Tutorial on

Material Transport Systems

Reference to : Chapter no. 10

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY – II ; (ME 305)

Course instructor : Prof. Harpreet Singh
 ANALYSIS OF MATERIAL TRANSPORT SYSTEMS:
Analysis of Vehicle-Based Systems
This techniques are helpful for visualizing the movement of materials
and quantitative models are useful for analysing material flow rates,
delivery cycle times, and other aspects of performance.
 TIME FOR A TYPICAL DELIVERY CYCLE

(2) travel time to the drop-off

(1) loading at the pickup station.
station.

The time for a typical delivery cycle in the operation

of a vehicle-based transport system consists of

(3) unloading at the drop-off (4) empty travel time of the

station. vehicle between deliveries.
 ASSUMPTION

• We assume that the vehicle operates at a constant velocity throughout

its operation.
• It ignores the effects of acceleration, deceleration, and other speed
differences that might depend on whether the vehicle is traveling
loaded or empty or other reasons.
 ANALYSIS OF MATERIAL TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
• Flow Rates, loads/hr (Value Before the Slash), and Travel Distances, m
(Value After the Slash)

Network Diagram Showing Deliveries

between Load/Unload Stations
THE TOTAL CYCLE TIME PER DELIVERY PER VEHICLE
Cont…

Total cycle time (Tc) helps to determine two parameters:

(1) Rate of deliveries per vehicle and
(2) Number of vehicles required to satisfy a specified total delivery
requirement.

• Hourly rate of deliveries per vehicle = 60 min / delivery cycle time Tc,
–However we need to adjust for any time losses during the hour.
 Availability (A)

FACTOR
INFLUENCES Traffic congestion (𝐹𝑡 )
TIME LOSS
Efficiency of manual drivers in the
case of manually operated trucks (𝐸𝑤 )
Cont…
• With these factors defined, we can now express the available time
per hour per vehicle,

AT = Available time per vehicle

• Rate of deliveries per hour per vehicle ,

 Cont…
• Workload is defined as the total amount of work, expressed in terms
of time, that must be accomplished by the material transport system
in 1 hr.

𝑅𝑓 = specified flow rate of total deliveries per hour for the system,
deliveries/hr
• Total number of vehicles required to accomplish this workload,
or
Where, n = number of carriers Where, n= number of carriers required,
required, WL = workload (min/hr), and 𝑅𝑓 = total delivery requirements in the system
AT = available time per vehicle (min/hr (del/hr)
per vehicle). 𝑅𝑑𝑣 = delivery rate per vehicle (del/hr per
vehicle ).
 Problem: Determining Number of Vehicles in an AGVS
The AGV’s layout shown in Figure. Vehicles travel counter
clockwise around the loop to deliver loads from the load
station to the unload station. Loading time at the load
station = 0.75 min, and unloading time at the unload station
= 0.50 min. It is desired to determine how many vehicles are
required to satisfy demand for this layout if a total of 40
del/hr must be completed by the AGVS. The following
performance parameters are given: vehicle velocity= 50
m/min, availability = 0.95, traffic factor = 0.90,and operator
efficiency does not apply, so E = 1.0.
Determine: (a) travel distances loaded and empty, (b) ideal
delivery cycle time and (c) number of vehicles required to
satisfy the delivery demand.
SOLUTION
(a)
Cont…
Practice Problem 1
Practice Problem 2
Practice Problem 3
Practice problem 4
 CONVEYOR ANALYSIS :
For Single Direction Conveyors
• Assuming the conveyor operates at a constant speed, the time
required to move materials from load station to unload station is,

• Where, Td = delivery time (min),

• Ld = length of conveyor between load and unload stations (m, ft),
• and Vc = conveyor velocity (m/min, ft/min).
Cont…
The flow rate of materials on the conveyor is determined by the rate of
loading at the load station. The loading rate is limited by the reciprocal
of the time required to load the materials. Given the conveyor speed,
the loading rate establishes the spacing of materials on the conveyor.
Summarizing these relationships,

Where,
Rf = material flow rate, parts/min;
RL = loading rate, parts/min;
Sc = center-to-center spacing of materials on the conveyor, m/part (ft/part)
TL = loading time, min/part
Cont….
• An additional requirement for loading and unloading is that the time
required to unload the conveyor must be equal or less than the
loading time. That is,

