A Green Clean Sweep

Nilfisk-Advance has released three new models in its ride-on sweeper-scrubber line, including diesel and liquefied petroleum (LP) hybrids. The sweeper-scrubbers are designed for industrial cleaning applications where large surface area is involved, such as warehouses or manufacturing facilities.

A Green Clean Sweep

Nilfisk-Advance develops range of hybrid and electric sweeper-scrubbers

By DJ Slater

In an effort to provide greater efficiency and eliminate issues surrounding hydraulic leaks, Nilfisk-Advance, a global manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment including sweepers and scrubbers, has developed a new range of hybrid and electric drive ride-on sweeper-scrubbers for large facility applications. The new CS7000 line is intended to replace the Captor line of battery and engine-powered machines, both of which utilized hydraulic pumps, motors, hoses and valves.

“Electric drives are a more efficient alternative to hydraulics and, considering the level of power required for floor-cleaning machines, can be designed into cost-effective systems that provide greater energy efficiency, resulting in increased runtimes and reduced fuel consumption,” said Mike Kanitz, a product manager at NilfiskAdvance’s North American headquarters in Plymouth, Minn. “With the price of fuel being what it is, the demand for low costs and more efficient, sustainable cleaning is definitely there.”

The CS7000 line incorporates two hybrid-drive models and one battery-based machine. The hybrid sweeper-scrubbers are available with either liquefied petroleum (LP) gas or diesel engines, Kanitz said. All three models, which were launched this year in North America, Central America and South America, target industrial cleaning applications such as in warehouses, shipping areas and manufacturing facilities.

The LP machine is powered by a 0.96 L, three-cylinder Kubota WG972 Tier 3-compliant engine rated 30 hp, while a 1.26 L, three-cylinder Kubota D1305 Tier 4-compliant engine rated 29 hp is used on the diesel model. Those engines are smaller than the 1.6 L engine used in the predecessor Captor line, and Kanitz said the company went with a smaller engine because it of its compact size and better efficiency. A 36 V battery provides power to the ePower all-electric machine.

The engines drive a Niehoff brush-less alternator through a belt-drive system that powers the electrical components used to operate the propulsion, steering, scrubbing and sweeping systems. The steering and propulsion functions are operated through brushless ac drives, while dc motors are used for the cleaning systems. The propulsion drive results in a maximum transport speed of 5.5 mph and a working speed of 3.5 mph.

The sweeper/scrubber system incorporates a 36 in. x 12.2 in. main sweeping broom, two front side brushes, a 115 sq.ft. Donaldson high-capacity PowerCore UltraWeb filter with a variable frequency shaker, three, 17 in. disc scrub brush drives, a dust-control fan and two vacuum fan motors with a 48 in. water lift capacity, Kanitz said.

Because the sweeper-scrubbers use a cylindrical sweeping system and a separate disc scrubbing system, it is able to clear debris and scrub a surface area in one pass, he said. The CS7000s have a 48 in. triple disc scrub deck that provides up to 400 lb. of scrub pressure. The sweeper-scrubbers have a sweeping coverage rate of 146,400 sq.ft. per hour and a scrubbing coverage rate of 118,600 sq.ft. per hour, as well as two, 75 gal. recovery and solution tanks.

The LP hybrid machine has a runtime of up to 5.5 hours per 32 lb. LP tank, while the diesel hybrid gets up to 15.5 hours per a 9.2 gal tank. The hybrids are also able to operate on battery power for about 15 minutes if the user runs out of fuel.

The diesel and LP hybrids in the new CS7000 sweeper-scrubber line are based on Kubota engines, while an all-electric version incorporates a 36 V battery.

 “If you run out of fuel, you can use the battery to drive the vehicle to refuel,” Kanitz said. “If you want to operate the machine in a confined space, where you don’t want exhaust fumes or heat, with reduced noise, you can do that as well by running it off the battery.”

The hybrid models produce about half the emissions of comparable models, while the battery-powered model, which has a runtime of 5.4 hours on a single charge, doesn’t produce any emissions. The ePower machine is also quieter, with an operating level of 72 dB(A), while the LP and diesel hybrid model operate at 82 and 81 dB(A), respectively.

The CS7000s incorporate a button-based control panel with a variety of functions. The control panel has signal indicators and switches for increasing or decreasing solution amounts, adjusting broom height and the filter shaker, controlling detergent amounts, and raising or lowering the hopper. Level indicators for the solution tank, fuel and battery charge levels are included, as well as sweep/ scrub and engine runtime and broom direction from a central LCD display.

