I. Battery-Powered Carts for the Steel Industry
Steel production-from raw material intake to finished product delivery-faces three major challenges: heavy loads, high temperatures, and complex materials. At the raw material stage, a single steel billet can weigh more than 20 tons; temperatures in hot rolling mills often exceed 60°C; and dust and iron oxide debris can corrode equipment components. Traditional material handling equipment, such as forklifts and crawler cranes, has long suffered from problems including insufficient load capacity leading to overloading, high failure rates under high-temperature conditions, and poor flexibility in complex working environments.
Currently, the mainstream material handling system in steel plants features a complementary structure of battery-powered carts, overhead cranes, and AGV robots. Among these, battery-powered carts-thanks to their strong adaptability to heavy loads, flexible application scenarios, and high customizability-are gradually becoming the core choice for short-distance transport within workshops.
II. Comparison of Mainstream Material Handling Equipment: Each with Its Own Strengths, Electric Flatbed Carts Break the Mold in the "Middle Ground"
The three main types of material handling equipment commonly used in the steel industry have distinctly different application scenarios:
Bridge Cranes: Operate via overhead tracks for high-altitude lifting, with load capacities ranging from 100 to 500 tons, suitable for transferring molten steel ladles and large billets across production areas. However, due to track limitations, they cannot perform short-distance ground transfers or flexible inter-workshop transportation. Additionally, they are expensive and require long installation times.
AGV Robots: Use laser navigation for automated movement, suitable for flexible delivery of light materials (≤5 tons), such as spare parts, enabling fully unmanned operation. However, under heavy-load, high-temperature conditions or in dynamic workshop layouts, navigation accuracy is easily affected, and their load capacity is insufficient for billet handling requirements.
Electric Flatbed Carts: Fill the "heavy-load ground transfer" gap, offering load capacities from 5 to 120 tons. They can be adapted to various environments through either tracked or trackless designs and can withstand high-temperature workshop conditions. Operating effectively above 60°C, and protected by sealed enclosures against dust and debris, they serve as a "key link" connecting cranes and production lines.
III. Steel Industry Adaptability of Battery-Powered Carts: Three Core Advantages Addressing Industry Pain Points
In practical steel industry applications, the advantages of electric flatbed carts are concentrated in three key areas: heavy-load capacity, environmental resistance, and cost efficiency.
1. Tiered heavy-load design:
Electric flatbed carts can be customized with 10–120-ton load-bearing platforms for different heavy materials such as steel billets and coils. For example, the DPX-120T rail-mounted model uses eight sets of φ600mm high-strength wheels to distribute pressure evenly, adapting to heavy-duty steel mill tracks and preventing ground subsidence.
2. Extreme environment protection:
The cart body is made of Q235B wear-resistant steel plates, while the motor and electrical system are equipped with high-temperature protective covers (withstanding up to 80°C). Dust scrapers installed at the track interfaces reduce wear on transmission components caused by iron oxide debris, lowering equipment failure rates by 40% compared with standard handling vehicles.
3. High efficiency and low cost:
Compared with bridge cranes, battery-powered carts have lower purchase and installation costs-requiring no overhead structure-and consume 50% less energy. Compared with fuel forklifts, their energy consumption is only one-third. Based on eight hours of daily operation, this can save more than 20,000 yuan per year in fuel costs. In addition, with PLC control systems, they can achieve semi-automatic operation, reducing labor requirements by one to two operators.
IV. Application Scenarios of Electric Flatbed Carts: "Full-Process Coverage" from Raw Materials to Finished Products
Across the entire steel production chain, battery-powered carts are widely used in multiple stages:
Raw Material Workshop:
Trackless electric flatbed carts transport iron ore and coke, precisely linking the hydraulic lifting platform with the silo to prevent material spillage, improving transport efficiency by threefold compared with manual carts.
Hot Rolling Workshop:
Rail-mounted electric flatbed carts equipped with high-temperature-resistant platforms (covered with heat-insulating ceramics) transport 200°C hot-rolled billets from the heating furnace to the rolling mill. The process requires no manual intervention and achieves a positioning accuracy of ±3 cm, preventing billet collision and deformation.
Finished Product Workshop:
Customized battery-powered carts with anti-slip rubber pads on the platform transport steel coils, achieving "point-to-point" delivery via remote control operation. When combined with a V-shaped frame device to prevent coil rolling, daily transport capacity can reach 30 coils-improving efficiency by 20% compared with traditional forklifts.
V. Selection Recommendations: Matching Scenarios and Needs to Maximize the Value of Electric Flatbed Carts
When selecting electric flatbed carts, steel companies should focus on two core factors: application scenario and operational need.
For fixed-route transfers within workshops (e.g., from the heating furnace to the rolling mill), rail-mounted electric flatbed carts are preferred due to their stability, low maintenance cost, and ability to operate continuously for 24 hours using low-voltage rail power.
For flexible, cross-regional transfers (e.g., from raw material warehouses to multiple workshops), trackless battery-powered carts are more suitable, especially those equipped with lithium batteries (≥8 hours of battery life) to support diverse operating conditions.
For high-temperature billet transport, a customized high-temperature protection package-including an insulated platform and motor cooling system-is necessary to prevent equipment damage caused by heat exposure.
In summary, battery-powered carts are not a "one-size-fits-all" solution. However, for the steel industry's heavy-load, high-temperature, and short-distance transport needs, they are both "efficiency drivers" and "cost-effective options." Selecting the right model ensures a smoother and more efficient production chain.
