PRESS RELEASE
1,000th Ship-to-shore crane equipped with safe energy supply system from igus
From newcomer to state-of-the-art in the crane industry: 17 years of development and continuous successful innovation
igus, the motion plastics specialist, has fitted its 1,000th ship-to-shore crane (STS) with an energy chain system. In the last 17 years, solutions from igus have become the most proven state-of-the-art in the industry due to continuous development. In the majority of cases, rolling energy chains (rol e-chains) are used in the case of long travels, as a result of which the service life of the components is increased and the drive power is reduced. They can also be combined with the new isense modules – For example, different sensors are used to measure the movement and wear of the energy chain system, meaning the replacement date for components can be predicted during ongoing operation and fail-safety is therefore enhanced.
In crane technology, simple "off-the-shelf" solutions cannot always be adapted to new applications as the requirements are always different. Large temperature fluctuations, severe vibration or movements of the entire steel construction have to be taken into account when new equipment or retrofits of existing cranes are planned. The motion plastics specialist igus has now equipped its 1,000th STS crane (ship-to-shore) with an energy chain system made of plastic, thus demonstrating that the trend towards lightweight, long-lasting components is now the state-of-the-art all over the world. Theo Diehl, Head of Industry Management Cranes, who was directly involved in many of these 1,000 projects, explains why igus is so successful in the industry: "For us, the big breakthrough was the development of the rolling energy chain, which we installed to supply power to the trolley of our first STS crane in the year 2000. By using a roller, the coefficient of friction on long travels drops dramatically, when the upper run of the chain runs on the lower run. Thereby, up to 57 percent of the required drive energy can be saved while moving the energy chain system. The noise is also significantly reduced.
Further developments are the result of know-how gained over a period of many years
"In 2004, the heavy duty version of the roller energy chain was launched onto the market by igus", explains Theo Diehl. "It was strengthened in many ways and its stability and expected service life were drastically improved as a consequence." In 2008, the 'P4' roller energy chain was launched onto the market based on our experience in the preceding eight years. It is characterised by the fact that it operates with considerably less noise and vibration due to the double-roller design and as a result it has been possible to increase the service life of the system.
Further products, originally developed for the crane industry, now serve as solutions for other branches of industry too, one example apart from the roller energy chains being the new chainflex FOC cables introduced in 2016 which can be used in moving applications in temperature ranges between -40 °C and +80 °C and do not have to be filled with gel. Another example is provided by seawater-resistant aluminium trough systems (in acc. with EN6060) for long travels over 100 meters with rise protection or by floating moving ends that compensate for alignment errors. igus supplies all the components as individual products or,as a complete harnessed solution planned and installed by the Project Engineering department of igus, depending on the customer's wishes.
The isense family of products – intelligent devices that predict the required component replacement date during ongoing operation and thus increase fail-safety – rounds off the portfolio. This includes, for example, the new and improved EC.M module, which is mounted on the moving end of the chain and automatically records acceleration, speed, temperature and the number of cycles completed. Other examples are the EC.W wear sensor, which measures the wear on the e-chain and thus makes it possible to determine the remaining service life, and the new EC.RC (e-chain Run Control), which was introduced in 2017 and monitors the operating status of the chains, especially in guide troughs where long travels are involved. Sensors measure and check the position of the energy chain. In this way, the machine is prevented from continuing to operate when mechanical faults occur; meaning that total loss of the chain or an electrical shutdown (for example, due to cable damage) are a thing of the past. In this way the isense EC.RC, like all isense products from igus, guards against any unscheduled machine shutdowns.
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Picture PM3317-1
Today, energy chain systems from igus are in use on 1,000 STS cranes as well as on innumerable other crane systems all over the world. (Source: igus GmbH)
PRESS CONTACT:Oliver Cyrus
Head of Media and Advertising
igus® GmbH
Spicher Strasse 1a
51147 Cologne
Tel. 0 22 03 / 96 49-459
Fax +49 22 03 / 96 49-631
/ ABOUT IGUS:
igus GmbH is a globally leading manufacturer of energy chain systems and polymer plain bearings. The Cologne-based family business has offices in 35 countries and employs 3.180 people around the world. In 2016, igus generated a turnover of 592 million euros with motion plastics, plastic components for moving applications. igus operates the largest test laboratories and factories in its sector to offer customers quick turnaround times on innovative products and solutions tailored to their needs.
The terms "igus", "chainflex", "CFRIP", "conprotect", "CTD", "drylin", "dry-tech", "dryspin", "easy chain", "e-chain", "e-chain systems", "e-ketten", "e-kettensysteme", "e-skin", "energy chain", "energy chain systems", "flizz", “ibow”, "iglide", "iglidur", "igubal", "invis", "manus", "motion plastics", "pikchain", "readychain", "readycable", "speedigus", "triflex", "twisterchain", "plastics for longer life", "robolink", "xiros", "xirodur" und "vector"’ are protected by trademark laws in the Federal Republic of Germany and internationally, where applicable.
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