Facility Power Survey data was pulled from existing Enersys Wi-iQ at Kidd Kraft on 11/18/2022 for the period of 11/1 to 11/17. This was to determine battery usage of the reach trucks, dock stockers and pallet jacks. The customer currently runs one 8 hour shift but runs a 12 hour shift during the busy seasons. As the graphs below show, usage is below the 80% threshold of conventional charge single shift operation.
Red bars represent the percentage of battery used per day and green bars indicate amount charged per day. Conventional charge application allows for 80% of the battery’s capacity to be used each day. 80% to 120% utilization is considered opportunity charge, and given the longer shifts being run during the busy season, we recommend staying with opportunity charge as a battery and charger solution. Looking through the last years’ worth of data, less than 70Ah was used on the heaviest 24-hour period.
Graphs above shows the depth of discharge per 24-hour day. Judging from the amount of discharge and utilization, most of the runs with the reach trucks are short and combined with low lifts. Drive motors and hydraulic pumps use quite a bit of battery power which would lead to us to believe that longer runs and higher lifts would demand the operators to be required to plug in to the chargers more often during the longer shifts.
Charge hours and open hours (idle) are the 2 factors that determine if enough charge time is available for opportunity applications. The charts below show that there has been plenty of idle time during 3-week sample used for this power study. These charts show there is plenty of time allowed for charging in an opportunity application.
The final graphs we have are daily plug ins. In an opportunity application, it is important for the battery to be charged during breaks and lunches. Keeping the state of charge up as high as possible throughout the day ensures that the lift will have sufficient battery power to make it through longer shifts. The graphs below show the typical daily plug ins only happen once per day. Even though the batteries make it through a full day, it is still recommended to plug in every opportunity during the busy seasons.
In conclusion, we would recommend staying with opportunity charge in this application. The reach trucks see a deeper depth of discharge than the pallet jacks, thus possibly requiring the need to plug in during breaks and lunch. We also see no need to going to a tubular battery like the ones in the pallet jacks. These is no need for the additional output and flat plate will have a longer life span than tubular.
