The world's largest polymer cable carrier

Lighter than comparable steel chains, moves more than 100 kg filling weight per meter

Anyone travelling to Antwerp by car will see it from afar on the motorway: the world's largest polymer energy chain, the E4.350 from igus. At a silt processing plant near the harbor, the e-chain runs on a huge arch-shaped bridge. The world's largest plastic energy chain to date is used to safely guide the heavy movable hoses on the bridge. It guarantees the required long service life of the entire system despite the enormous filling weights. During the design of this large-scale project, the plant constructor and component supplier worked together successfully from day one. The early cooperation paid off.

Application Overview:

What was needed: Cable Carrier E4.350 from the E4.1 series, aluminum guide trough with floating moving end, and Push/Pull Detection System diagnostic system
Requirements: Long minimum service life of 15 years without major maintenance effort, continuous operation 365 days a year
Industry: Silt drainage
Success for the customer: Close collaboration in the engineering process and creation of an individual solution, extensive laboratory tests to check the suitability of the system for the application, on-time installation of a compact and lightweight energy supply system, low-maintenance and failure-free to date.

Contact an expert

Problem

The port of Antwerp is the largest port in Belgium. In 2011 alone, more than 187 million tons of freight were handled. To ensure that the huge container ships, among others, can unload their cargo without any problems in the interests of smooth transshipment, the shipping lanes must always be clear. For this purpose, the fairways will be dredged and expanded with special vehicles. As the available areas for storing the dredged sediments continued to shrink over time, the port authority and the Flemish government decided to invest in a modern silt dewatering plant as part of the ambitious project "AMORAS" (Antwerpse Mechanische Ontwatering, Recyclage en applicatie van slib).

The coarsely sorted sediments - around 500,000 t per year - are therefore pumped through a penstock to the plant 4 km away, where they are mechanically dewatered, treated in an environmentally friendly manner and then stored. The central component of the sludge processing plant is an imposing arch-shaped bridge with a span of around 180 m in the outdoor area. Two moving, independently operating high-performance pumps are attached to the bridge, which can be rotated 360°. The dredging pumps suck around 600 m per hour³sediments or silt from the settling basin below and transport it via enormous hoses with a diameter of 300 mm for further processing. For the energy supply of the pumps, a robust solution had to be found that could cope with the dimensions of the project. For example, all central components of the huge plant had to be designed for a minimum service life of 15 years. But the requirement profile goes even further. The drainage system is in use almost continuously around 365 days a year. Operational safety comes first. There must be no unnecessary maintenance and downtime.

Learn more about E4.1

Solution

To safely guide the hoses of the system over the entire travel distance, an extremely robust polymer chain from igus GmbH, Cologne, is used today. It is the maintenance-free E4.350 model from the particularly robust E4.1 series, which can be opened on both sides and has proven itself in countless applications. It shows its versatility in composting and sewage treatment plants, machine tools and construction machines, crane technology and wood processing, among other things.

The E4.350 with an internal height of 350 mm and internal widths of up to 800 mm is thus the largest plastic energy chain in the world to date. For its use in the most demanding heavy-duty applications, it can easily carry heavy and, if necessary, stiff loads and is sometimes highly wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant and resistant to oil and seawater. In order to minimize rolling resistance, sliding rollers made of the tribo-optimized iglide plain bearing material have proven themselves as a special design on the opening webs, which shows its strengths in a wide range of applications. The friction of the hose in the chain is significantly reduced, thus guaranteeing stability.

In addition to the energy supply system, a corrosion-resistant guide trough and floating carriers are used. They are used to compensate for any lateral offset tolerances that may exist. The energy chain, which is filled with hoses and cables, is always safely guided along its entire length in wind and weather. Despite the difficult operating and environmental conditions, there have been no failures so far.

For reasons of operational safety of the bridge construction, the plant manufacturer has also decided to invest in an electronic monitoring unit. The PPDS (Push Pull Force Detection System) diagnostic tool, which has proven itself above all over long travel distances, measures the pulling/pushing forces of the energy chain online every four seconds and compares them with a calculated target specification. In the event of malfunctions, the system can be stopped automatically with the help of the diagnostic tool in order to prevent damage.

We were convinced by the fact that the entire energy chain system is very compact. On the other hand, the plastic chain is much lighter than a steel chain. You need less force to pull them from one end of the bridge to the other.

Joury van Gijseghem

Project Manager DEME

Impressive dimensions: The 360-degree rotating bridge of the silt treatment plant with a span of almost 180 meters.

Convincing project competence

The decision for the comparatively light plastic energy supply system was quickly made. Both companies have worked together in a spirit of trust on the engineering process from day one. On the one hand, this concerns the complex design process of the bridge construction. A variety of design drawings have been made available in an uncomplicated manner, depending on the project status. On the other hand, the extensive laboratory tests that took place beforehand were also convincing.

"The sustained support for this major project has led to success," says Joury van Gijseghem. "Together we have managed this project from the first day to the last."

The plant manufacturer has also drawn on their expertise in assembly. The specialist for energy supply systems built the entire system, which was completely installed on the construction site on schedule by the company's own employees. The plant has been operating smoothly from day one.

"We have never regretted the decision to use the plastic energy supply system," concludes Joury van Gijseghem. "Furthermore, it was worthwhile for us to involve the system supplier in the project right from the start. This way, mistakes could be minimised right from the start."