Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Air Caster-A New Approach in Material Handling
Air Caster-A New Approach in Material Handling
Synopsis
1.INTRODUCTION
Material handling plays an very important role in the industrial economy. Mass
conventional material handling system suffer from many drawbacks and hence it is
One of the most versatile system that based on creating thin film of air
between the base of the load and the floor. This almost eliminates friction between
load and floor, and the object can moved in any direction with very small effort. This
1. Units
2. Bulk
2.1.1 UNITS
Units are separate, discrete items, ranging in size from a) nuts and bolts to b) pallet
houses storage and retrieval system, wood conveying in timber mill, can convey in
sugar mill, steel coils and plates transfer in steel mill, mould and core transfer in
overhead cranes, gantry cranes, jib crane, conveyors trucks, hoists, monorails,
2.1.2 BULK
involving materials in an aggregate form. Bulk material on the other hand are stored
and handled in volume, often in unpacked form. Example of bulk handled includes
dry powders, granules, coal, fertilizer, chemical, sugar, sulfur, salt, cement, sand,
mechanical conveyors for screw, belt, chain, bucket elevators and pneumatic
conveyors
The traditional material handling system suffer from some drawbacks listed
below.
2. Some of the system are not safe for the health of the workers.
4. Shocks and vibrations are transmitted to the load which is dangerous to the
delicate load.
5. Omni directional movement of the load is not possible in small space with
small effort.
3. DEVELOPMENTS
designing material handling equipment and procedures for effective interaction with
be kept less and the material handling procedures to be well planned to keep the
This is an innovative and cost effective solution for moving heavy loads by
utilising Air Casters . Air Casters equipment uses a variety of Air Casters to literally
float heavy loads on virtually frictionless film of air . Air Caster provide clean, quiet
operator to precisely place and align the load in a limited work space. The low profile
of Air Caster load module requires less than 3" (76mm) clearance. Air Caster will not
damage floors and expensive reinforcement is usually not necessary. One pound of
force will move 1000 pounds and one individual can move several tons with
complete control.
Prior to inflation, the load is solidly supported on landing pads. These pads
protect the Air-Caster's torus bag from being crushed when the load is rest as shown
in fig.(a)
creating a seal against the floor surface and raising as shown in fig.(b).
load's weight, air slowly and evently escapes between the flexible torus bag and the
floor. The load is literally floated on a thin, nearly frictionless cushion of air as shown
in fig.(c).
the bottom of the base, depending upon the load to be lifted, the no. of Air Casters
may vary. Typically three to four casters are installed in one equipment.
control of the air and the load movement. There are two methods of controlling the
Air Casters with a hose manifold and with remote control box.
1. Hose Manifold
This is the minimum requirement. The nose manifold include a ball valve to
turn the air bearing on and off. The manifold includes 4 X 15 between the Air
Casters.
An option that may used in addition to the hose manifold in the lead control.
Master control pendant be used with a manifold. The master control manifold has a
button i.e. spring loaded. The operator must press the button to allow compressed
air to the Air Caster, if the operator releases the button or drop the hand control, the
This option uses a tool box like device that includes hoses to the Air Caster
connected to the control box is a hand held pendant. Located on the hand held
Include with the RC unit are 2X15 hose length, 2 X 25 hose length and all the
industries These can be used for our purpose and have no need of separate
compressor.
4.3 DESIGN
4.3.1 BASE/PLATFORM
Platforms are constructed from rigid steel structures designed for carrying
heavy loads. For very heavy loads, the platform frame is constructed from mild steel
angles sometimes with I section beams for high strength but this in turn increases
the weight of platform. This frame is then welded with mild steel plates or aluminum
plates.
Adequate arrangements are made for fitting air hoses and regulators to the platform.
A handle is provided to the platform to push/pull the platform. The handle need not
the strong because we have to exert a small force for moving the platform. A landing
pad is also provided at the base of the platform so that at rest or in periods of sudden
power failure, the load should not crush the torus bags (air casters).
The air Casters used in all equipments are designed to provide optimum
balance, efficiency and durability. The material used for bags is 100% Urethane
which is known to have elastic strength, abrasion resistance and good mechanical
strength. All the bags have same shape and size and have equal number of
communication holes to» provide good balance and alignment of the platform
The thickness of the bags may vary from I mm. to 1.5 mm. for the safest
The size can be varied according to load requirements. The size of air bags
can be standardized for all equipments because it does not affect much on the load
carrying capacity. What affects is the number of Caster, which can be varied
used. Pressure in this system never exceeds 3 to 4 bars and hence the hoses are
connected to the hose at inlet from compressor to switch on/off the air supply. The
4.4 OPERATION
the ground. The loading weight "W" rests on the top of this chamber having an
internal area "A" at the base, which is direct contact with surface on which it rests.
