ETV system at University library Regensburg, Germany
An electric track vehicle system (ETV) is a
conveyor system
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...
for light goods transport. The system uses independently driven vehicles traveling on a monorail track network, consisting of straight track elements, bends, curves and transfer-units for changing of travel direction. Vehicles in an ETV system transport payloads up to 50 kg both vertical and horizontal in buildings and manufacturing plants. ETV systems were primarily put on the market in the sixties by German company Telelift.
Later additional companies like
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
or
Thyssen engaged in this business.
Initially, electric track vehicle systems were designed for documents transport and mail distribution in office buildings and headquarters. Later, further applications were designed for hospitals, libraries, printing plants, retail stores and material handling in manufacturing plants.
Mainly transported goods are:
* Hospital:
blood plasma
Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the intra ...
, lab samples, pharmaceuticals,
sterile utilities, patient records, x-rays and hospital consumables
* Library: books, newspapers, journals, media
* Headquarters, ministries, office buildings: documents, mail, parcels
* Printing plants:
printing plates
* Retail stores: garment, shoes, jewelry, luxury goods
* Manufacturing plants: component parts, assemblies, tools
Electric track vehicle systems operate horizontal and vertical in one and the same vehicle per transport job. Conveying without transfer allows gentle transport of sensitive goods. Vehicle destination is usually typed into a
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
terminal at the station. The vehicles operate with a speed up to 1 m/s.
The modular design of Electric Track Vehicle systems allows widespreading track networks. E.g., the ETV system in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
in Paris consists of 6.6 km tracks, 151 stations and 300 vehicles.
References
External links
ETV system at National Library of New Zealand
Material-handling equipment
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