The panel also controls optional features such as the EcoFlex system and DustGuard. The EcoFlex system gives users more control over the CS7000s’ cleaning capabilities, such as reducing solution strength or using a 60-second burst of maximum cleaning power. The DustGuard helps reduce airborne dust generated by side broom sweeping by as much as 85%, Kanitz said. The DustGuard releases an ultrafine mist that suppresses dust particles, which are redirected back into the brooms. “(The mist) weighs down the dust particles that rise up off the floor, which keeps them on the ground,” he said.

Also optional are pressure washer and heated water systems that provide users a more flexible and effective cleaning option, Kanitz said. The heated water option uses waste heat from the engine coolant without additional fuel cost or the need to fill the tank with hot water for improved cleaning performance and minimal detergent usage.

All three models of the CS7000 measure 97 in. long by 48 in. wide and 59 in. high. The height hits 79 in. with the low clearance overhead guard and 82 in. with the standard overhead guard.  dp

www.advance-us.com/cs7000



October 2011 DIESEL PROGRESS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION

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Cats at Home in Houston's Convention Center

Photo courtesy of the GRBCC

If you happen to find yourself attending a conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX, there's a good chance you'll spot one of the cats they have running around inside.  But not the animal kind of cat, the working kind.  Late last year, the City of Houston managed facility took delivery of 10 new Factory Cat 34HD sweepers to help maintain their 1.2 million square feet of exhibition space.  The sweepers are used on hard floor surfaces as well as on the massive amount of carpeting throughout the facility.  These battery powered machines have been tested to be within LEED certification standards for indoor noise levels proving ideal for maintaining traffic areas in the exhibitor halls, even during shows.

The George R. Brown Convention Center was opened on the east side of downtown Houston on September 26, 1987.  It was named after the late Houston entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist George R. Brown, who donated 6 of the 11 blocks needed to accommodate the original 1.15 million square foot construction.  Near the end of 2003, the convention center completed an expansion project growing the facility from 1,150,000 square feet to 1,800,000 square feet, placing it among the top 10 largest convention centers in the US.  Impressive in size, the building's architecture is equally striking and one cannot help but notice its remarkably distinctive appearance, resembling that of a huge ocean-liner. 

Photo courtesy of the GRBCC

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More Than Strictly Business

We often take extra time during this season to pause, take a step back, and reflect on things we're thankful for.  So we'll put business aside for a moment.

Meet Goldie and  her pup Lucky, CRT's resident greeters and shop assistants.  Goldie was likely less than a year old when we first met her, a stray who would stop by to say hello every few days.  We quickly learned that she was afraid of people and wouldn't trust anyone to touch her, however that didn't seem to keep her from visiting.  And while she'd regularly sit outside our office in the parking lot, reach out to pet her and she'd run off.   This went on for  about 6 months or so.  Eventually she became bit bolder and began to venture into the shop through an overhead door.  Although she remained very cautious, as long as you left her alone she'd often get comfortable and lay down.  What started out as sporadic visits for minutes at a time turned into daily  visits, often for hours.

Goldie before the pups (note how clean the concrete is)  :)

Soon thereafter we started to notice something.  Goldie was getting bigger.....as in pregnant bigger.  While watching her "grow" we began observing signs that she may be starting labor, causing a dilemma for us.  Do we continue to let her run free and risk her giving birth in a ditch somewhere, or do we attempt to keep her from leaving, something that would obviously stress her out?  We opted for the latter.

Since we didn't know when she became pregnant we had no idea when she would have her pups.  She was showing signs of labor and we were certain she had to be close,  and that coupled with the newness of being contained made us certain that this had to be very stressful time for her.  Goldie had grown to trust me the most for some reason (she would sit next to me and I could actually touch the top of her head) so I decided to help her.  Now I've been known to "live" at the office, however for the next 12 days I literally did just that, sleeping in the bed of my truck in our shop, positive each night she was going to have her litter.  When she finally did, she gave birth to 7 pups.

Mom and her pups on Day 1 (Lucky's in there somewhere)

We didn't fully know what we were getting ourselves into.  Being a stray, mom's diet wasn't the best and she didn't have a good supply of milk, which meant bottle feeding 7 hungry pups over the next 6 weeks.  Eventually they were old enough to start eating on their own and we began attempting to find them good homes. We were successful with 3 of them and everything was looking great for the others until the next challenge came.

