New heavy-duty mast for reach trucks from Linde Material Handling

By MEq August 10, 2022 14:54

Story Highlights

Linde Material Handling
ELMAS Romania
stivuitoare cu catarg retractabil
Dynamic Mast Control (DMC)
intralogistica
Linde reach trucks

Intralogistics specialist Linde Material Handling (MH) is now equipping its R14 HD to R25 reach trucks for payloads of 1.4 to 2.5 tons with a new heavy-duty mast. It offers operators a better view of the load and the surroundings as well as greater residual load capacities, enabling them to move pallets quickly and safely at lift heights of up to 15 meters.

In order to accommodate more goods and a larger range of products, warehouses and racking systems are growing ever higher. This places increasing demands on the reach trucks used because the loads need to be stored and retrieved quickly and safely up to the top shelf levels. And that’s not all: While the vehicles are able to reach higher and higher with the mast extended, they must also be able to pass through gates and racking without any problems with the mast retracted. At the same time, the vehicle must not become longer in size. Every centimeter counts so that the equipment can remain as maneuverable as possible, be able to cope with narrow aisle widths and make optimal use of storage areas. Last but not least, solutions are needed for the mast vibrations that occur with increasing lift height and for the increasingly limited visibility conditions.

Visibility-optimized mast for greater safety and enhanced handling performance
The best possible view of the load and surroundings is the basic prerequisite for the safe use of reach trucks. With the new heavy-duty mast, this is achieved in two ways: For one, it is much wider than previous models, and secondly, the developers were able to dispense with the cross struts previously required. This results in significantly larger viewing windows between the mast sections, which significantly improves the view of the forks. Depending on the type and design, the driver’s field of vision is extended by up to 27 percent.

The optimized design of the head cross beam also extends the upward visibility, allowing the operator to better see and thus control the forks when storing and retrieving at high lift levels. But it is not only the view upwards that is improved. The new mast also enables an optimized view of the horizontal working environment, as it is mounted on the vehicle in a more advantageous position. In this way, the driver can look past the loaded mast without leaning to the side.

With a maximum lift height of up to 15 meters, the new mast reaches a full two meters higher than the masts previously installed. It also has a higher residual load capacity, so that the vehicles can handle significantly more load weight than before when the mast is fully extended. To ensure that the reach trucks with the new mast can safely pass through warehouse passages, Linde MH has further optimized the ratio between lift height and overall height. As a result, the new 15-meter mast is even lower when retracted than the corresponding 13-meter version of the predecessor model.

More robust and service-friendly
Even greater stability of the mast is provided by more robust mast profiles with staggered reinforcements that additionally stiffen the reach mast and minimize deflection of the individual components. This results in lower mast vibrations during storage and retrieval at great lift heights, which not only saves the driver the waiting time until swinging out but also avoids collisions between the mast and racking, which often cause severe damage to the load and infrastructure. Even more mast stability at great heights can be achieved with the optional Dynamic Mast Control (DMC) driver assistance system: a sensor-controlled electric thrust actuator compensates for mast vibrations and deflections through targeted and highly precise counter-movements.

The vehicle length has remained unchanged so that the reach trucks can maneuver in narrow warehouse aisles as usual. To simplify mast replacement, the reach carriage now remains within the vehicle chassis during dismantling. In this way, the vehicles can be rapidly moved to another location and quickly put back into operation there. This reduces time requirements and costs by up to 50 percent.