Energy chain for indoor crane in scorching hot metal processing environment

Profile

• What was needed: Plastic energy chains of the E4/4 series
• Requirements: A cable guidance system was needed that would permanently protect the internal cables under high temperatures and highly abrasive environmental conditions such as dust and hot metal chips. In addition, a space-saving alternative to the festooning system had to be found.
• Industry: carpentry
• Success for the customer: At the last inspection at the customer's site 35 months after installation, no incidents had occurred, and the system is operating without any failures. The customer is so satisfied that installation in other cranes is planned over the next few years.

Problem

This application is in an Indian metal fabrication plant that uses a large EOT crane. The environment is characterized by aggressive conditions, which are manifested by high temperatures at the blast furnaces, as well as sharp-edged metal chips and highly abrasive dust.

The adverse conditions led to problems with the festooning systems previously used to guide energy and data cables. Here, there was an increased number of cable failures, which were damaged by the prevailing conditions. Also, the festooning system's cable trolley was jamming more frequently, resulting in increased equipment downtime and costly productivity losses. The cables in this arrangement also took up a lot of space. This reduced the space for replacing individual cables and made maintenance work more difficult.

Solution

The plant operator was looking for a reliable solution for cable guidance and to avoid further expensive downtime in production. He found what he was looking for in our range of plastic energy chains. We offer a broad portfolio of e-chains for a wide range of applications, especially in the field of cranes. The chains of the type E4/4 are suitable, which allow long travels due to their extreme robustness and stiffness. The materials of the chains can also provide reliable protection for all cables — from hot metal chips in foundries to extremely abrasive conditions.
In the end, the customer's decision to switch paid off: even during the last inspection at the customer's premises, 35 months after installation, no incidents have occurred and the system is operating without any failures. The customer is so satisfied that installation in other cranes is also planned over the next few years.

The previous solution - a festooning system - increasingly failed, leading to expensive system downtime.

No failures have been recorded since the use of the energy chain. The system is now significantly more space saving.