Where,
Rf = flow rate, parts/min; np = number of parts per container;
and TL = loading time per container, min/container.
Sc= centre-to-centre spacing of carriers on the conveyor (m/carrier, ft/carrier),
Example Problem
• A roller conveyor follows a pathway 35 m long between a parts
production department and an assembly department. Velocity of the
conveyor is 40 m/min. Parts are loaded into large tote pans, which are
placed onto the conveyor at the load station in the production
department. Two operators work at the loading station. The first
worker loads parts into tote pans, which takes 25 sec. Each tote pan
holds 20 parts. Parts enter the loading station from production at a
rate that is in balance with this 25-sec cycle. The second worker loads
tote pans onto the conveyor, which takes only 10 sec. Determine: (a)
spacing between tote pans along the conveyor, (b) maximum possible
flow rate in parts/min. and (c) the minimum time required to unload
the tote pan in the assembly department.
Solution
(a) Spacing between tote pans on the conveyor is determined by the loading time.
It takes only 10 sec to load a tote pan onto the conveyor but 25 sec are
required to load parts into the tote pan. Therefore, the loading cycle is limited
by this 25 sec. At a conveyor speed of 40 m/min, the spacing will be
sc = (25/60 min)(40 m/min) = 16.67m
(b) Flow rate is given by

This is consistent with the parts loading rate of 20 parts in 25 sec, which is 0.8 parts
per sec or 48 parts/min.
Solution (Cont…)
(c) The minimum allowable time to unload a tote pan must be
consistent with the flow rate of tote pans on the conveyor. This flow
rate is one tote pan every 25 second, so
 CONVEYOR ANALYSIS:
CONTINUOUS LOOP CONVEYORS
Cont…
 CONVEYOR ANALYSIS:
RECIPROCATING CONVEYORS
1. Speed Rule
• The case of a recirculating conveyor with The conveyor lower limit speed must
one load station and one unload station satisfy the relationship
was analysed by Kwo.
• According to his analysis, three basic
The upper speed limit is
principles must be obeyed in designing determined by the physical
such a conveyor system: capabilities of the material
handlers who perform the loading
–Speed Rule and unloading tasks. Their
–Capacity Constraint capabilities are defined by the
time required to load and unload
–Uniformity Principle the carriers, so that
 Cont…
2. Capacity Constraint 3. Uniformity Principle
The flow rate capacity of the conveyor This principle states that parts (loads) should
system must be at least equal to the flow be uniformly distributed throughout the
rate requirement to accommodate reserve length of the conveyor, so that there will be
stock and allow for the time elapsed no sections of the conveyor in which every
between loading and unloading due to carrier is full while other sections are
delivery distance. This can be expressed as virtually empty.
follows: The reason for the uniformity principle is to
avoid unusually long waiting times at the
load or unload stations for empty or full
carriers (respectively) to arrive

In this case, Rf must be interpreted as a

system specification required of the
recirculating conveyor
Example Problem
A recirculating conveyor has a total length of 300 m. Its speed is 60
m/min. and the spacing of part carriers along its length is 12 m. Each
carrier can hold two parts. The task time required to load two parts
into each carrier is 0.20 min and the unload time is the same. The
required loading and unloading rates are both defined by the specified
flow rate, which is 4 parts/min, Evaluate the conveyor system design
with respect to Kwo's three principles.
Solution
• Speed Rule: The lower limit on speed is set by the required loading
and unloading rates, which is 4 parts/min. Checking this against the
equation,

Checking the upper limit

The Speed Rule is satisfied.

 Cont…
• Capacity Constraint: The conveyor flow rate capacity = 10 parts/min as computed
above. Since this is substantially greater than the required delivery rate of 4
part/min, the capacity constraint is satisfied. Kwo provides guidelines for
determining the flow rate requirement that should be compared to the conveyor
capacity

• Uniformity Principle: The conveyor is assumed to be uniformly loaded throughout

its length, since the loading and unloading rates are equal and the flow rate
capacity is substantially greater than the load/unload rate. Conditions for checking
the uniformity principle are satisfied.
Example Problem

Solution
Practice problem 1
Practice Problem 2

Hint