Floors for very narrow aisle (VNA) racking installations are serviced by specialised materials handling equipment that run in a defined fixed path within the aisles.
Defined Movement Surveys are conducted in warehouses where high-bay, high racking installations are present. The floors are measured with Face Profileographs of various configurations.
The Face Profileograph floor profiler lies at the heart of modern Superflat floor technology. Using the Profileograph, we can measure continuous profiles of the forklift truck’s defined wheel paths and highlight any areas that do not comply with the flatness specification. Corrective grinding can then be supervised to ensure the smooth operation of the forklift truck.
Profileographs are used for carrying out surveys in defined movement areas such as high bay, very narrow aisle racking installations where flatness is required for safe and efficient operation of materials handling equipment.
‘Superflat’ has, over the years become a generic term for a degree of floor flatness required to operate a Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) truck where, in fact, ‘Superflat’ is an actual category of flatness defined in the Concrete Society’s Technical Report 34 (TR34) 3rd Edition (Table 4.3) *.
There are varying degrees of flatness requirement and all relate to the height of the racking system that the VNA truck is to service. Superflat, as defined by TR34 is specified where the top beam of the racking exceeds 13m. In the same table there are two other degrees of flatness; Category 1 for rack heights between 8 and 13 metres and Category 2 for racking heights less than 8 metres.
When the Concrete Society’s TR34 3rd edition was superseded by the 4th Edition, it also introduced a surface regularity specification that forms the basis of the EN 15620:2008† European specification, and is similar to the American F-min requirement. In Germany DIN 15185 is specified and, as the majority of VNA trucks are manufactured in Germany, the DIN standard (DIN 15185) is occasionally specified.
No matter what specification is required, be it TR34 Table 4.3, TR34 4th Edition Table 3.2, DIN 15185 or the American F-min standard, a flat floor is a flat floor and the way the floor is constructed will not differ.
Face Consultants can offer onsite superflat floor training to contractors to ensure a high degree of floor flatness is achieved.
The Concrete Society’s TR34 Free Movement (3rd Ed) Chapter 4
(Previous Version)*
Please contact us if you have any questions about our floor testing or design & consultancy services.