Airport Baggage Handling

Loading and unloading of containers, trucks, swap bodies and so-called unit load devices (ULDs) is a particular challenge for handling machinery. At airports, for example, the demand is mounting for reliable solutions by which baggage can be handled quickly and gently. Schmalz presents the CargoSwitch: a new development to satisfy all these requirements, a flexible telescoping belt conveyor enabling efficient, dynamic transport of unit loads.

Baggage handling at airports and loading trucks are tasks that often involve strenuous physical labor. Nevertheless, unit loads with variable weight are often loaded manually, with negative consequences for both employee and employer. Musculoskeletal disorders can result in long downtimes and follow-up expenses. This makes partial automation and health-oriented design of manual labor processes particularly important in unit cargo handling. However, when containers and trucks are often loaded “to the rafters”, conventional handling solutions come up against their limits. For this reason, Schmalz presents a new technological development: the CargoSwitch, a telescoping belt conveyor that receives, orients and transports unit cargo.

This novel telescoping belt conveyor takes a single operator, who controls the system by an intuitive, easy-to-use operator handle and is no longer required to lift the cargo manually. To unload unit cargo, the CargoSwitch conveyor is driven between goods like a wedge. As soon as there is sufficient friction, the goods are pulled onto the two parallel conveyor belts of the CargoSwitch. There they can be rotated at will to align them for depositing in the intended place. Running in the other direction, the conveyor can be used to load containers, swap bodies and ULDs. This innovation can handle stable, solid unit cargo pieces of up to 50 kilograms in weight each and up to 1,000 millimeters wide. The conveyor belt can accommodate up to four unit pieces, or up to 200 kilograms, at once. The CargoSwitch can be extended from about 900 millimeters in length to up to 3,500 millimeters. To cover the entire working area, it can be swiveled up to 20 degrees in vertical and up to 40 degrees in horizontal direction.

Use of this conveyor solution brings many advantages: It increases picking rates, it can be deployed flexibly, and it can be integrated into existing conveyor systems easily thanks to an open interface. Downtimes due to health concerns resulting from manual loading and unloading are minimized. Unit flow rates remain constant and productivity is increased. Depending on the requirements, the CargoSwitch can be mounted on the ground or on a mobile platform that allows it to be deployed at any other loading ramp as well.   

To unload unit cargo, the CargoSwitch conveyor is driven between goods like a wedge, for example when handling baggage on an airport.

Click here to view the video animation of the CargoSwitch.