Design of electro-hydraulic circuits of tri-adjustable automated heavy-duty industrial handling system

Materials handling is one of the most essential aspects within manufacturing processes and/or industries. Transportation equipment used in manufacturing industries varies from pallet jack to forklift trucks and/or cranes. Materials handling equipment are mechanical equipment used for the movement, storage, control and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. The influence of global economy has led to changes in the conventional approaches for manufacturing companies. In this case, manufacturing companies in South Africa and globally have taken into consideration several essential characteristics such as real-time reaction to changes, quick and quality response in sustaining and satisfying customer requests and/or needs, in both hardware equipment and software modules by which the production processes are optimized for next generation manufacturing systems. In two previous papers we outlined the design of a heavy-duty handling system and its hydraulic lifting mechanism based on Industry 4.0 principles. Electro-hydraulic circuit modelling as well material selection for electro-hydraulic operation of the new designed system arepresented herein.