Toshiba rechargeable battery SCiB™ is a battery that overturns the conventional concepts and can be used in a variety of industrial sectors.
In our previous blog, we picked up the topic of 'EV buses' and gave examples of how their rapid charging and long life characteristics can reduce the number of buses.

• Read more about 'EV buses' here.

In this second blog, we present a case study of a 'AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot)' used in logistics warehouses. 
We would like to share with you some ideas for use on why the introduction of an AMR equipped with SCiB™ can increase the picking efficiency of a warehouse and thus reduce total costs.

Kindly note that the following is an example of a simplified model and may differ from actual operation.

The AMR is a system that "controls AMRs > has AMRs lift and move goods shelves > makes picking and shipment", and the system's merits are as follows:  

• can save time for finding goods, and moved quickly.
• can be system-controlled, so anyone can manage it.
• can be operated with a minimum warehouse floor space.

However, are there any concerns about the introduction of this system, such as

• AMRs are expensive, so they need to operate at high availability. This means that a large-capacity battery is needed?
• The charging time is necessary, so unless the units are available in large numbers, will shipments be delayed?

>>> The cost is totally high, so it is difficult to introduce the system.

AMR is powered by batteries, but did you know that the operation of the AMR depends on the batteries equipped?

For example, if an AMR runs for 15 hours after a 3-hour charge, like a mobile phone, the operating rate of the AMR is 15 hours/(15 hours + 3 hours) = 83%. This means that 17% of the time is wasted. If you want to have 100 AMRs in your warehouse at all times, you need to invest in 120 units of AMRs (=100 units/83%).
On the other hand, SCiB™ works for 3 hours after a 5-minute charge. To make it easier to compare, let's fit the operating times. Only 25 minutes of charging is required to run for 15 hours, and the operating rate of the AMR is 97% (=15 hours/(15 hours + 25 minutes)). If you want to run 100 units of AMRs, you only need 103 units of AMRs (=100 AMRs/97%), thus reducing the AMRs by 17 units.

To operate 100 AMRs at the same time, 120 AMRs are needed, taking into account charging time. 

• AMRs waiting to be recharged ⇒ Many robots are waiting.
• Charging space ⇒ Larger space is required.
• Capacity and number of batteries ⇒ Larger capacity and numbers of batteries are required.

To operate 100 AMRs at the same time, only 103 AMRs are needed, even taking charging time into account.​

• Robots waiting to be recharged ⇒ can be Minimized
• Charging space ⇒ can be Minimized
• Capacity and number of batteries ⇒ can be Minimized

Shorter charging times mean more operating rate of AMRs increase, resulting in the reduction of AMRs. Battery capacity can also be kept to a minimum, as the batteries can be recharged each time they run out and are ready for operation. The high operation of the AMR also contributes to minimizing the charge standby space and the number of the chargers. The space freed up can be used to make your warehouse itself more compact, or to increase the space for stock shelves in the same warehouse, leading to the more efficient operation of your warehouse itself.

Recently, lithium-ion batteries that can be quickly recharged have been introduced, and it seems that they are capable of similar operations, but what about in practice? The above charging/operating pattern shows that the number of cycles per day is significantly increased and you can find that only SCiB™ can provide this solution due to its excellent rapid charging and long life characteristics.

The ability to increase the AMR operating rate and to further reduce the on-board battery capacity is efficient in terms of resource utilization and contributes to the realization of the SDGs.

So far, following on from the described above blog, we have presented a case study of SCiB™.

• The number of AMRs can be reduced!
•  Reduced charging time allows for a reduction in total battery capacity!
•  The number of chargers and standby space for recharging can be reduced!
• AMR high availability allows you to operate your warehouse more efficiently!
  

We hope you understand that SCiB™'s characteristics to achieve rapid charging and long life at the same time brings many advantages, which ultimately lead to a reduction in total costs.

We look forward to your continued visits to this SCiB™ effective usage blog.
If you have any issues or concerns on your operations, please feel free to contact us. We hope to come up with solutions together.