Oxygen / Nitrogen SMART Trolley used to provide nitrogen to inflate aircraft tyres
Semmco developed an innovative oxygen and nitrogen smart trolley to provide a safe, efficient and mobile solution for inflating aircraft tyres, helping to streamline ground servicing operations and reduce manual handling.
The Challenge
Despite Semmco having a portfolio of Nitrogen and Oxygen trolleys, there was a need to provide customers with a low cost addition to the range which included safety features to address the manual handling of cylinders along with a design suited to economical international shipping.
The trolley was to be used to provide Nitrogen at low pressure for inflation of aircraft tyres and high pressure for strut and accumulator inflation. It had to be easy to use and cost-effective to maintain. Maintenance would be needed to ensure correct calibration of the control panel but this would be a challenge while in service.
Standardising business activities to ensure cost-effective and smooth running of operations is vital in any current market, and none more so than in the world of shipping. Worldwide shipping of cargo of varying sizes and weights costs time and effort for a business so when Semmco came to design a new low cost Nitrogen and Oxygen trolley, consideration had to be given to how the SMART trolley could be packed for transport to minimise costs. Once a trolley reaches its destination it needed to be in operation quickly. Another challenge facing Semmco was to simplify the trolley design to allow for a quick and easy assembly at the final destination.
The Solution
The resulting innovative design became the SMART trolley which is capable of sitting on a standard shipping pallet for worldwide destinations. The equipment is shrink-wrapped and is easy to disassemble on the pallet and assemble for use in approximately 20 minutes.
This trolley has been designed so that when the cradle is pulled forward it lifts the front wheels off the ground and stabilises ready for the cylinders to be rolled into place. The cradle then tilts to a pivotal point which acts as a counter balance and takes the strain when laying the cylinders to rest on the trolley.
The frame was constructed of steel and coated in Skydrol resilient paint with road-going pneumatic wheels which are mounted onto heavy duty tapered roller bearing hubs. A turntable-mounted tow bar incorporates a safety lift and braking and parking system.
Control panel gauges are clear and well labelled in the recessed control cabinet so markings and instructions can be created in line with customers’ requirements. Finger-tight cylinder connectors can be specified to accommodate the differing needs of various countries’ cylinder connection requirements and the control panel allows for the gas supply to be taken from the front panel with easy and safe connection for hoses. In order to calibrate the control panel every 3 years a solution was found with service exchange – the customer would receive a panel to replace the one in situ.
The trolley is also suitable for use with Oxygen cylinders. The Oxygen trolley would be used for such tasks as topping up of Oxygen therapy cylinders and onboard Oxygen.
