ENERGY CHAINS
Extending the life of long-travel energy chains New components have been developed for polymer energy chains that can easily be installed to extend their service life in long-travel applications in a wide range of applications. The energy chains, manufactured by the world’s foremost producer of polymer energy chains, igus, are used extensively within the country’s ports, logistics centres, mines and other industries where they can safely guide cables and hoses to reduce damage and abrasion, as well as provide a neat and safe environment around the equipment. The company’s carefully engineered polymer energy chains have become the standard for energy chains used in industry and the company’s E4.1 energy chain system is also widely used in longtravel applications. The addition of advanced new glide pads and roller chain links for quick retrofitting now enables users
to expand the service life of the chains quickly and cost-effectively, especially where they are used in abrasive environments, at very high speeds or extreme travel lengths. Igus South Africa managing director, Ian Hewat, says more than 25,000 igus energy chains move over long distances every year, whether indoor or outdoor cranes, mobile cranes, storage retrieval units CNC applications, tripper cars, linear robots, Ship-To-Shore cranes, storage and retrieval units or linear robots. In all these areas of application, customers worldwide rely on the tough and modular E4.1 energy chain system from igus. Where “The energy supply system has an
undercut design and thus a high torsional rigidity. It is quiet and variable in heights and widths. In 90 per cent of gliding applications, the E4.1 is the universal solution. To extend the service life of the energy chain, especially in abrasive environments, igus has now introduced glide pads with which the chain can be easily upgraded. The wear-optimised sliding elements can be easily placed on the chain links in the inner radius. They are made of a highly abrasionresistant igumid polymer. “Rollers on the new igus energy chains reduce the push/pull forces on long travels and ensure a significantly longer service life of the energy supply system. Their use is particularly worthwhile at high speeds of up to 10m/s or very long travels where the roller chain links reduce the drive power by up to 37 per cent, saving a significant amount of energy. The new roller chain links and glide pads provide a customised energy supply system for every special application from 50mm to 1km travel.
igus South Africa, +27 (0) 11 312 1848, ihewat@igus.de, www.igus.co.za 28
Lifting Africa - Nov/Dec 2021
