Sunday 31 August 2014

Fast, safe and quiet: igus expands the P4 roller energy chain system

The Cologne-based plastics specialist igus has expanded its comprehensive range of P4 roller energy chains system, now offering guide troughs for the P4.80. With it, a complete range of guide troughs are now available for all P4 roller energy chains from stock. Due to its special design, the P4 system can achieve travels of 800 metres or more in a very energy efficient way.

Long travel lengths, high dynamics and high cable fill weights are extremely important not only for crane and conveyor energy supply systems. Speed and acceleration are important even in other sectors such as the automotive industry. For this reason, igus GmbH developed its innovative roller energy chain system which has been providing power and data reliably and safely on hundreds (thousands?) of cranes and other material handling systems for more than 15 years. Rollers made of special tribo-polymers provide a virtually maintenance-free operation. They reduce abrasion and wear of the energy chain considerably thereby increasing the service life of the system. As the coefficient of friction is about 75 percent less with integrated rollers than with the normal gliding contact friction, up to 57 percent less energy is required to drive the energy chain system.

High speed, long distance
The roller energy chain system is constantly evolving. The P4 system is designed specifically for long travels up to 800m, high travel speeds over 10 m/s and high fill weights of up to 50 kg/m. The rollers of the upper run do not run on the lower rollers, but are staggered to run between them. This is also supported by the use of autoglide crossbars with “combs” that keep the energy chain gliding in a straight line. The small pitch and uniform size of the chain links - with and without the rollers - causes the polygon effect to decrease and the chain thereby rolls smoothly and quietly. The chain is also shaped to offer a wide continuous running surface for the rollers to run on.. Guide troughs also assist in the safe and reliable operation of the e-chain. Wear pads integrated into the chain side links ensure a long service life when in contact with the guide trough.

Strong and stable
Achieving exceptional stability at high speeds and accelerations is one of the objectives of the P4 system from igus. The links in the e-chain include a double “stop-dog” system, and tight tolerances allow a low clearance motion which enables high acceleration. The large pin and bore connections in the side links also provide stability, as does the “tongue and groove” design which interlocks the chain links together.  The P4 roller chain is offered with a range of inner widths from 100 to 400 millimetres and inner heights of 32, 42, 56 and 80 millimetres. Three different bending radii for each type ensure flexibility in matching the cable minimum bend radius requirements. The load capacity of the roller chain can be increased further by using extension links to build a wider system. Each extension link can carry up to 50 percent higher fill weight, increasing the overall capacity. A double lock on the crossbar, which can still be opened quickly and easily with a screwdriver, holds the cables and hoses securely in the energy chain, even with large fill weights.

Everything from one source
The P4 system is offered by igus as a modular system from a single source. As a readychain, the roller chain can be supplied as a fully assembled energy chain complete with cables, connectors and equipped with interface components such as floating towing arms and even electronic condition monitoring systems. These are delivered ready for installation together with the trough system. Before specifying the roller energy supply system, the igus installation team design the system, including all drawings and layouts. By working directly with the customer the individual system requirements can be fully met.

For more information please visit: http://www.igus.in/wpck/10847/banderolle_P4

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In the P4 system the rollers (marked in green) of the upper run do not run onto the lower ones, but are staggered to run through them and supported by comb-shaped autoglide crossbars (also in green). The coefficient of friction when rolling drops by around 75 percent when compared with gliding friction, which enables energy savings of up to 57 percent required to drive the chain. (Source: igus GmbH)

About igus India
igus® operations in India started in the year 1998 with head quarters in Bangalore. igus offers widest range of products that includes polymer bearings, igubal® spherical bearings, DryLin® linear bearings & guide systems enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Connect RTGs with energy and data automatically: The e-rover from igus

With the e-rover, igus has produced a system that automatically couples rubber-tyred gantry cranes with an energy chain system. A telescopic arm connects the trough guided energy chain to the RTG. Thus, providing guaranteed energy supply and data transmission through standard and fibre optic cables.

