Energy chains for cranes at the Port of Hamburg: Positive balance after five years

Profile

• What was needed: Roller energy chain with guide trough, "chainflex" special cables
• Requirements: Corrosion-resistant, especially salty air, exposure to exhaust gases from trucks, diesel locomotives and ships.
• Industry: Logistics
• Success for customer: Complete service provision from drawing documentation to approval at commissioning, individual energy supply solution

Problem

EUROKOMBI is Germany's largest terminal for combined cargo transport. On an area of around 103, 000 m² containers are now handled on the water side and on the shore side on five processing and buffer tracks, each 720 m long. Responsible for this are four RGB cranes, each with a payload of 41 t, from the Austrian crane manufacturer Künz
With a travel of 69 m, a trolley speed of 120 m/min and an acceleration of around 0.5 m/s, the technical requirements for the energy supply system and the cables are very high. Large amounts of energy have to be moved through the chain. "The hoist requires 220 kW, the trolley crane carriage 100 kW, the spreader twice 6 kW, accordingly many and relatively thick cables are used," explains Günter Baitis.
On the Hamburg harbour premises, however, the very salty air and the exhaust fumes from lorries, diesel locomotives and ships also play a major role, causing problems for people and technology. The operator has to deal with corrosion, so that the cable insulation, for example, is affected. Cable qualities and jacket materials must therefore be perfectly matched to all requirements on site.

Solution

For the conception of the energy supply system, the drawing documentation was prepared and the approval protocol was made during commissioning. The performance design was always coordinated in close cooperation with the crane builder Kuenz.  In the application case, the entire performance package consists of the provision of the energy supply system, the cables, the strain relief and the guide trough.
The RGB cranes are now each equipped with a pre-assembled readychain energy supply system, or more precisely, a roller energy chain from igus is used here.  There are no additional loads on the energy supply system, which runs in a guide trough. "It only runs in the direction in which it is supposed to move," confirms Günter Baitis. Guide troughs are used for long travels. They facilitate smooth, low-friction operation of the energy supply system. For reasons of weight, among others, an aluminium material was chosen for the RGB cranes, which is also seawater-resistant according to DIN.
The roller energy chain is covered with chainflex special cables such as power and control cables.  In addition to the quality of the cables used, the arrangement of the cables within the chain and the available space basically play a decisive role with regard to the service life of the system.