With APACHE contour and APACHE conveyor checker from AKL-tec, air freight containers and pallets are precisely measured before loading. This is necessary because every minute counts at airports, as does exact adherence to the dimensions. If this is not the case, the goods may not fit on the plane and the pallet may have to be rebuilt or rebooked at great expense. The solution also prevents protruding projections or deformations that damage the aircraft fuselage and lead to unnecessary repairs and downtime. With APACHE contour, the contour of the built-up pallets is checked by integrating the system into a conveyor line or installing it above a built-up area. Scanning laser scanners scan either a pyramid-shaped or inverted-pyramid-shaped contour, depending on the requirements. A stable and dense 3D image is then generated and height, length, width, volume and contour type are determined. Additional sensor technology helps distinguish between the load carrier and the actual cargo. In the associated software, the operator selects the airline and aircraft type, whereupon he is shown the determined contour deviations for the selected container type or a list of contours to be checked. The APACHE conveyor checker is a 1-scanner solution and displays the effective height of the built-up contour as well as the actual load. During the in-process measurement, the maximum height and the utilization rate are determined with centimeter accuracy and captured in a 3D image. To meet today’s Big Data requirements, the 3D data and photos of the freight are archived so that they offer analysis options. “With the two APACHE, air cargo organizations can load aircraft optimally, which not only leads to an increase in efficiency, but also to process reliability during apron loading,” knows Rüdiger Elben, Managing Director of AKL-tec GmbH.
