Wear-resistant plastic energy chain under high acid load in indoor cranes

Profile

• What was needed: energy chain system E4/4 including guide trough
• Requirements: due to a high hydrogen chloride content in the air of the pretreatment line of approx. 2 per cent, all components in the plant are exposed to a high acid load. A wear-resistant solution should be found for it.
• Industry: crane
• Success for the customer: the chemical-resistant material igumid EG+ ensures high resistance despite the high hydrogen chloride content. The material also has very low water absorption, which enables increased resistance to aggressive chemicals.

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Problem

In the past, cable festoon systems were used in the pretreatment line of Wiegel's hot dip galvanising plants. Cables and hoses were suspended and moved on small trolleys. A disadvantage of this technology, however, is that at the end of the travel, a cable station takes up a lot of space and for this reason the space of the pretreatment line cannot also be completely sealed off. The rollers of the cable trolleys also fail after some time, because the C-profiles in which they are guided become corroded and sharp-edged due to the acid exposure. As a result, the rollers quickly wear out.

Solution

The project management of the technology department at Wiegel Verwaltung GmbH & Co KG decided at this point in favour of polymer energy chains from our product portfolio, which offered the customer two advantages above all: a tight-sealing solution for the area of material preparation, which was previously not the case with a festoon system, as well as high wear resistance.
The first energy chain was used in a Wiegel plant in 2015. The next application followed a year later, where we supplied both the E4/4 series energy chain and the new plastic trough made of the chemical-resistant material igumid EG+. This ensures a high resistance to chemicals, so that the use of the guide trough is ideal for use in hot dip galvanizing or, for example, fertiliser production. The igumid EG+ is characterised by very low water absorption. This offers increased resistance to aggressive chemicals. The material can be used in a temperature range of 0 °C to +100 °C with its clearly optimised sliding properties for the guide trough and also for most series of e-chains. Since both the e-chain and the trough in the complete system consist of the chemically resistant material, they are very good gliding partners.

In the pretreatment lines of the galvanising plants of the Wiegel group, energy chain systems from igus supply the process cranes with energy and data.

Before the actual galvanising, the workpieces must be pre-treated to rid the workpieces of grease, rust and scale.

In the enclosed pre-treatment line there is an HCl condensate of about two per cent in the air.

A few years ago, Meissner Krane and Wiegel started modernising the energy supply of the cranes and used energy chain systems.

The side plates of the guide trough are connected by hand and lock without tools. The clamping mechanism especially designed for the system keeps it secure and robust.

The chains move in plastic troughs made of the chemically resistant material igumid EG+, and as a result the system easily copes with the difficult conditions.