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igus – Managing moving cables

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In the world of electrical supply, many installations are static. However, there is an increasing number of situations where there is a need to provide an electrical supply safely and reliably to moving equipment and machinery.

Common areas where moving electrical supplies are required are machine tools, robots and automated warehousing. But this need for power to be supplied to moving applications is becoming ever more widespread.

Buildings such as conference centres, theatres and shops are requiring power and data to be supplied to moving floors, lifts, doors, lighting bars etc.  Even desks and TV screens are more commonly moveable or retractable, requiring a way to carry their power and data cables.

In all these cases, it is vital that the solution must be easy to install, to operate in confined spaces and above all be safe and reliable. igus e-chains can offer the solution in these cases.

What is an e-chain?

An igus e-chain is a way of carrying, guiding and protecting moving electrical cables safely to moving equipment.

It is constructed from a series of links which enforce a minimum bend radius for the cables, whilst allowing a smooth rolling motion which can be linear or rotary. In addition, it offers a high level of physical protection.

Different electrical cables can be mixed within the e-chain, though they can be easily separated using shelves and dividers, to reduce the risk of electrical interference between power and data, for example.

Importantly, the electrical cables can be easily removed or replaced even after the system has been installed, such is the modular nature of construction.  This allows for easy upgrades in the future.

igus e-chains are made from advanced low friction polymers, which offer long life maintenance free operation in most environments.  They can even be moulded in different colours to match corporate branding or make them less visible.

igus have thousands of e-chain parts and accessories available, from stock, covering all different sizes and styles.

Typical applications

One of the enormous benefits of igus e-chains is they can easily be used in a variety of orientations, and therefore can be used in almost any application:

• Horizontally, unsupported; for relatively short linear motions.

• Long travel; the e-chain glides upon itself in a guide trough, allowing very long travels.  A 615m e-chain system has been achieved by igus for power supply on an outdoor coal conveyor.

• Hanging/Standing; short and long travels on vertical motions, eg for lifts and elevators.

• ‘ZigZag’; the e-chain can be reversed in several places allowing a ‘ZigZag’ shape to form, allowing compact vertical drops; this is commonly used in theatres and conference centres to supply cables to moving floors and light bars.

• Rotary; e-chains can be modified to allow them to feed rotating applications, angles of up to 540 degrees are possible.

• Multiaxis; igus has a range of standard products for complex motions.

Chainflex cables

When using igus e-chains to supply electrical cables to moving equipment, it is vital to use the correct cables.

In dynamic applications the cable is constantly flexing as it moves, often in a tight bend radius.  In addition the environment can be quite challenging depending on the application: for example there may be high or low temperature, UV or chemicals present etc.

Under such conditions, it is common for standard electrical cables to break up, leading to intermittency or even failure of power or data supply.igus have developed their chainflex range of electrical cables to meet these requirements.

chainflex cables are constructed differently using optimised copper stranding, short pitch cable cores and pressure filled outer jackets.  Even the shielding in screened cables is optimised to allow them to flex constantly without breaking down.

Different outer jacket materials (PVC, PUR and TPE) are offered to cover different environmental requirements.

These design methods, combined with igus’ exhaustive testing of their cables within e-chains, mean that chainflex cables are guaranteed to last millions of cycles in e-chains.

All standard electrical cable types are offered, such as: multicore control, servo, motor, BUS, data and signal cables.  The igus chainflex range has over 1000 cable types from stock.

For more information or to request a catalogue or sample, please contact igus UK:

01604 677240

[email protected]

www.igus.co.uk

 

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