Since the air is unable to escape (because of flattening of air Casters), it inflates the
air Casters and thus raises the air pressure "P" inside the chamber. When the
pressure reaches a value such as "=W/A the upward force exerted by chamber
balances the load resting on the top. The load now floats freely on the ground
slightly. As soon as this happens air starts leaking from inside the chamber to the
pressurized air, which is being continuously supplied to the chamber. The load is
now clearly floating on the ground and thus can l)e moved in any direction by
Step 1: Prior to inflation the load is solidly supported on the landing pads. These
pads protect the Caster bags from being crushed when the system is at rest.
Step 2: When the standard ship of air is applied to the air Casters, the torus bags
inflate
Step 3 : When the pressure within the chamber is sufficient to offset the load to
weight, air slowly and evenly escapes between the flexible torus bags and the floor.
The load is literally flooded on a thin, nearly frictionless cushion of air (0.8 to 1mm
thick).
These Casters provide a clean, pivot and safe alternative to move heavy
loads, reduce friction and Omni directional movement allows the operator to
precisely and align load in a limited work place. It is easy to operate and plant air can
characteristics (airflow vs. load) are very general and similar characteristics are
In general the pressure requirements vary from 0.5 bar to 3.5 bar according
to the number of air Casters and load. For lifting a load of 15,000 Kg., air at a
feasible. Air pressure requirements are low because of large supporting area under
the load.
possible.
the system.
T.M.H.S.
a) Less efficient
possible.
load of 20,000 Kg. is to be handled inside a plant say steel coils. Using conventional
system say truck, fork lift etc. A normal 10 ton capacity truck can not out this
assignment. For that heavy duty truck is required whose fuel consumption is large
*With an air Caster handling system the same load can be moved with a manual
force of only 15 to 20 Kg. With air at pressure 0.6 bar and a flow rate of 18 lit./sec.
Here only 0.1% force is required as compared with conventional system. This
0.001 - 0.005).
6. ADVANTAGES
comparison part. Besides those advantages the system has got following
advantages
lubrication, the low viscosity of gas as compared with liquids can be exploited to
special benefit and also the absence of surface contact between the Air Caster
* High Accuracy :- The high accuracy of motion that can be obtained with AIR-
* Eliminates Oil :- AIR CASTER do not use oil lubrication, eliminating problems
associated with oil and are self-cleaning because positive air pressure pushes
dust away.
7. APPLICATIONS
device but following are the important applications were this system is actually used.
1. GENERAL APPLICATIONS
Aero-Plank Systems
Aero-Plank Systems are designed to be used with loads having a fixed width. Each
Aero-Pallets
similar dimensions.
AeroGo has supplied specialized tooling for moving and positioning aircraft parts
transporters to supports,
aircraft.
and position the 46 foot tall rocket motor accurately and easily.
Marine Applications
Air caster transport system for moving and positioning large structures in
Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries in Nagasaki
Japan onto a barge on Air caster, eliminating the need to rent an expensive floating
crane.
8. SAFETY OF OPERATION
Whenever there comes a new system some questions whose answers are key to its
acceptance. About the air Caster system following questions may arise:
d) What will happen if the supply of compressed air is suddenly cut off?
effort required to operate the system avoid workers from fatigue. Since the load is
lifted just a few mm. off the ground and the gap between the bottom seal and
supporting surface is less than an mm. It results in enhanced safety both for workers
and other personnel in vicinity. In case of failure of compressed air supply for any
reason, the load gently sinks back to the supporting surface. The air trapped inside
air Casters or plenum chamber acting as a damping medium as it slowly leaks out.
Noise levels of the system is around 25-40 dB. Which is not harmful to human ears.
In conclusion one may say that the air cushioning system for moving heavy,
delicate and various other objects in industries are safe, versatile, proven and cost
effective. It exerts less pressure on the floor. In fact in some cases this might be the
only feasible alternative system. Air cushioning system can be widely applied to
many areas advantageously. This system has got an edge over the conventional
systems.
No doubt that it will take some time to be popular especially in the Indian
industries but the coming years will definitely see the wider adoption, more so in the
- D.Arivalagan
- R.G.T. Lindkvist
4) www.aerogo.com