioning movements.

Sophisticated conveyor technology

A pallet circuit is the central element linking the different material flow areas. It serves both to provide goods for production supply, to connect to the picking stations, and to connect to the six-meter higher level of high-bay storage and retrieval via the vertical conveyors. Before entering the storage area, the pallets pass through an airlock with high-speed doors to maintain the oxygen-reduced environment of the warehouse. In the high-bay warehouse, a distribution truck transports the pallets to the storage spur assigned by HiLIS. The HÖRMANN intra Logistics System HiLIS, which has an interface to the on-site HOST system, ensures smooth processes of the conveyor and storage technology as well as optimized warehouse management.

Highlights

•     3+3-aisle high-bay warehouse: 76.9 x 45 x 25.4 m (L x W x H)
•     Electrical and mechanical equipment according to ATEX 94/9/EG Zone 2
•     Fire protection concept with low oxygen atmosphere and CO2 zone
•     Double-deep storage
•     Storage of a wide variety of load carriers such as Euro pallets, chemical pallets, drum pallets and a wide variety of materials
•     Common storage of packaging, raw materials and finished products
•     6 automatic stacker cranes in single mast design (aisle-bound) with telescopic fork pair in explosion-proof design
•     Connecting conveyor system with distribution trolley and vertical conveyor
•     Fire protection lock with high-speed doors
•     20,000 pallet spaces
•     Individual solution for picking palletized goods and drums
•     HiLIS WMS