Tailored energy supply for indoor cranes on a 32m long crane runway

• What was needed: plastic-energy chain with aluminium-guide trough, chainflex®-cable
• Requirements: The energy supply had to fulfil requirements in terms of durability and compactness of the system.
• Industry: Cranes
• Success for the customer: Overall, the energy chain with internal cable and the combination with the aluminium troughs resulted in a system that is both compact and space-saving.

This application involves a crane system for fully automatic operation for storing and retrieving sewage sludge in a cement plant. The designers were looking for a customised energy supply system together with the appropriate internal cables.
The crane runway has a total length of 32 metres, with a trolley travel speed of 60 m/min, a crane travel speed of 80 m/min and a hoisting speed of 60 m/min. The stroke height is also 8 metres.
The requirements for the energy supply included durability and compactness of the system.

The recycling crane now uses polymer energy supply systems that travel in aluminium troughs.
The basic package of the guide trough system consists of just four parts: Trough wall, glide bar, clamping shoe and connector. The channel wall made of extruded aluminium is lightweight, yet stable, seawater-resistant and can also be used in harsh environmental conditions. The glide bars are securely clicked into a continuous lateral groove and can be removed again. The clamping shoe can be mounted internally or externally with just one screw on the surface or on fastening profiles. Finally, a resilient plastic wedge absorbs any shocks that occur.
Added to this are the chainflex® cables with bundle stranding and highly abrasion-resistant, gusset-filled extruded outer sheaths, which have been tried and tested for over 15 years, especially in long travel distances with high cycle numbers, and which are also suitable for the toughest applications, mounting brackets, strain relief and assembly materials.
Overall, the energy chain, including the internal cable and the combination with the aluminium channels, has resulted in a system that is both compact and space-saving.