Manual material handling around pneumatic conveying lines creates a specific set of constraints that most warehouse automation wasn’t built to solve: narrow aisles, mismatched pallet types, and transfer errors that stop production. This blogcovers how a four-product AGV solutions was engineered specifically to close those gaps — from raw material intake to finished goods stacking.
Why Manual Handling Breaks Down Around Pneumatic Lines
Facilities running pneumatic conveying for new energy materials, chemicals, or food production face handling constraints that compound at scale.
Aisle and equipment mismatch. Standard forklifts require aisles of 3400-3800mm to operate. Narrow warehouse zones simply can’t accommodate them. Most handling equipment is also built for a single pallet type — facilities using both grid-style and row-style pallets end up purchasing and maintaining separate equipment for each.
Collision and positioning risk. Mixed human-vehicle traffic increases collision risk on the floor. Manual positioning errors during transfer are a recurring cause of unplanned line stoppages.
Cost pressure. Labor-intensive handling keeps operating costs elevated in exactly the production zones — new energy, chemical, food — where margin pressure is highest.
A Four-Product AGV Solutions Matched to Pneumatic Conveying Scenarios
Rather than offering a single general-purpose AGV, the deployed system uses four distinct AGV solutions, each engineered for a specific handling task within the pneumatic conveying workflow — and all integrated with the conveying system on one coordinated platform.
1. Latent (tow-type) AGV chassis — flexible general-purpose mobile platform
Built on laser SLAM plus 3D visual dual navigation, requiring no floor magnetic strips or QR code markers. Supports rapid on-site deployment and secondary development, with mountable rollers and material racks for circulating powder bins and material box workstations between fixed points.
- Load capacity: 600kg / 1000kg / 1500kg (three configurations)
- Dual-wheel differential drive supports in-place rotation
- Positioning accuracy: ±10mm
- Multi-layer protection: laser, 3D vision, mechanical collision sensing, dual front/rear emergency stops
- Power: 48V lithium iron phosphate battery, 8-hour runtime, 1.5-hour fast charge
- Connectivity: WiFi/4G/5G, automatic return-to-charge on low battery
2. Dual-side pallet AGV forklift — one vehicle, two pallet types, built for narrow aisles
Designed for facilities running both grid-style and row-style pallets without needing to purchase separate vehicle types for each.
- Natural navigation via 3D SLAM, capable of mapping spaces up to 80 m² (large-area mapping)
- Obstacle avoidance response time: 0.5 seconds
- Minimum operating aisle width: 2400mm — roughly one-third less storage space required versus traditional forklifts
- Rated load capacity: 1500kg
- Lift height: 180mm
- Dual-speed adjustment for loaded and unloaded states
- Multi-layer protection: vision, laser, photoelectric, and mechanical sensing, paired with tri-color light and audio alerts
- Maintenance: 8-year core motor replacement cycle, 3-year battery service life, designed for long-term low operating cost
3. Heavy-duty AGV forklift — 2-3 ton capacity for clean and cold-chain environments
Built for bulk powder and paste-product outbound handling where high load capacity and a compact footprint both matter.
- Maximum load capacity: 3000kg
- Minimum turning radius: 1627mm
- Navigation: selectable 2D or 3D SLAM
- Repeat positioning error: ≤10mm
- Climbing capability: 5% grade loaded, 8% grade unloaded — handles minor workshop floor slopes without difficulty
- Standard protection: laser and mechanical collision sensing plus cargo detection
- Supports scheduled automatic charging for continuous round-the-clock operation
4. Stacking AGV forklift — 2 to 5.5 meter high-position stacking for vertical storage gains
Engineered specifically for pneumatic conveying facilities that need to maximize vertical warehouse space.
- Lift height range: 2000mm to 5500mm
- Storage capacity increase: 40%+ through better use of vertical space
- Equipped with lateral cargo shift and aisle-width adjustment for stable high-position operation
- Minimum aisle width: 3200mm, compatible with dense racking configurations
- Fork-mounted photoelectric cargo detection plus full collision protection package, supporting stable stacking of multiple material types
Five Core Technologies Built for Industrial Pneumatic Conveying Conditions
Infrastructure-free autonomous navigation. The full product line supports laser SLAM natural navigation with no floor markers required. Production line layout changes can be remapped with one click, cutting deployment cycles by 70% — relevant for facilities expanding lines or reconfiguring workstations.
Three-tier full-zone safety protection. Long-range acoustic/visual deceleration, mid-range secondary slowdown, and near-range emergency stop work together with radar, 3D vision, and ultrasonic and mechanical collision sensing to prevent powder leakage incidents and equipment collisions — meeting chemical and food production safety standards.
Long-life lithium battery power. Industrial-grade lithium iron phosphate batteries rated for 1,500 charge cycles, with standard 8-hour runtime and 1.5-hour fast charging. Automatic rotational charging supports continuous 24/7 lights-out operation.
5G multi-vehicle fleet coordination. WiFi/4G/5G connectivity supports unified scheduling across multiple AGV units, linking pneumatic conveying control, WMS warehouse systems, and MES production systems so material flow is fully traceable end to end.
Cross-industry environmental adaptability. Dust-proof and shock-resistant equipment design supports deployment across new energy battery powder, food paste products, chemical plastics, cold-chain storage, and automotive manufacturing pneumatic conveying lines.
Operational Results
- Space efficiency: Dual-side pallet AGVs operate in aisles as narrow as 2400mm, cutting required storage aisle space by roughly one-third compared to traditional forklifts
- Vertical storage gains: Stacking AGVs increase usable storage capacity by 40%+ through high-position stacking up to 5.5 meters
- Deployment speed: One-click remapping after layout changes cuts deployment cycle time by 70%
- Continuous operation: 8-hour standard runtime with 1.5-hour fast charging and automatic rotational charging supports 24/7 unmanned operation
- Positioning precision: ±10mm to ≤10mm positioning accuracy across product lines eliminates the manual placement errors that previously caused line stoppages
Why Wijay for AGV and Pneumatic Conveying Integration
Wijay operates two production bases — in Dongguan and Hunan — with an independent R&D center at Songshan Lake handling AGV hardware, navigation algorithms, and dispatch system development in-house.
Service scope covers the full project lifecycle: free on-site survey and custom solution design, synchronized delivery of pneumatic conveying systems and AGV solutions, rapid on-site deployment and commissioning, and a nationwide service network for long-term post-installation support.
Wijay maintains overseas offices in Hong Kong and Poland, supporting international smart manufacturing projects alongside domestic deployments — so facilities planning automation upgrades across multiple regions work with one coordinated team rather than separate regional vendors.
