56 DC VELOCITY JANUARY 2015 www.dcvelocity.com
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For a TFC Investment Analysis and more information
visit http://connect.cascorp.com/tfc
Perfect clamp force
every time…
No more guesswork.
2014
Eliminate Product Damage
due to Over Clamping
TFC™ - Touch Force Control
An innovative new clamp force control
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Up to 486 different load configurations
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TOUCH FORCE CONTROL
800 CASCADE (227-2233)
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time lost driving to a battery room, which
may be on the far side of the building.
Battery-powered trucks gradually slow
down as voltage declines. Hydrogen fuel
cells, by contrast, maintain constant
power until the fuel tank is empty; Marsh
compares it with a gasoline-fueled automobile, which performs at a constant
level until the tank runs dry. He says the
combination of constant power coupled
with faster refueling can improve operator productivity by up to 10 percent, and
that in some environments, it may be
possible to handle up to 5 percent more
moves on a shift than in a battery-change
operation.
Grocery and food distributors are
among the technology’s regular customers. One reason is that hydrogen is well
suited to temperature-controlled warehouses and DCs. Hydrogen cells have performed effectively at temperatures well
below zero, according to the advocacy
group Fuel Cells 2000.
Some companies’ interest in fuel cells
is driven by corporate sustainability initiatives, says Steve Dues, vice president,
Crown Equipment Corp. Because their
only byproduct is water and heat, hydrogen cells can be a good choice for environmentally conscious companies. And
because fuel cell users are not buying electricity to charge batteries, they can reduce
both their peak power demand and their
overall energy consumption.
With scheduled maintenance, hydrogen fuel cells typically have a useful life of
about 10 years. A lead-acid battery may
need to be replaced every three years or
so, says Marsh, who notes that any battery’s performance quality and longevity
will vary depending on the application,
run times, and other factors.
Critics often cite the high costs of hydrogen production, delivery, and storage and
fueling infrastructure as major drawbacks.
To help counter those concerns, supporters have issued a steady stream of favorable cost analyses of the total cost of ownership for hydrogen-fueled forklifts. One
example is a 2013 study conducted by the
federal government’s National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), which considered the capital costs of battery and fuel
cell systems and the associated costs of
moving pallets.
Only one fuel cell stack (an
assembly of cells that produces the
required amount of power) is needed per vehicle, while a multishift
operation that changes out batteries
requires a separate battery for each
shift. Hydrogen-powered trucks,
moreover, run longer than comparable battery-powered ones—most
estimates say a fuel cell can power
a vehicle for 12 hours. Place hydrogen dispensing stations at locations
throughout the warehouse, and
operators won’t have to drive far to
refuel. That eliminates some of the
