Vol. 337 No. 8 (2026)
DOI https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/8/5798
Analysis of the peak power of a stacker crane multi-axis electric drive system for automated warehouse
Relevance. Electric drive systems for hoisting and transport mechanisms with a common DC link (stacker cranes in automated warehouses, stacker-reclaimers at transshipment terminals) are characterized by intermittent short-term loads with alternating motor and generator modes. Peak power consumption from the power grid determines the required installed capacity of the facility and the capital expenditures for technological connection. The industrially used method of coordinating axle speeds (aligning travel times) is used by leading equipment manufacturers as an engineering heuristic without formally substantiating its optimality. Aim. To theoretically substantiate the optimality of the criterion for aligning axle travel times in the problem of minimizing peak power consumption from the grid and to quantitatively evaluate the method effectiveness using a stacker crane in an automated warehouse as an example. Methods. Simulation on a simplified energy model of a stacker crane, parametric study on a regular grid of 24000 computational points, and direct comparison with the global optimum using an exhaustive search method for the speed setpoint with local refinement. Results and conclusions. The coordination problem is formalized as a minimax problem with the objective function of peak power. The authors proved the exact optimality of the duration equalization criterion in the idealized symmetric case: optimality is ensured by the monotonicity of the total power consumption based on the fast axis speed setpoint. A parametric study showed that the method reduces peak power consumption from the grid by a median of 46% (up to 62% at individual operating points) in 94% of operating cycles without increasing the cycle duration. Direct comparison with the global optimum on 24000 points showed a median deviation of 0.03%. The method realizes more than 95% of the peak power reduction potential at 93% of the calculation points. The maximum degradation does not exceed 2.1%. The authors stated practical recommendations for applying the method at two levels: without a computer model (duration alignment criterion or duration calibration table) and with a computer model (step-by-step optimality verification method). The proposed verification method is formulated in general terms and is applicable to arbitrary electric drive systems with a common DC bus.
For citation: Nakataev A.A., Ziuzev A.M., Mudrov M.V. Analysis of the peak power of a stacker crane multi-axis electric drive system for automated warehouse. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering, 2026, vol. 337, no. 8, pp. 255–267. http://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/8/5798
Keywords:
electric drive, stacker crane, DC bus, axle speed coordination, peak power, minimax task, automated warehouse
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