Heated cabins

HEATED CABINS

TAKING THE CHILL OUT OF COLDSTORES

Productivity and operator comfort can be vastly improved with our range of heated cabins. Frozen operators and frequent shift changes could be a thing of the past, as companies begin to use heated cabin electric reach trucks in their freezer warehouses.

In the past, operators have had to wear bulky suits, and have had to endure temperatures down to minus 25 degrees Celsius. After working in the cold for around 25 minutes, operators required an almost equivalent amount of time to thaw out. Hence, the labour force was only really working for fifty percent of the time.

We design and fit cabins to all makes and models of reach trucks. Each cabin is built to suit each individual truck ensuring maximum sealing and heat retention.

BUILDING A FREEZER CAB

The heated reach truck cabin begins life as a standard reach truck. The truck is measured and then the existing structure of the truck is used to form the basis of the metal and polycarbonate skin that will encapsulate the forklift.

The various corner sections are placed between the body of the truck and the overhead guard, and connecting pieces welded in between. Thus, the cabin extension effectively becomes a one piece unit, welded together. Visibility is kept to a maximum, whilst the see through panels are made form ultra tough polycarbonate.

The chassis of the truck is often reinforced in key areas to ensure that operator damage will not extend to the cabin, whilst the door panels are formed from a single piece of 2mm steel for the skin, reinforced by a square hollow tube frame.

It may also be required to separate the mast form the overhead guard, so that the mast flex and twist often encountered with such trucks does not transmit to the cabin. We are careful to not disturb the original size, shape and infill of the overhead guard and maintain its structural integrity. As far as rollover protection is concerned the cabin fitted unit would enhance the operators ability to stay within the confines of the cockpit to prevent crushing.

TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED CABINS

Of course, all this work would be useless without some form of heating to keep the operator warm. Self contained flat-pack blowers are coupled with flat heating elements to minimise space occupied by the blower. These heaters are then installed in various locations, depending on the type of cabin and the room available.

Any alterations required to existing components, such as the dash, are kept to a minimum.

To set the temperature, all that is required is for the operator to dial in the temperature via the dial on the console. The inbuilt thermostat then takes care of the temperature automatically.

The blower can be seen installed on the door near the operators feet but not obstructing his access to controls. There is also a heater mounted near the operators upper body to evenly distribute heat.