Article ID: | iaor20011332 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 32 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 249 |
End Page Number: | 266 |
Publication Date: | Jan 1999 |
Journal: | Engineering Optimization |
Authors: | Hwang H., Lim J.M., Moon S.W., Chang I.H. |
Keywords: | inventory: storage |
The objective of this paper is the development of a design model for refrigerated automated storage and retrieval systems (R-AS/RS). Compared with ordinary unit-load AS/RS, the R-AS/RS under this study has several different design and operating characteristics: (1) greater emphasis is placed on the storage function and so it has a double-depth lane in the storage rack; (2) cooling units are required to maintain a cold temperature environment in the system; (3) the maximum number of storage orders handled per unit time is limited by the system capacity. Considering the above characteristics, the design problem is formulated as a non-linear mixed integer programming problem in which the cost of the system is minimized. The decision variables are the storage volume, the number of storage and retrieval (S/R) machines, the type and number of cooling units, and the physical configuration of the building. A case problem is solved to illustrate the model.