Sheet metal storage. Function and applications.

The figure shows a sheet metal storage unit with twelve drawers and four fixed storage surfaces. It is used to feed 4 x 2 m sheet metal panels to a laser system. The drawers are designed to be opened by hand. Since the lowest and the three top drawers are difficult to pull out due to their physiologically unfavorable position, they are actuated using levers and chain drives. The loading of the drawers with stacks of sheets is carried out using an overhead crane. Individual sheets are removed using a suction traverse and column slewing crane. The four fixed storage surfaces are provided for the loading of sheet stacks on wooden pallets, and are loaded using a forklift.