• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.66-68
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• 2022

Forklift trucks are frequently used in logistics warehouses and factories to transport large amounts of cargo. Among the recent accidents at industrial sites, the number of accidents caused by forklifts was the highest. Most accidents are caused by being hit or caught by forklifts. Various safety devices are being applied to prevent forklift accidents. This paper analyzes the efficiency of introducing a smart control method to prevent industrial accidents that may occur in the operation of forklifts. The smart control method generates an amount of money for initial introduction, but if subsidies are secured through government-supported projects, the burden on the workplace will be reduced. When a smart control method is introduced, it is possible to prevent collisions between workers and forklifts and accidents of trapped forklifts.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 2016

Recently, drivers have begun to regard comfort in the cabin as one of the most important factors in construction equipment like forklifts. Accordingly, it has become more important to design a forklift cabin with a better sound quality as well as lower sound level, which can make a driver more comfortable. In this paper, the correlation between subjective evaluation and Zwicker's sound quality index was analyzed through a blind test by a few workers in forklifts and other construction equipment in several countries. Correlation analysis showed that Loudness and Sharpness were ranked in sequence, and tendencies were different from country to country. Also, contribution analysis for Loudness and Sharpness using operational transfer path analysis (OTPA), which is widely used in the field of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), was performed. However, Loudness and Sharpness cannot be used with OTPA directly because there are no linear relationships between the sources and receivers. In this paper, both are calculated by applying the DIN 45631 method with a contribution rate (%) of 1/3 Octave Sound Pressure Level by OTPA method in addition to considering spectral masking.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.898-904
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• 2010

Unmanned autonomous forklifts have a great potential to enhance the productivity of material handling in various applications because these forklifts can pick up and deliver loads without an operator and any fixed guide. There are, however, many technical difficulties in developing such forklifts including localization, map building, sensor fusion, control and so on. Implementation, which is often neglected, is one of practical issues in developing such an autonomous device. This is because the system requires numerous sensors, actuators, and controllers that need to be connected with each other, and the number of connections grows very rapidly as the number of devices grows. Another requirement on the integration is that the system should allow changes in the system design so that modification and addition of system components can be accommodated without too much effort. This paper presents a network-based distributed approach where system components are connected to a shared CAN network, and control functions are divided into small tasks that are distributed over a number of microcontrollers with a limited computing capacity. This approach is successfully applied to develop an unmanned forklift.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1051-1058
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• 2011

Unmanned autonomous forklifts have a great potential to enhance the productivity of material handling in various applications because these forklifts can pick up and deliver loads without an operator and any fixed guide. Especially, automation of pallet loading and unloading technique is useful for enhancing performance of logistics and reducing cost for automation system. There are, however, many technical difficulties in developing such forklifts including localization, map building, sensor fusion, control, and so on. This is because the system requires numerous sensors, actuators, and controllers that need to be connected with each other, and the number of connections grows very rapidly as the number of devices grows. This paper presents a vision sensorbased autonomous loading and unloading for network-based unmanned forklift where system components are connected to a shared CAN network. Functions such as image processing and control algorithm are divided into small tasks that are distributed over a number of microcontrollers with a limited computing capacity. And the experimental results show that proposed architecture can be an appropriate choice for autonomous loading in the unmanned forklift.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.113-119
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• 2012

This paper describes the design and control of a phase shift full bridge converter with a current doubler, which can be used for the on-board charger for the lead-acid battery of electric forklifts. Unlike the common resistance load, the battery has a large capacitance element and it absorbs the entire converter output ripple current, thereby shortening the battery life and degrading the system efficiency. In this paper a phase shift full bridge converter with a current doubler has been adopted to decrease the output ripple current and the transformer rating of the charger. The charge controller is designed by using the small signal model of the converter, taking into consideration the internal impedance of the battery. The stability and performance of the battery charger is then verified by constant current (CC) and constant voltage (CV) charge experiments using a lead-acid battery bank for an electric forklift.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2018

