The Danubia Speicherei wanted to make the most of storage capacities in a new hall in the Enns port area in Upper Austria and optimize handling. The trimodal handling facility relied on a movable hall roof that can be moved individually. The hall consists of three storage chambers where loose goods, such as feed, are stored. Their roofs can be opened and closed fully automatically and independently of one another. This is made possible by a two-in-one chain drive system from Rud Ketten Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. KG based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg, the family business announced in a press release on May 7. The drive for horizontal and vertical applications with a chain deflection of 90 to 180 degrees is called "Tecdos Pi-Gamma." Particular challenge: The movable hall roof is located at a height of twelve meters and must withstand not only wind and rain but also snow loads.
The new transshipment hall of the Danubia Speicherei started operation in 2024. In the twelve-meter high and 990 square meter large hall, loose goods such as feed are stored and transshipped. It is located in the Enns port area (Upper Austria) directly by the water and tracks. "It is one of our best locations on the entire company premises. Of course, we wanted to realize the best possible hall here," explains Georg Dobesberger, managing director of Danubia Speicherei ges.m.b.h. The Danubia Speicherei is a trimodal transshipment point with the transportation modes rail, road, and waterway.
The new building of solid concrete consists of three storage chambers or boxes, each with a length of 33 meters and a width of ten meters, and is a proud twelve meters high. Over each box
is a roof with a size of 33 by 10 by three meters (L x W x H), which can be opened and closed fully automatically via radio remote control. The three roofs can be moved independently of each other. This means the three-part storage hall can be loaded from above.
"From the start, we wanted a movable hall roof. However, due to the rather large dimensions, it was difficult to find companies that could support us here," says Georg Dobesberger.
Loose goods are loaded into the hall through the opened roof
The Danubia Speicherei found what it was looking for at Hova Maschinenbau GmbH based in Adlwang, Upper Austria. They took over the design of the drive technology including the control and programming of the movable hall roofs and coordinated the various trades on site. Hova, a specialist in lifting technology, in turn sought assistance from Rud, a specialist in drive technology.
Thanks to the movable hall roof, the Danubia Speicherei benefits from an improved handling process: The loose goods arriving by ship in the port are loaded directly into the new hall via crane, from above, over one of the opened roofs. "The goal was to streamline the handling process as much as possible. We can do away with unnecessary, time-consuming, and sometimes failure-prone conveyance links, and have thus elevated our handling to a new level," explains Dobesberger.
The ships arriving at the Ennshafen quay wall of Danubia Speicherei have up to 2,000 tons of goods to unload. The crane on the port site has a handling capacity of up to 1,000 tons per hour. The unloading is done either also by crane over the roof or by wheel loader
from the ground. The hall is accessible by three large gates.
With a storage capacity of around 3,500 cubic meters per box, the Danubia Speicherei has also significantly expanded its storage capacity for loose bulk goods. Primarily feed is stored and transshipped in the new hall.
"We maximize the space of the boxes for filling with storage goods. With a classic setup with conveyor technology, you always have cones of loose material left. Thanks to the slim drive technology from Rud and Hova, we have no limiting factor here," emphasizes Georg Dobesberger.
The Two-in-One solution "Tecdos Pi-Gamma" is particularly compact
In the roof construction of the new transshipment hall of the Danubia Speicherei, a 33-meter long round steel chain of the type "TEC 12" is integrated per storage chamber. Every two meters, the chain is supported by rollers to prevent chain sagging.
"From the start, it was clear to us that we would work with a chain here, due to the environmental conditions. When transshipping and storing, for example, feed, we are dealing with extreme dust development. The chain is simply more reliable and robust than other drive systems," explains Gerhard Holzner, managing director of Hova Maschinenbau GmbH.
As a two-in-one solution, "Tecdos Pi-Gamma" is particularly compact according to Rud, as the drive is narrower and lighter than conventional systems. In the "TEC 12" version, as installed in the new Danubia Speicherei hall, the drive system has a pitch circle diameter of 82.3 millimeters and weighs twelve kilograms. "Especially in confined spaces, our 'Tecdos Pi-Gamma' plays its strengths and moves even heavy loads or an entire hall roof with a relatively small size," says Tobias Rathgeb, Area Sales Manager at Rud.
"The
wind pressure sometimes reaches 120 N/m3. Therefore, the three roofs and their drive technology are windproof designed and lock mechanically via special locking mechanisms when needed," explains Mario Reitmann, project manager for mechanical engineering at Hova Maschinenbau. Each of the three roofs covers an area of 33 by ten by three meters. The entire roof structure weighs around 35 tons per box.
In addition to wind, the movable hall roofs, including drive technology, must also withstand rain and snow loads. For safe and dry storage of loose goods such as feed, no rainwater may enter the boxes. "That is also why we have designed the space at the roofs very tightly everywhere, which is good against rain, but a bit tricky for accommodating the drive technology," emphasizes Gerhard Holzner. And because it can snow heavily in Upper Austria in winter, this weather condition had to be considered by Hova in the design of the roofs and drive technology.
"With a lot of snow, we are dealing with up to 15 tons of additional weight per roof. Here, too, the Rud technology is strong again, and thanks to it, we manage to move around 50 tons of total weight per roof horizontally," says Mario Reitmann.
Currently, the Danubia Speicherei operates eleven transshipment and storage halls on the port site. The new hall with a movable hall roof is planned with foresight and designed so that it can grow. "We can extend the hall by the same area again in the future, i.e., double or mirror it. Technically, we would then implement this expansion in the same way, i.e., with a movable hall roof," provides an outlook Georg Dobesberger, managing director of Danubia Speicherei.
