Express Cargo Takes Off With Apollo

Express Cargo

Moving cargo by air can be very expensive and is usually undertaken when time is of the essence. Therefore, anything which helps reduce the time cargo spends in transit sheds or holding areas is vital.

The ability to identify consignments, or individual packages, rapidly, very much depends on the standard of lighting in the transit areas. But providing even, glare free lighting over a large area which is filled with storage racks is no mean feat. The racks themselves can create large shadowy areas in all the wrong places: fill them with packages and the problem becomes worse.

The new Irish Express Cargo facility at Linwood, Paisley, presented all these problems on a huge scale. The storage racks were some 13.5 metres tall, with alleys for the 'cherry picker' fork trucks only 2 metres wide, the whole area being some 9500 square metres (or 102,750 square feet!).

The storage system was made up of 68 racks, 21 bays per rack, each bay with 7 levels. The total capacity being almost 20,000 (yes, twenty thousand!) pallets.

The Apollo design team, after detailed research and very careful calculations, produced an innovative solution. Using fairly standard 'highbay' type fittings the team designed a unique luminaire which performs the task admirably.

The luminaire comprises two highbay fittings joined by a fully enclosed control gear unit which also provides the suspension system fixing point. By employing this method, the number of fixing points is halved but the light output, per luminaire, is doubled. At the same time the uniformity, or evenness of the light, over the whole area is improved.

Accurate location of each luminaire in relation to the racking was essential to avoid unwanted 'dark spots'.

The light levels achieved ensure that labels or other identifying marks on packages can be rapidly located, and recognized, before the goods are sent on their way.