Travel time analysis of the dual command cycle in the split-platform AS/RS with I/O dwell point policy

Tian Liu (), Xianhao Xu (), Hu Qin () and Andrew Lim ()
Additional contact information
Tian Liu: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Xianhao Xu: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Hu Qin: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Andrew Lim: City University of Hong Kong

Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, 2016, vol. 28, issue 3, No 4, 442-460

Abstract: Abstract In conventional automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), storage and retrieval (S/R) machine travels simultaneously in the horizontal and vertical directions. However, S/R machine cannot support overly heavy loads, such as sea containers, so a new AS/RS, called split-platform AS/RS (SP-AS/RS), was introduced and studied in recent years. The SP-AS/RS employs vertical and horizontal platforms, which move independently, and are capable of handling heavy loads. The vertical platform which represents an elevator (or lift) with the elevator’s lifting table carries the load up and down among different tiers and the horizontal platform which represents the shuttle carrier or the shuttle vehicle can access all cells of the tier in which it belongs to. Single command cycle (SC) and dual command cycle (DC) are two main operating modes in AS/RSs. However, travel time models in all previous articles related to the SP-AS/RS are only for the SC. In this study, we first present a continuous travel time model for the DC in the SP-AS/RS under input and output (I/O) dwell point policy and validate its accuracy by computer simulations. Our model and simulation results both show that the square-in-time rack incurs the smallest expected travel time. After comparing with the existing model for the SC, we find that the DC is better than the SC in terms of the expected travel time.

Keywords: Automated storage and retrieval systems; Split-platform systems; Travel time analysis; Analytical modelling; Simulation; Performance analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10696-015-9221-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:flsman:v:28:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10696-015-9221-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10696

DOI: 10.1007/s10696-015-9221-7

Access Statistics for this article

Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal is currently edited by Hans Günther

More articles in Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().