Rapid Battery Charging for Industrial Material Handling Applications using Minit Charger LLC's Momentus System

Supply Chain facilities operate around a simple equation: facilitate the movement of goods from suppliers to end-users accurately, quickly, and efficiently enough that a commercial return is sure to follow. Above all, material handling efficiency is the most critical single factor within this equation, which can be boiled down further to how long forklifts can be kept in operation instead of sitting idle while being charged. Minit Charger LLC's proprietary Momentus rapid-charging system serves this exact purpose, solving the overall efficiency challenge by getting forklifts back to work faster and more consistently than any other technology on the market today.  

The Next Generation of Rapid Battery Charging for Electric Material Handling Equipment

Electric vehicles are ubiquitous in industrial markets these days thanks to their energy efficient, environmentally friendly operation, supporting applications from warehouse forklifts to airport ground equipment and beyond. While electric vehicles can be found across many different markets, they all share a single bottleneck that stifles their true potential: how long it takes to charge electric vehicle batteries.   

Electric material handling vehicles are generally offered with one of several common battery styles - wet cell lead-acid, gel cell lead-acid, absorbed glass mat lead-acid, and the newest variation of lithium-ion.  Each of these styles recharges using different methods and at varying rates. For example, wet cell lead-acid batteries may take up to eight hours to charge, followed by a necessary additional eight hours of cooling before the battery can be used.  To keep lifts in service across this charging period, multiple spare batteries are often physically swapped in and out of lifts, adding the safety concern of handling these haphazard battery packs on top of the long charging times. Lithium-ion batteries, on the other hand, offer a much faster charging time of two to four hours and do not require dangerous swap-outs, though come at a premium price compared to lead-acid batteries.  

Material handling companies are motivated to move towards lithium-ion batteries in an effort to drastically cut their charging and handling efforts, but this conversion is easier said than done. Too often, warehouse equipment built around lead-acid technology cannot be easily converted to lithium-ion, prompting new forklift purchases just to support the faster charging battery type. This quickly becomes cost prohibitive, forcing fleet managers to live with their existing limitations.  

That is, unless of course a next-generation technology existed that could bring rapid charging to all battery designs and vehicle types - readers might then ask, does such a technology exist? Yes, it does!

Minit Charger's Momentus Fast Charging System

With over twenty-five years in producing smart electric vehicle chargers for industrial, heavy commercial, and material handling industries, Minit Charger LLC has learned a thing or two about what end-users need from their equipment charging infrastructure. Minit Charger’s engineers have spent countless hours consulting with material handling companies across the country, gathering insight into how these companies deal with the barriers towards efficiency gains presented by their existing forklift fleets. Across all of this research, a single common clarion call emerged – unlocking the hindered efficiency levels in existing material handling vehicles has a greater economic impact than replacing all of those lifts with newer models, if only the simple function of battery charging could be streamlined. With this goal squarely in mind, Minit Charger created their Momentus model of rapid chargers, and the rest has been history.  

The Momentus fast-charging solution is a compact, single-port forklift battery charging station designed and built to meet the goal of universal rapid charging head-on.  For material handling customers in particular, the Momentus system offers:  

• Universal battery charging, agnostic of what battery type is connected
• Ultra-fast charging times, typically in less than three hours
• Proprietary, patented adaptive charging technology based on first-to-industry electrical circuits and algorithms
• Direct monitoring of a battery’s health, temperature, load profile, and charging profile, optimizing charging rates
• Extended battery life as the result of this patented technology  

Minit's rapid charging technology is built on more than just exceptional hardware and software - the high levels of customer service, data insight, and operational empowerment that end-users gain when partnering with Minit directly translate into real operational and competitive advantages. So much so that massive international brands such as Southwest Airlines, Nestle Foods, Boeing, Coca Cola Beverage, and Americold Cold Storage all trust Minit Chargers across their enterprises.   

Where Momentus Shines - Key Features and Benefits

Momentus is more than just another charging system – it’s a novel technological solution to the limitations of slow battery charging, helping owners unlock the potential of their existing forklift fleets without the need to purchase new lifts or batteries.  By targeting a solution on the charging end of the circuit instead of the battery end, Momentus can deliver day-one forklift efficiency gains bolstered by these key features:  

• Charges lithium, lead acid, and AGM batteries, both in low and high voltage
• Accepts universal AC input, 208 to 520 VAC, 3 phase, and produces a nominal 20kW / 200A of charging output power
• Offers a patented adaptive charging system, which extends battery and charger lives compared to conventional technologies
• Available in wall or pedestal mounting, providing fast and easy installation
• Directly integrates into the AssetPro360 cloud platform (more on this below)
• Offers a Power Factor of >0.95 and Efficiency Rating of average 94%
• Integrated electrical protection against over current, over voltage, under voltage, ground fault, and over temperature limits
• Includes a 7" LCD screen graphical interface with touch controls
• Connects natively to Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Ethernet networks
• Can operate in extended temperature environments ranging from -13° to 122° F (-25°  to 50° C)
• Compact size measuring 22" tall x 20" wide x 12" deep, and weighing approximately 90 lbs.  
   

Momentus Charger Application Examples

To help convey just how many applications can be served, here’s a brief list of common warehouse equipment types that customers charge with a Momentus charger:  

• Forklifts
• Powered Pallet Jacks
• Airport Cargo Vehicles
• Pallet Stackers
• Order Pickers
• Reach Trucks

Early in this article we mentioned a cloud software platform called AssetPro360. Minit Charger LLC’s sister company Access Control Group is a leading telematics hardware and service provider focused on helping material handling businesses get the most out of their equipment fleet as a function of operational efficiency. Access Control Group provides AssetPro360 as a cloud-based system designed to manage warehouse equipment, chargers, batteries, and personnel all within a single ecosystem. Coupling AssetPro360 with Momentus charging stations brings both worlds together in an unbeatable way – Momentus amplifies charging efficiency to get forklifts back to the warehouse floor faster, and AssetPro360 captures critical charging and functional data to amplify operational efficiency even farther.  

How Momentus Fast Charging Solutions Can Serve You 

Minit Charger's engineering team is ready to help clients understand how the Momentus Charging System can improve their material handling fleet's efficiency and total operating costs.  Interested clients need only reach out to Minit's Chandler, Arizona headquarters for a non-salesy technical review of their needs either by visiting Minit's website or calling (908) 789-8700. Once Minit's engineers have a good understanding of a client's objectives, the team will offer multiple options including sharing additional information, setting up a live or virtual demonstration, and providing a proposal for an ideal solution.  Not ready to talk application specifics yet? No problem - clients are invited to request general information on any electric charging topics via this contact form.