Lucky

Parvo is a merciless canine disease, especially with puppies, and it wound up rearing its ugly head in our area.  The timing could not have been worse as we had planned on starting them with their first round of vaccinations not knowing when we would find them homes.  Unfortunately it hit before we could do that.  Literally within days this nasty disease took the lives of 3 of the 4 remaining pups, in spite of another succession of nights spent in the bed of my truck administering  meds while feeding liquid to them at 30 minute intervals (special thanks to Sandy and Earl for participating in some of that).  The last remaining pup, Lucky as she was later named for apparent reasons, looked like a skeleton and I had decided to put her down later in the day.  I just didn't have the heart to go through another night of watching her fade as I had watched the others.  But Lucky was a fighter and she began showing slight signs of responding.  The mere fact that she lasted more than a couple of days gave us hope and sure enough she turned the corner.  Of course we had to keep her.

I've been told Goldie waits at the window
 for me to get back from meetings

Today you can find Goldie and Lucky happily romping around our yard content to call our workplace their permanent home.  Goldie now begs us to pet her and Lucky is even showing interest in our industry.  She has had her nose (mouth) in everything from shop rags to equipment manuals to side brooms, and has even tried her paw at machine and trailer wiring.  She has the disassembly part down pat.

Honestly, they are a joy to have around.  I know they are thankful for us, and we for them.

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Which One's Right For You?

Not sure what type of floor cleaning machine your industrial facility needs?  There are machines that sweep, machines that scrub, and machines that both sweep and scrub.  All three of the aforementioned types of machines will clean your floor and each will do it with varying levels of "clean".  We're often asked to explain the differences between them and here's some detail that you might find useful.

Rider Sweeper

A sweeper is designed to sweep, or pick-up all sorts of dry debris such as litter, pallet pieces, metal shavings, sand, gravel, dirt and surface dust from your floor.  Often they're referred to as "vacuums" however this type of equipment doesn't genuinely vacuum up debris.  Typical sweepers in our industry are termed "mechanical" sweepers.  This means the sweeper utilizes a cylindrical broom, rotating at a fair rate of speed, mechanically "throwing" debris into a hopper.  Industrial sweepers do have a vacuum system coupled with a filter which serves  to control the dust being generated by the mechanical sweeping function.  

Diagram of debris/dust flow
in a sweeper hopper

Have you ever swept a dusty floor with a push-broom and noticed the airborne dust it creates?  Industrial sweeping machines utilize flaps positioned around the sweeping broom essentially containing the dust underneath the sweeper, at which point the vacuum pulls it into a filter, and this drastically reduces visible airborne dust.  The end result is a floor clean of debris and most surface dirt.

I say most surface dirt because although the floor looks clean, you may wipe your finger across the floor after a sweeper goes by and find that your your finger gets a little dirty.  Or perhaps you have forklift tire marks or oily spots on the floor.  If you want those spots clean, then this is where a scrubber comes in.

Walkbehind Scrubber

A scrubber applies water to its brushes as the machine travels over the floor.  These brushes are called scrub brushes (for obvious reasons) and today are commonly cylindrical in design instead of disc allowing for the machine to pick up light debris as it scrubs, and thus reducing the need to sweep the floor prior to scrubbing.  In addition to providing a deeper clean, the water used by a scrubber also provides dust control.  Scrubbers do have a vacuum system too, but this vacuum works in conjunction with a squeegee at the rear of the machine to pick up the water, collecting it in a recovery tank. This process will leave the floor virtually dry.  Wipe your clean finger on the floor after a properly tuned scrubber passes by and you should still have a very clean finger.

        Combination Sweeper/Scrubber

If you've made it this far, you likely already know how a combination sweeper/scrubber functions.  All together now, a combination machine is capable of dry sweeping or wet scrubbing or doing both functions simultaneously.  Well, maybe you wouldn't have used those exact words.

So which machine is right for your application?  Again, that depends solely on how clean you want your floors.  Keep in mind that all types of floor cleaning equipment are performing a dirty job and routine daily maintenance is critical for long-term proper performance.  Scrubbers tend to require a bit more attention on a daily basis so a true commitment to proper use and care should go along with that desire for cleaner floors.

