Cable routing and cable for mobile X-ray unit in emergency room

• What was needed: E4/4 roller energy chain, chainflex® cable for moving applications
• Requirements: A compact cable routing was required that could safely and easily guide a heavy cable weight and enable a long travelling length.
• Industry: Medical technology
• Success for the customer: By using the E4/4 roller energy chain with chainflex® cable, six emergency stations can now be reached over a travel length of 24 metres. The rollers allow the upper and lower runs of the chain to glide over each other, making it much easier to move the X-ray system manually.

The Xograph is a special kind of X-ray system, as it is characterised by its particular flexibility when it comes to quickly X-raying patients.
Instead of the person to be examined having to be transported to the X-ray station in a separate room, this system simply comes to the patient. To do this, the device travels along a 24 metre long rail, which is attached to the ceiling of an emergency department. There are six hospital emergency resuscitation stations under the rail, which can be accessed quickly and easily by the travelling X-ray gantry system. This means that the system can be moved by hospital staff over several patient beds, where it can quickly and easily X-ray seriously injured patients in particular. 
However, the high flexibility and travelling length of the system resulted in long cable lengths, which were previously solved using festooning cable management systems. However, these limited the system to a travel length of 15 metres.

In order to comply with the required travel length of 24 metres and to be able to reach all six emergency stations with the X-ray machine, a completely new cable routing concept had to be found.
The planners finally found the answer to the problem in our plastic-energy chain series E4/4 (type 2828). These chains enable particularly long travel distances and allow long unsupported stretches, whereby lateral installation is also possible. In this case, the system was realised as a roller energy chain. The rollers allow the upper and lower run of the chain to slide safely over each other, reducing friction and significantly reducing the energy required to move the system. This significantly reduces problems with manual handling by hospital staff in particular. At the same time, this form of cable routing enables the compact bundling of all cables and offers a space-saving alternative.
In addition to the energy chain, chainflex® power and data cables specially developed for moving applications are also used.
Together, the e-chain® and chainflex® cable enable the X-ray system to cover distances that were previously considered impossible for this type of application.