With the CrossBelt-Tray, Siemens Mobility is offering a novel concept for efficient baggage sorting. This handling concept combines the advantages of fast, safe bag transport on trays with the tried and tested, space-saving crossbelt sorting system. Bags are fed into and out of the system smoothly on one level – sparing them the shocks of falling and sliding down chutes. This trendsetting concept offers completely new system layout options, which is especially advantageous when space is limited.

The tray technology is an important element of baggage handling systems at larger airports. Trays transport bags safely and failure-free at high speed. Each individual bag in the system can be uniquely identified and tracked. The use of trays is in great demand in order to achieve high transport speeds and guarantee the shortest minimum connecting times. This particularly applies to hub airports, many of which already have satellite terminals, and an increasing number of the remainder are being expanded by the construction of such terminals. Crossbelt sorters have long since proven themselves in distribution logistics, where they feed goods quickly and safely into and out of conveyor systems, and have the added advantage of having a compact footprint.

Siemens has combined these two technologies in its new baggage-handling CrossBelt-Tray. Each tray in the baggage handling system is equipped with a crossbelt. As with regular trays, these trays are trough-shaped, and the crossbelt has a correspondingly concave form. This ensures that bags lie securely on their trays during transport. The crossbelt integrated in the tray enables a bag to be diverted on one level, in contrast to the previous procedure in which the tray was tilted to allow the bag to slip out to the side. Bags are fed in through feed-in stations, which are usually conveyor belts in the case of baggage sorting systems. The conventional method of loading a bag onto a tray from the top has been eliminated. A tray can be loaded or unloaded dynamically from either side while moving at a speed of up to 1.5 meters per second. Both the tilting mechanisms, which are technically complex and prone to mechanical faults, and the associated sliding procedures, which are sometimes difficult to control, have been eliminated, which also saves a substantial amount of floor space.

The crossbelt has a purely mechanical drive via a toothed belt and transfer box gearing. This so-called passive drive variant requires neither an electricity supply via slide contacts nor complex, expensive linear motors. The motion of the crossbelt is initiated via toothed belts near the trough track guidance in the feed-in and feed-out areas. A high-performance Siemens Sinamics drive controller handles the highly demanding task of precise and synchronous feed-ins and feed-outs.

This combination of material handling technologies facilitates very compact system layouts. The integrated conveying and sorting technology is especially suitable for use when redesigning or expanding systems in buildings with limited space. This technology also offers an attractive alternative for the design of early bag stores. Instead of buffering bags in trays, an early bag store can be designed as a simple belt line. This reduces both the number of trays that have to be held and the space required by the store in the system. The CrossBelt-Tray can also be used for conveying bags out of the check-in area. A short conveyor belt loads checked bags onto trays located directly behind the counter. However, such a layout using conventional troughs does not present a very attractive appearance in sight of customers, and it is also costly. Moreover, eliminating the unnecessary change in the means of conveyance at the check-in improves the material flow.

The weight and dimensions of the troughs correspond to that of those used in Siemens' current tray technology. This means that existing classic tray systems can be equipped with this new technology without having to replace the present conveyor elements. The combination of crossbelt and tray is especially advantageous in systems with a large number of widely separated transfer points.

Further information about Siemens airport logistics can be found under: http://www.siemens.com/airport-logistics

A photograph accompanies this press release. You can access the photo in the Internet under:http://www.siemens.com/mobility-pictures/IUS11076777

Caption:
With the CrossBelt-Tray, Siemens is offering a novel concept for efficient baggage sorting. The tray is equipped with a crossbelt. Bags are fed into and out of the system smoothly on one level – sparing them the shocks of falling and sliding down chutes.