Got any questions about an application?  We'd be happy to help if we can.  Leave us a comment below.  You can also find us on Facebook http://bit.ly/c09CCX.  We'd like it if you'd "like" us......if you like.

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Company Videos

Well, we've finally tried our hand at getting with the times and have introduced an industry related video for our company. (link to CRT video)   It seems we missed out on being one of the early-in companies.....several years ago.  I guess I feel a bit challenged with this whole corporate video process because, as Kyle Thill at Toyotalift of Minnesota puts it, our industry isn't "hip" or "trendy" in any way.  And scrubbers would be on the low end of this not-so-"hip" industry.  Hopefully, at the very least we'll have some fun with it as we go about this learning process, and of course any feedback would be most welcome!

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It's Dead

"Quick, grab the scrubber and get these warehouse floors cleaned, Corporate is dropping in for a visit tomorrow!"  And, upon getting to the scrubber you unplug it from the charger, turn on the key........and nothing.  Turn the key off, then back on again.  Still nothing.  No power.  Isn't that just perfect, this thing has been sitting on charge for over a month and when you finally get to using it, it won't run.

                                                               

In the absence of a structured maintenance program, battery powered cleaning equipment may not get used every day....or every week.....and in some cases can go even longer periods without getting turned on.  Did you know that simply because machine is plugged in to the charger, it doesn't necessarily mean that your batteries will be fully charged when it comes time to use it?  There obviously can be a number of reasons for this, and I'm going to touch on one that you can do something about.  Let's take a closer look.

Typically, your 24 or 36 volt battery powered sweeper or scrubber has a charger which will automatically shut off when your batteries become fully charged.  This is a good feature as it protects your batteries against the damage associated with over-charging.  In most cases, once that charger has shut itself off, the only way to turn it back on again is to un-plug it from either the machine or the wall outlet, and then plug it back in again.  (Some of today's newer chargers will reset with an on/off switch, but it still requires someone to physically do it.) 

Deep-cycle industrial batteries, usually the type of battery found in your sweeper or scrubber, will discharge by themselves over time, even when not being used.  Remembering that your machine's charger automatically shuts off after fully charging, this means that when your battery powered equipment is parked for long periods of time it will begin losing its charge.  Sitting long enough could mean losing most or all of it, even though it's still plugged in.

I recommend charging your battery powered sweeper or scrubber at least once a month if it isn't charged more regularly than that.  Remember, that may mean disconnecting and re-connecting power to the charger if it stays plugged in to your machine while not in use.  Better yet, incorporate that regular maintenance schedule you planned to implement when you purchased your machine.  At least then you can take care of that part of the visit from Corporate!

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Protect Your Investment

Flash back several years to when your company's brand new warehouse sweeper or scrubber was just being delivered.  Remember how nice it looked and how it even gave off a reflection under the warehouse lights?  And did it clean the floor or what?  


Today, a stroll through the warehouse might find that machine parked in a corner collecting on it the very dust it's supposed to be collecting in it.  Or worse, it's outside catching rays and water and becoming home-sweet-home to a half dozen huge Texas critters.  If this sounds familiar rest assured, you're not alone. So, what happened?


Perhaps the single biggest factor I've come across in this scenario relates to the operator.  Or lack of one, and I'm referring to "one" in a numerical sense.  And if there is a dedicated operator, this individual is often one of the lowest paid workers and in a "revolving door" position, meaning a new, typically untrained operator every few months.  It's the nature of this type of equipment.   Problem is, this stuff wasn't cheap to purchase, and it isn't cheap to maintain if used improperly.  Good for our business, bad for yours.


The solution is for you to commit to assigning a single, conscientious, reliable operator.  For my sweeper?  Yes, for your sweeper.  Make certain your operator understands the purpose and function of your type of machine.  Can your operator explain in detail how your machine operates?  Why not?  Require pre and post operation inspection and cleaning.  I'll cover those topics in more detail in the future.  You know, OSHA requires your forklift operators to be certified, http://bit.ly/cJKb23  but not your sweeper scrubber, which means it's up to you to set up your own requirements.  And you need to for the sake of your investment.  Plus, a dirty warehouse floor is unsafe and unsightly and not so good for those forklifts.


If you're needing help with this training, there are companies, like ours, willing to provide an equipment safety inspection and operator training for your sweeper or scrubber at no charge.  We enjoy our industry and our goal is and always has been to help you enjoy it too.  That's like free insurance which can help to protect your investment.





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