Case Study
Casters strong enough to carry 63,000 kilograms? No problem
The starting point
AVT Europe NV manufactures driverless heavy-load transporters for moving heavy goods – such as aircraft parts or railway carriages. The transporters resemble massive mobile platforms, which are equipped with intelligent electronics. They are remotely controlled and can carry loads of up to 100 tonnes.
Compact build, high working load
The weight of the transport load is evenly distributed across all of the castors by means of air cushions. The heavy-duty transporter has load-bearing wheels and driven wheels. The former are always in use and support the main load. The drive wheels, by contrast, are designed to be lowered to the ground automatically, as and when needed, and they also help to set the transporters in motion.
For AVT, it is important that all the castors have a comparatively small diameter, yet can still withstand heavy loads of up to 12 tonnes while in motion and 20 tonnes while stationary. Outstanding quality and maximum durability play a decisive role in this. Supreme quality and excellent durability are also key factors because the transporters are supplied to various companies, including big names like Daimler, Airbus and the nuclear research institute, CERN.These companies need to provide a reliable transport service for extremely high-quality goods.
The discerning customers of AVT expect a lifetime of 20 years and a warranty of 2 years. Our task was to provide casters that meet this diverse set of requirements without compromise.
Our smart mobility solution
To cope with the extreme operating conditions, our special Omikron quadro casters were used. They are characterized by their special design: The casters have two wheels to the left and two wheels to the right of the centre. This gives them a higher load-bearing capacity. At the same time, however, the point loads are low, as the applied weight is better distributed over the larger contact area.
They are therefore particularly easy to steer even under heavy loading. This is because the counter-rotation of the wheels around the common centre makes the rolling and pivoting resistance significantly lower than the resistance of casters with just one wheel. This differential effect gives the Omikron quadro incomparable agility.
The drive wheel was custom-made and was developed in close cooperation with the AVT staff. The wheel has a diameter of 400 millimeters and an overall height of 500 millimeters. Another crucial advantage: Another advantage is that all the running surfaces are polyurethane, which is good for handling characteristics and easy on the floor Naturally, we considered the task holistically and provided AVT with an intelligent solution in which all components are perfectly coordinated with each other.
What convinced us was the durability of the special-purpose casters - and the know-how of our business partners at TENTE.
Maarten Van Looveren, General Manger at AVT Europe
Excellent durability and rapid adaptation to market needs
The AVT heavy-duty transporters are capable of carrying goods with a gross weight of 63 tons. The sophisticated design of the casters provides supreme durability and an impressive improvement in rolling resistance. AVT therefore needs less powerful drive systems for its transporters and also saves energy.
In addition, the company can also rely 100 percent on something else: on us. Thus, our employees in Belgium work closely with AVT and are at hand to support the provider of heavy-duty transporters with any future special developments. We are extremely flexible and can therefore respond to the growth of the company. No doubt this is another reason why AVT is planning to use TENTE casters in its future projects.
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TENTE Casters, Inc.
2266 Southpark Drive
Hebron KY 41048
United States
Phone: +1 859 586 5558
Email: sales.us@tente.com