// HIGH CYCLE
60,000 cycles per year is considered normal duty for most material handling equipment. Any more than this, and especially over 100,000 cycles per year, is considered high cycle duty. High cycle applications, such as garage lifts, automated systems and high-speed conveyor lines, must be given special consideration to ensure structural design features of any related material handling equipment will not prematurely disable or destroy the equipment. And above all, safety must never be compromised.
The useful life of lifts can be prolonged with special design solutions. For example, enhancing structural features at all wear points, such as high impact spiral wound bushings at all pivot points, heavy-duty maintenance-free needle bearing rollers, and removable/hardened flat bars on the path of all rollers, ensures the safe, continued use of a lift.
To accurately and consistently control high cycle speeds during both raising and lowering, a double-acting cylinder and hydraulic circuit is required. Otherwise, down speeds rely on the effects of gravity and the available system pressure retracting a single-acting cylinder.
Autoquip has an experienced technical staff and team of design engineers that are well-acquainted with the requirements for lifts and other equipment that must withstand the demands of a high-cycle application:
Vertical conveyance system - Mechanical VRC lift with powered conveyor bed automatically controlled in a multi-level conveyor system processing pallets of paper.
Shingle manufacturing - Single-acting custom scissors table in an automated system with hydraulically cushioned cylinders was designed to increment up during off-loading of layers of product, then completely retract in less than 2 seconds.
Automotive skillet transfer - High-capacity single-acting scissors lift with powered conveyor was used in the side-transferring of empty "skillets" in an automotive assembly process.
Automotive blanking operation - Heavy duty scissors lift with a powered conveyor mounted to a powered transport base was used to receive and transfer stacks of sheet metal to a blanking operation.
Inventory control lifts - High-speed, programmable, mechanical VRC used to store and/or recall parts as part of an automated inventory and conveyance system at Disneyland gift shop.
Robotic welding operation - Powered turntable used in a 24/7 manufacturing plant to precisely position subassemblies for welding every 90 degrees of rotation. While welding was done on one side the turntable, off-loading and on-loading was done on the other side.