RTG’s (rubber-tyred gantry cranes) are mobile container bridges, which can switch between the container corridors. Usually, these RTGs are fuelled by diesel. To save energy costs and to protect the environment, developments in the past years moved towards electric vehicles that are coupled to an energy supply system once they are in a traffic lane. igus GmbH has developed its e-rover to enable automatic energy chain system connection and disconnection. Thus, allowing energy and data to be supplied safely in cables and fibre-optic cables with Gigabyte speeds. The coupling process takes about a minute, with no limits to the travel speed of the RTG. Once the RTG has been "plugged in" to the energy chain system, the power supply via the diesel mode is discontinued. Currently, cables having a cross section of 180 mm² per phase are feasible.

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The e-rover from igus enables an automatic connection and disconnection of the RTG in about a minute. (Source: igus GmbH)

Balancing of the horizontal and vertical unevenness
The system works via a telescopic arm on the RTG, which can retract and extend. This has two advantages. Firstly, an automatic coupling is possible, and the energy chain in which all media can be routed simultaneously, pulled along by the RTG. Hence, the supply of energy and data is guaranteed. Secondly, the horizontal and vertical irregularities and offsets in the travel path can be compensated. The system is suitable for long travels 800 metres and possibly longer depending on the customer requirements in the container port.

For more information please visit: http://www.igus.in/wpck/11516/N14_1_23_Kupplung_RTG

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Once the RTG has been attached and "plugged" into the energy chain system, the energy supply via the diesel operation is discontinued, thus conserving energy and the environment. (Source: igus GmbH) 

About igus India
igus® operations in India started in the year 1998 with head quarters in Bangalore. igus offers widest range of products that includes polymer bearings, igubal® spherical bearings, DryLin® linear bearings & guide systems enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

igus products are now RoHS-compliant free from hazardous substances

igus products are now RoHS-compliant free from hazardous substances
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Just one example of the variety of RoHS-compliant iglidur materials is iglidur G, which is suitable as a universal material for the most diverse applications (Source: igus GmbH).

The extended EU Directive 2011/65/EC (RoHS II) became valid at the beginning of the year, therefore tightened the permissible limits for hazardous substances in more and more areas. From the 22nd July, products with unacceptably high concentrations, such as lead-containing plain bearings face extinction in the Medical Technology industry. igus offers iglidur polymer bearings as a RoHS-compliant alternative that promises legal and functional reliability to the manufacturer, and safe use and disposal to the user.

Since the mid-1990s, limitations on the use of environmentally hazardous substances were enforced for electrical and electronic devices and their components all over Europe. Steadily tightened guidelines under the abbreviation "RoHS", (Restriction of [the use of certain] Hazardous Substances) set limit values ​​for the use of industrially-necessary but potentially harmful substances such as, chromium, lead, mercury or bromine. With the new RoHS II standard, a maximum value of 0.1% of the total weight is determined for most. Many manufacturers changed their production accordingly in the past, and others must now respond because exemptions, such as for the medical and control technology, will expire this month. Since similar regulations are also put in place in countries such as the USA, Japan or China, these standards must be met increasingly with a global perspective. However, metallic composite bearings often have alloys that are not compliant with RoHS.

Reliable planning and amendments with iglidur plain bearings
Customers, who consider the RoHS compliance, have an immediate alternative with iglidur bearings. This is because the substances covered by the Directive basically have no role to play in this material made of thermoplastic compounds. Based on the principle of dry lubrication, the iglidur bearing technology uses tribologically optimised base polymers, solid lubricants and fillers of exclusively non-metallic and RoHS-safe ingredients.
The provisions of the RoHS Directive are also subject to permanent review and thus there is the possibility of future revisions of the legal requirements. Manufacturers, whose equipment and components today fulfil the admissible limits, or are even excluded from the standards today, must expect a further tightening. iglidur polymer bearings provide planning reliability today. In addition to their “traditional” advantages of freedom from maintenance and lubrication, all igus products are without hazardous substances. RoHS compliance is therefore one of the natural features of iglidur plain bearings. The igus plain bearings are safe not only in terms of laws and regulations. By the option of life prediction and configuration using online tools, all metal bearings can be replaced quickly and easily by iglidur plain polymer bearings.

For more information please visit: http://www.igus.in/iglidur

About igus India
igus® operations in India started in the year 1998 with head quarters in Bangalore. igus offers widest range of products that includes polymer bearings, igubal® spherical bearings, DryLin® linear bearings & guide systems enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.