CPH Design has obtained valuable data on the strength of their newly developed airport luggage trolley which FORCE Technology has tested in a realistic working day environment.

It is hard work to be a trolley in a modern airport as several tonnes of suitcases and other goods are carried every day. This takes its toll on the rolling stock!

It is also hard work for the staff, who have to lift and move piles of luggage every day to and from the heavily loaded aircraft.

A few years ago CPH Design decided to ease the burden and launch an innovation for automated baggage handling within aviation.

As part of the automated process, the connection between check-in and aircraft ended up with the creation of an automated airport luggage trolley.

“We wanted to create a link between the fully automated handling of baggage from check-in and the semi-automated reading that is performed at the aircraft. We wanted a working environment-friendly product which could meet the high safety requirements for baggage handling in airports today. A new trolley where the baggage can be loaded into 8 compartments at 4 levels took shape on the drawing board and in 2007 we were ready to test a prototype,” says Project Manager Jesper Moe of CPH Design. For more information visit www.cphdesign.biz

Identification of welding and material lifetime

FORCE Technology has tested the airport luggage trolley. And the test itself was designed to ensure that the test result reflected the performance of the trolley in a realistic working day environment.

“We are aware that the dynamic impact takes its toll on the structure. Welding methods and choice of materials are therefore in focus when the rolling stock is subjected to uneven roads and bulky and heavy loads. We have carried out strain gauge measurements at selected points of the trolley in operation to identify the lifetime of welding and materials. We established a test route in collaboration with CPH Design, which the trolley followed both with and without carrying a load. We recorded the measurements on a PC for further analysis and subsequent presentation for CPH Design,” says Flemming Andersen, Project Manager of FORCE Technology’s welding department.

Export potential

Jesper Moe and CPH Design have great expectations for the success of the new airport luggage trolley on the export markets. The trolley has been put into production and will be seen in many airports worldwide in the future.

“FORCE Technology did a good job with the different test scenarios we conducted. We obtained essential evidence of the trolley’s strength and relevant suggestions for improvements. I think FORCE Technology quickly got to grips with the task and carried it out. The first 150 trolleys will soon be rolled out in Copenhagen Airport for SAS Ground Service while many more are in the pipeline,” says Jesper Moe.