Forklifts in a shipyard lift and transport heavy objects. Tasks occur dynamically and the rate of the task occurrence changes over time. Especially, the rate of the task occurrence is high immediately after morning and afternoon business hours. The weight of objects varies according to task characteristic, and a forklift also has the workable or allowable weight limit. In this study, we propose an online forklift dispatching algorithm based on nearest-neighbor dispatching rule using minimal cost assignment approach in order to attain the efficient operations. The proposed algorithm considers various types of forklift and multiple jobs at the same time to determine the dispatch plan. We generate dummy forklifts and dummy tasks to handle unbalance in the numbers of forklifts and tasks by taking their capacity limits and weights. In addition, a method of systematic forklift selection is also devised considering the condition of the forklift. The performance indicator is the total travel distance and the average task waiting time. We validate our approach against the priority rule-based method of the previous study by discrete-event simulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the exposure levels of forklift operators to diesel engine exhaust(DEE) using black carbon(BC), elemental carbon(EC), and nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) as indicators. Methods: A total of eight forklift operators in six collection companies were assessed over a period of two months from July to September 2015. BC was measured using a real-time monitor and respirable EC samples were analyzed using the NIOSH method 5040. $NO_2$ samples were collected using a passive badge-type sampler. Results: The geometric mean of BC, EC and $NO_2$ were $3.1-19.1{\mu}g/m^3$, $2.1-23.8{\mu}g/m^3$, and 12.5-166.6 ppb at all companies. When forklifts were operating both outside and inside, BC concentrations increased 2.0-5.6 times. The highest increase was observed when forklifts were operating indoors. The increase in BC concentrations varied by company(company A: 2.0 times, B: 3.2 times, C: 5.6 times, D: 2.1 times, E: 5.1 times, F: 2.6 times). The geometric mean of BC, EC, and $NO_2$ for the forklift operators was $9.6{\mu}g/m^3$, $7.9{\mu}g/m^3$, and 48.9 ppb, respectively. The geometric mean of BC, EC, and $NO_2$ for manufacturing workers was $9.3{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.9{\mu}g/m^3$, and 85.2 ppb, respectively. The mean BC and EC exposure levels for the forklift operators were slightly higher than those for manufacturing workers, but $NO_2$ levels for manufacturing workers were higher than those for the forklift operators(p>0.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that diesel exhaust emissions standard, forklift weight and forklift manufacturer were the most influential factors in determining worker exposure. Conclusions: In the DEE work environment, workers who perform tasks within the workplace as well as inside forklifts as operators are likely to be exposed to a lack of ventilation. Further study of forklift operators' exposure to DEE indicators should be conducted to include a wider range of occupational and environmental situations, such as collection procedures, seasonal situations, types of fuel used, and number of forklifts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2018

A forklift is used to lift materials above a height of 2 m. The width of the fork determines the weight of the material it can carry. In this paper, three models of fractured forklifts were analyzed to determine if the fracture was caused by load fatigue due to the width of the fork. The position of the fork was fixed on each model, and a 2.5 ton load was placed at the upper part of the fork. The width distances on each of three models were 500 mm, 750 mm and 1000 mm, and the maximum equivalent stresses were 237.5MPa, 227.62MPa and 230.99MPa, respectively. This analysis demonstrated that as the load increased with use of the wider fork, the fatigue life remained to be nearly equivalent irrespective of fork width among all three models. The results of this study contribute to the durability and safety design of forklifts.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.184-194
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• 2018

In this paper, we propose a rapid-charging system for the lithium-ion battery (LIB) packs used in electric forklifts. The battery offers three benefits: reduced charge time, prolonged battery life, and increased charging efficiency. A rapid-charging algorithm and DC/DC converter topology are proposed to achieve these benefits. This algorithm is developed using an electrochemical model, which controls the maximum charging current limit depending on the cell voltage and temperature. The experimental use of a selected 18650 LIB cell verified the prolongation of battery life on use of the algorithm. The proposed converter offers the same topological merits as a conventional resonant converter but solves the light-load regulation problem of conventional resonant converters by adopting pulse-width modulation. A 6.6-kW converter and charging algorithm were used with a forklift battery pack to verify this method's operational principles and advantages.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.57-65
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• 2021

This paper explains a DMFC-Lithium Battery hybrid system applied to a forklift. A conventional Lead Acid battery forklift has several problems: long charging times, short operation times, and frequent battery replacements. As a result, hydrogen-powered forklifts are replacing Lead acid battery-powered forklifts due to their shorter refueling time and longer operation times. However, in doing so, we are confronted with the problem of a high hydrogen refueling infrastructure. A Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC), on the other hand, is an eco-friendly generator that directly converts the chemical energy of methanol into electricity. In general, DMFC is regarded as a small power generator under kW power. In this paper, a DMFC-Battery hybrid system is applied to a 1.5 ton forklift by increasing the power output of the DMFC stack and utilizing the high charge-discharge characteristics of a lithium battery.