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 technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
or
Thyssen engaged in this business.
Application
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 (color), amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but which contains Blood protein, proteins and other constituents of whole blood in Suspension (chemistry), suspension. It makes up ...
, 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 a type of electronic visual display, display that can detect touch input from a user. It consists of both an input device (a touch panel) and an output device (a visual display). The touch panel is typically l ...
terminal at the station. The vehicles operate with a speed up to 1 m/s.
The modular design of Electric Track Vehicle systems allows wide spreading track networks. E.g., the ETV system in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
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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