Many sensitive operation sites, including medical supply storage zones, precision electronics manufacturing workshops and signal station surrounding warehouses, widely adopt electric pallet trucks to improve indoor material handling efficiency in recent years, while many operation teams have not paid enough attention to the potential risks brought by electromagnetic interference generated during the operation of such electric industrial equipment.

It is necessary for relevant personnel to first make clear the basic source of electromagnetic interference from electric pallet trucks. The power drive system, motor controller and built-in wireless communication module of the equipment will radiate certain intensity of electromagnetic signals during frequent start-stop, high-load continuous operation process. Under conventional industrial scenarios, the signal intensity fully meets the general industrial electrical safety standards, which will not bring any adverse impact on surrounding ordinary equipment. But in sensitive sites, the surrounding precision measuring instruments, life-support related medical devices and high-precision communication signal receiving facilities usually have far stricter requirements for electromagnetic radiation threshold than ordinary industrial scenes. Slight abnormal signal overflow may lead to non-expected conditions such as equipment reading deviation, short-time signal interruption.

Targeted EMI management work can be divided into three key phases. In the equipment selection phase, the operation side is advised to submit full electromagnetic environment parameters of the site to the equipment provider in advance, confirm that the selected electric pallet truck’s electromagnetic compatibility index fully matches the special requirement of the sensitive site, and choose models with targeted anti-radiation optimization design properly. In daily operation phase, the management team shall arrange regular inspection on the radiation intensity of in-use electric pallet trucks by qualified testing institutions, to prevent abnormal electromagnetic signal overflow caused by circuit aging, shielding layer damage of old equipment. Dispatchers shall plan exclusive driving routes for material handling vehicles, reserve enough safety distance between vehicle running paths and high-sensitivity equipment layout areas, so as to reduce the possibility of electromagnetic interference contact from the spatial dimension.

In addition, the on-site management team can build a regular communication mechanism between electromagnetic environment management department and material handling team. When new high-precision facilities are added to the site temporarily, the operation team can adjust the running schedule and route of electric pallet trucks timely, avoid arranging vehicle operation near the sensitive area during the key working period of core precision equipment. Through multi-dimensional reasonable control measures, the operation side can give full play to the low-carbon, high-efficiency advantages of electric pallet trucks, and will not cause adverse impact on the stable operation of core facilities in sensitive sites, realizing safe and orderly daily operation.