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26 f+h Intralogistics 2/2013 More than a niche product A 2-way truck built from standard fork lift components rationalises internal logistics The experts at Vale S.A. were amazed, when the Rotrac E2 demonstrated its potential. Convinced by its performance, the Brazilian mining and transport company ordered an example of the 2-way truck, built completely from standard fork lift components. T he story of the Rotrac E2 2-way truck is an unusual one - as is the technology that went into it. At Bauma 2010, Linde Material Handling (Linde MH) from Aschaf- fenburg, Germany, announced that they were making their entire know-how and production skills in the area of electric drives available to other mobile equipment manufacturers. “Our first discussions took place directly at the trade fair itself,” says Stephan Zwiehoff, whose company G. Zwiehoff built the electric trucks. We signed the contract for the job right after the fair, and the first Rotrac E2 proto- type was completed just three and a half months later. In the meantime, Zwiehoff marketed the truck, built by Linde subsidi- ary Proplan, world wide. “e task of the Rotrac E2 is to pull loco- motives and railcars in unloading docks and repair workshops. is requires very high tractive force, and the trucks must also be able to change rails – which is why they’re called 2-way trucks,” explains Maik Manthey, Area Leader New Business & Products for Linde MH. e Rotrac E2’s electric four wheel drive delivers so much torque to the rails, and the pressure on the rails is adjustable with mo- bile guide rollers in such a way that the compact truck can pull 250 ton loads with- out difficulty. And when track changes are necessary, the electric four wheel/stiff axle steering gives it a turning radius on asphalt of just 0.9 m. is innovative and – in the context of rail technology – unique drive concept was developed using standard components from Linde MH’s fork lift truck catalogue. e truck has two drive axles (AE 18-05 48 V 2 x 4.5 kW S2-60) with a type AC S10 48V inverter. Its controlled braking also makes it possible to use energy recovery systems. e fully-synchronised single-wheel drive is controlled by two Linc1 ECU’s, one per axle, operating in a master-slave configuration. e system is rounded out with a sluice board, DC/DC converter and charging circuit, all with components which which have demonstrated their reliability in series production applications. Even the cable harnesses are taken from the standard fork lift truck parts catalogue. e battery is a 48 V/420 Ah traction unit; the backup battery provides sufficient power for a full 01 The radio controlled 2-way truck is used for railcar pulling by Vale S.A. Photos: Linde MH INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS About Linde Linde Material Handling GmbH, from Aschaffenburg, Germany, a Kion Group company, is a world leader in lift trucks and industrial trucks for warehouse applica- tions. The company also provides its decades’ long experience and know-how in the development and manufacture of electrical drive solutions to its customers in numerous applications. As a company with international operations, Linde Material Handling has production and assembly facilities in all important world markets, as well as a global sales and service network with offices in more than 100 countries. In 2011, Linde Material Handling, with its workforce of 13,800, booked a turnover of 2.86 billion euro.
