The Austrian automation manufacturer B&R has made extensive use of its own technologies to control and monitor a new automated high-bay warehouse at its Eggelsberg headquarters. The 6,600m² warehouse (below), which has a capacity to store 18,000 pallets, each weighing up to 1,000kg, was been implemented by TGW Systems Integration, with B&R supplying the control, visualisation and drive technologies.

The 72m-long, five-aisle warehouse can store and retrieve up to 300 pallets an hour. The pallets are accelerated at up to 2.5/m² using B&R servo technology which incorporates regeneration to cut energy consumption by about a third.

Control and I/O come from B&R’s X20 system while safety is provided by a decentralised system based on its PowerlinkSafety and X20 Safelogic and SafeIO components. Visualisation is provided by B&R Automation Panels which allow the entire installation, or parts of it, to be viewed from any operator station.

Movements of stock are processed on an SAP system running on B&R Automation PCs. The whole warehouse system, down to individual I/O channels and drives, can be monitored remotely, and status information sent automatically by text messages or emails.