The energy efficiency marathon: part III

Siemens Logistics Hub based in Vienna developed and constructed the high-bay system

More than 30,000 visitors, 130,000 kilometers and 290 stops: Siemens is saying goodbye to its Energy Efficiency Roadshow. On its way through Brazil, China and Europe, people were informed on how to optimize industrial processes and to improve competitiveness in a sustainable way. As a result, partnerships were formed and contracts entered. Some of these will be introduced here:

Siemens and EDF

Siemens and Tisco

Siemens and Audi

The new energy efficiency standard EN 50598-2

This week, we will take a look at Audi, one of the fastest growing car manufacturers in the world. At its plant in Győr, Hungary, Siemens has constructed a high-bay warehouse using energy efficient drive technology and a powerful automation system for Audi AG. This helps the car manufacturer to optimize capacity at the individual production stations and reduce its energy consumption.

There is a lot to do in the western Hungarian town of Győr: Audi employs more than 10,000 people for the production of its Audi A3 Sedan, Audi A3 Cabriolet, as well as the Audi TT Coupé and Roadster. In order to ensure an optimized production capacity of its more than 38,000 vehicles yearly, the car manufacturer awarded Siemens with a fully automated high-bay warehouse in its highly modern plant: installed 30 meters high, providing space for over 400 car bodies.

Siemens, or rather the Siemens Logistics Hub based in Vienna, developed and constructed the high-bay system, called the Central Body Buffer (ZKP), as a turnkey solution complete with the building itself. On about two kilometers in length, the fully automated conveyor system links the central body buffer with body shop, paint shop and assembly. By the time they reach the final assembly, all bodies have passed through the high-bay warehouse twice: as unpainted and as painted bodies. All bodies can be returned each time to the appropriate sequence for the individual stages of production, despite the wide variety of models and versions.

Siemens developed the controller of the storage and retrieval machines and the conveyor system for the body buffer on the basis of its Simatic S7 controllers. The bodies are conveyed by means of 350 Siemens electric motors together with frequency converters. The integrated drive system is equipped with energy-saving motors and is capable of recovering and storing kinetic energy. This means that it captures braking energy, stores it and makes it available to other drives. Siemens has further set up an RFID system that uniquely identifies each body stored in the body buffer and on its way through production. The result: fewer undesirable network perturbations, lower power consumption, more flexibility and increased productivity. In short: completely energy-efficient.