Friday 19 August 2016

Flexible design, secure guidance: modern office furniture with e-chains from igus

Flexible design, secure guidance: modern office furniture with e-chains from igus

Picture PM2816-1
With the e-chain ZF14 from igus, cables are guided securely and unobtrusively on furniture. (Source: igus GmbH)

The workplace ambience is changing and with it furniture design. Today, modern office furniture is characterised by flexibility and increasing electrification. For these applications, the motion plastics specialist igus provides the ZF14 energy chain, with cables guided safely and unobtrusively on the furniture.

Desks whose heights can be adjusted by pressing a button, worktops that automatically move forward and backward, cabinets that extend a presentation display electrically – office furniture is increasingly being geared to the individual needs of their users. Simultaneously, the electrified furniture should fit harmoniously into the design of the room without disturbing cable clutters. One solution is a guidance system that allows cables and connectors to be bundled and routed safely. With the energy chain ZF14, igus has designed an energy chain for these applications in the office furniture industry.

Guide energy and data safely
The e-chain ZF14 integrates into modern furniture design and is fixed by means of mounting brackets that simply attach to the furniture. Mounting brackets can be either screwed on or bonded, thanks to the large smooth surface on the bottom The e-chain is then simply clipped in, small barbs on the mounting bracket snap onto the crossbar of the chain and ensure a secure hold. Thanks to the easy chain principle, the insertion of cables by hand is very easy, even when the energy chain is already installed on the furniture. The ZF14 is very cable-friendly in use because it has very smooth inner contours. In this way the cables are still securely guided, even after many years. The colour of the chain can be individually selected for major projects and can be based on the design of each piece of furniture. The development of ZF14 owes much to the specific requests of customers: thus, at present several thousand desks by American and European manufacturers of office furniture are being equipped with the ZF14.

A video on the ZF14 can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/988KLxXmgf0

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 Plain Bearings and Bushing Accessories etc. which enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Logistics 4.0: Failsafe and fast routing of data and energy with igus

Logistics 4.0: Failsafe and fast routing of data and energy with igus

Reliable guiding of data, energy and media at 6 m/s and up to 100 metres in length in the most confined spaces – this achievement, designed as a complete and compact energy supply system, belongs to the advanced micro flizz from the Cologne-based motion plastics specialist igus. It consists of a plastic energy chain, flexible chainflex cables for movements with very tight bending radii and an aluminium housing. At the 2016 Logimat, Hall 3, Stand C51, igus presents the space-saving micro flizz MF10, which can be used, for example, for longitudinal travels in storage and retrieval machines.


Many bus bars are used today in the material handling industry. However, they have the disadvantage that they are only used for energy transmission. The micro flizz from igus is therefore the better alternative to supply energy, data and media at the same time, up to 100 metres horizontally. The energy chain made of plastic, which moves in a guide channel made of anodised extruded aluminium profile, has a built-in "side wing". This holds the chain firmly in the pre-tensioned position at all times in a special groove in the upper and lower part of the channel. The wings swing out automatically when the chain bends in the radius. Together with plastic springs on the crossbars of the e-chain, they provide a soft and quiet rolling, because the upper run of the chain does not rest on the lower run. This means the friction, wear, energy consumption and noise development are reduced significantly. A rolling carriage at the end of the chain acts here as a moving end. Using a counter-running arrangement, even two e-chains can run simultaneously in a guide channel in order to move still more cables.

From fibre optic cable to pneumatic hose

The modular design of this complete system allows easy adaption to different applications, and the filling of the energy chain can be varied.  Thus, for example, even fibre optic cables from the chainflex product range with transmission rates of more than 10 GBit/s can be routed without any problems. As on all other cables, igus also warrants a 36-month service life guarantee. Also, pneumatic hoses, as used in storage and retrieval vehicles with pneumatic grippers, can be integrated in the micro flizz. Even travel speeds of up to 6 m/s and accelerations of up to 50 m/s2 are reliably free of trouble and maintenance, and loads up to 50 kilograms can be carried by the moving end. A virtually wear-free operation was observed in an igus in-house test with over one million double strokes, or a covered distance of 6,000 kilometres. A winner of the iF Design Award, the system is also characterised by easy installation. With the universal 3 T-groove mounting bracket, the connection is quick and user-friendly, and is exemplary in storage and retrieval systems.

For more details please visit: http://www.igus.in/Chainflex

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 Plain Bearings and Bushing Accessories, Flexible Cables etc. which enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.