SHANGHAI, Feb. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 15, the first 6 units of an order for 30 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) produced by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) for its client, Smart Eco Trans LLC, were delivered to the project site in Mongolia, marking the successful entry of the heavy-duty equipment maker's products into its 106th export destination worldwide, and the 77th country to which ZPMC has supplied equipment as part of the Chinese government's Belt and Road Initiative. The vehicles will be used to shuttle goods and commodities back and forth at the Ganqimaodu - Gashuunsukhait crossing separating China and Mongolia.
The AGV route will shuttle over a 4km track (of which 3km are on the Chinese side), connecting the AGV loading/unloading area at the Gashuunsukhait checkpoint in Mongolia to the new customs inspection site at the Ganqimaodu checkpoint in China. The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 affected the transport of minerals across the China-Mongolia border, vastly reducing the amount of cargo that could be cleared during a given time period. To meet the new customs clearance rules that were put in place by the two governments to prevent the spread of the disease, ZPMC took the lead in proposing a general scheme of using hybrid AGVs for cross-border cargo transportation, front cranes for heavy container handling in the loading/unloading area, and forklifts for empty container handling, delivering a solution which successfully filled the need for automated land cross-border transportation. Once the facility is operational, customs clearance handling will become multiple times more cost-and time-effective than the previous manual process.
The AGVs deployed a diesel engine and lithium battery hybrid power system developed by ZPMC, representing a substantial improvement over earlier oil-electric hybrid power systems. Given the harsh environment of the port, the main components were not only designed to endure sandstorms, but also to be insulated and heated with technology to withstand the extreme local operating conditions where temperatures over the course of the year could fluctuate between -40°C and 40°C. A wiring harness routing structure was chosen, which can better solve the interference problem while allowing for a significant reduction in wiring time - from two days to two to three hours - without sacrificing wiring quality. For ease of operation, seamless local and remote switching between pure electric, hybrid and diesel modes was added as a feature.
The successful implementation of the project provided a wealth of experience and a large amount of data for the future diversification of AGVs and will serve as a useful example for the application of AGVs in more sectors.
