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Mobile rack AS/RS dimensions optimization for single cycle time minimization

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Abstract

The present work aims primarily to study the Automated Storage/Retrieval System (AS/RS) with sliding racks. This type of system makes it possible to save considerable storage space on account of its structure which is composed of a set of racks arranged in parallel. It also has one single Storage/Retrieval machine. The special feature of this system lies in the fact that the service aisles only appear when a storage or retrieval operation is planned in the corresponding racks. In addition, the racks can slide to free up space between two adjoining bins, hence allowing the Storage/Retrieval machine to access the desired rack. This study is particularly interested in optimizing the dimensions of this system while minimizing the single cycle time. The analytical expressions for the single cycle time which is the basis of our optimization have three positive real variables, namely the travel time in the horizontal direction, the travel time in the vertical direction, and the travel time along the aisles, with a positive real parameter that represents the travel time of the sliding racks. In addition to the causal constraints of horizontal and vertical transport times, we are also faced with a constraint that is related to the size of the system and the constancy of this size, which brings us back to an optimization problem involving real numbers of three-variable functions parameterized with constraints. In order to overcome this problem, it was decided to relax the constraint related to the size of the system, which led us to an optimization problem with two parameterized variables only. Since the analytical optimization was difficult to achieve, it was deemed more interesting to perform a numerical simulation to determine the three optimal temporal dimensions, for any given value of the sliding time of the racks. The temporal dimensions obtained will make it possible to find the optimal length, optimal depth and optimal height of the system knowing the horizontal speed and the vertical speed of the storage/retrieval machine. These results are very important when designing and building the sliding rack AS/RS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of Tlemcen Faculty of Technology, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria

    Sihem Kouloughli & Zaki Sari

  2. Laboratory of Statistics and Random Modelisations, Faculty of Science, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria

    Malika Korso Feciane

Authors
  1. Sihem Kouloughli
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  2. Malika Korso Feciane
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  3. Zaki Sari
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I confirm that all authors listed on the title page have significantly contributed to this work. They all have read the manuscript and attested to the validity, legitimacy of the data, and to their interpretation. They all agreed to its submission.

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Correspondence to Sihem Kouloughli.

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Kouloughli, S., Korso Feciane, M. & Sari, Z. Mobile rack AS/RS dimensions optimization for single cycle time minimization. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 121, 1815–1836 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-09450-3

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