Horizontal Carousels
There are many different types of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) and horizontal carousels are one of them. Horizontal carousels are intended for high throughput, piece pick and pack operations. Horizontal carousels are also used for sorting and consolidating applications. High density storage is also another huge determining factor as to why companies purchase horizontal carousels.
A horizontal carousel is composed of vertical shelving structures, typically referred to as bins. Each bin on the horizontal carousel has shelves that can hold many different products or SKU’s. There are usually one or two drives per horizontal carousel and is dependent up on the size of the horizontal carousel and the weight it will be loaded with. Horizontal carousels are used for efficient picking and high density storage. In order to maximize the efficiencies in the speed of operating horizontal carousels, most applications require multiple horizontal carousels set up into what is commonly referred to as a “Pod or Zone” of carousels.
While you are operating one carousel, other carousels (usually between a total of 2 to 4 carousels) can be pre-positioning for the next operation to be performed. This prevents the operator from having to wait and search for items. Piece picking operations, as well as consolidation or sorting operations, are often used with pick/put to light systems. These systems are also implemented with horizontal carousels to increase speed and accuracy by directing the operator where to pick and/or put the items to. Horizontal carousel pick and put to light systems are very common and are typically limited by the carousel software that is operating the carousels and light systems.
A fully automated horizontal carousel is created by adding an insertion and extraction device at the front or rear of the machine. The insertion and extraction device will take “totes” from inbound conveyor lines and load them into the horizontal carousels. When a request for a specific tote comes into the carousel software system, the insertion and extraction device moves vertically to the appropriate position and horizontal carousel rotates the correct bin position where the tote is located. The insertion and extraction device then pulls the tote out of the horizontal carousel and then discharges it to an outbound conveyor system. This device is used in applications such as kitting operations, liquor cases, tote systems for WIP (work in process) as well as an accumulation or staging location for order consolidation.
There are two major designs of horizontal carousels. The original horizontal carousel was a top drive horizontal carousel. The top drive horizontal carousel was originally designed for light duty applications where the bins on the horizontal carousel are not more than 8 feet tall and weight capacities are less than 600 pounds. The bottom drive horizontal carousel was designed to have a longer life cycle than the top drive horizontal carousel. Because of the design of the bottom drive horizontal carousel, you can have horizontal carousel bins as tall as 20 feet and weight capacities in the thousands of pounds.
