Safety with Hydraulic Industrial Shock Absorbers for Automated Warehouses (by Leben)

Automated warehouses and conveyor systems move ever faster and carry heavier loads. If a drive or control system fails, only a few centimeters of stroke at the end stop protect structures, equipment and people. Hydraulic industrial shock absorbers and end stop buffers from LEBEN-Dämpfungstechnik provide this last line of safety for conveyor and storage technology.

By Klaus Leben, Founder, LEBEN-Dämpfungstechnik

Intralogistics is Getting Faster – and Less Forgiving

High-bay warehouses, shuttle systems and storage and retrieval machines (AS/RS) have transformed intralogistics. Pallets and bins now travel at high speed along rails, on shuttle cars or stacker cranes, often with several tonnes of moving mass in each aisle. Under normal conditions, drives and service brakes bring these machines to a controlled stop.

If a control signal fails or a drive does not respond, a machine can run unchecked into the end of the track. The result is severe structural damage, long downtimes and, in the worst case, risk to people working nearby. To prevent this, modern projects specify energy-absorbing conveyor end-of-track stops and hydraulic end stop buffers in line with FEM and VDI guidelines.

This is where COMPENSER® hydraulic industrial shock absorbers and industrial buffers from LEBEN-Dämpfungstechnik GmbH come into play.

COMPENSER® – Hydraulic Industrial Shock Absorbers “Made in Germany”

Founded in 1967 and still family-owned, LEBEN-Dämpfungstechnik  has more than five decades of experience in damping and vibration control. Under the COMPENSER® brand, the company develops hydraulic industrial shock absorbers and industrial buffers for conveyor technology, automation, storage systems and stacker cranes.

Development, machining and assembly are carried out in Bavaria, Germany. Large turned parts are produced on in-house CNC machines, and every unit is function-tested on proprietary test benches. This gives LEBEN direct control over quality and allows tailored solutions for each duty cycle, ambient temperature and safety concept. For extreme conditions in freezer warehouses or hot process areas, the company uses its own Compensol® damping fluid and special materials to keep performance stable over a wide temperature range.

The company’s innovation culture was recognised when LEBEN-Dämpfungstechnik  was named a 2024 TOP 100 innovation champion in Germany – an award for particularly innovative medium‑sized enterprises. 

Engineered at International Standards

When LEBEN engineers design an end stop buffer or conveyor end-of-track stop, they start from the load case: moving mass, approach speed, available stroke, permissible deceleration and structural load paths. These parameters are aligned with standards such as FEM 9.311 and DIN EN 528 – from force limits for sensitive structures to maximum deceleration for service personnel.

Using proprietary calculation tools and simulation, the team determines the required energy absorption and the force–stroke curve. The result is a hydraulic industrial shock absorber that absorbs the full kinetic energy with safety reserves, limits peak loads into the steelwork and remains stable over millions of cycles.

For typical layouts in high-bay warehouses and shuttle systems, LEBEN showcases reference projects under Applications – Industrial Shock Absorbers.

C-Type: The Flexible Workhorse Hydraulic Buffer for Conveyor Technology

For light to medium mechanical engineering – typical of automated conveyor lines, shuttle cars and AS/RS – the C-Type COMPENSER®

is the core solution. This gas-hydraulic industrial buffer works on a displacement principle: the piston rod enters the cylinder, hydraulic fluid is forced through precisely machined orifices, and kinetic energy is converted into heat in a controlled way.

As a compact hydraulic buffer for storage and retrieval machines or smaller conveyor systems, the C-Type is ideal as an emergency end stop at the end of the track and is featured in the conveyor technology application example. With load capacities up to hundreds of kilonewtons and strokes from a few millimetres to several metres, a single unit can safely decelerate large transfer cars or pallet shuttles.

DC-Type: Double‑Acting Hydraulic Industrial Buffer in Limited Spaces

Where conveyors must be decelerated in both directions – for example shuttle or transfer cars that run between aisles – space is limited. The DC-Type double-acting COMPENSER® is a very compact hydraulic industrial buffer for such cases. Its internal design compensates for piston rod volume and provides almost identical damping forces in both directions of travel, making it ideal as a moving buffer mounted on the machine.

The KL-Type targets vertical and inclined axes. It is a compact hydraulic shock absorber with integrated mechanical reset spring, designed as a short-stroke safety damper for emergency stops at end positions. The spring automatically returns the piston to its starting position with low force, making the KL-Type suitable for frequent positioning cycles and creep-speed approaches in lifting masts and small cranes.

From AS/RS Aisles to Conveyor End‑of‑Track Stops

COMPENSER® solutions are used wherever moving masses require controlled deceleration: high-bay warehouse stacker cranes, miniload shuttles, bin conveyors, transfer cars, automation cells and test stands – an overview of typical application fields

is available on the company’s website. Beyond intralogistics, the same technology protects rail end-of-track stops, crane systems, port equipment and special machinery.

Dynamic and static tests on in-house rigs, FEM analyses and certified quality management according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 ensure that each buffer behaves exactly as calculated. For OEMs and system integrators, this delivers traceable performance data and a reliable basis for risk assessments and project approval.

Engineers who wish to discuss a specific conveyor project or request a quotation can use the contact form for industrial shock absorbers on the LEBEN website.