Goods logistics: product pusher with 16m long energy chain without guide rail

Profile

• What was needed: energy chain autoglide E2/000 AG; chainflex® cable; supplied as a pre-assembled readychain®
• Requirements: A cable routing without a guide trough was required for a 16 metre journey so as not to obstruct the movement of goods.
• Industry: material handling
• Success for the customer: With the autoglide energy chain, guide rails are replaced by small floor guides that can be driven over and only need to be installed every 2 metres. Thanks to readychain® with pre-assembled cables, the customer also saves installation time and costs.

Problem
To transport goods directly across the hall floor over long distances without hindering other goods traffic with industrial trucks. With this in mind, the Polish machine manufacturer Arotech M. Bach was looking for a suitable energy supply system for a project in material handling. The specialist designed a pusher for a furniture manufacturer that safely transports the packaged furniture parts from production over a distance of 16 metres to the bearing. And the whole process is completely automated, without the need for an employee to monitor the process. The special feature here: as there are many forklifts and pallet trucks travelling in the production hall, no guide rails that could block traffic were allowed to be installed on the long travel of the pusher. Arotech was therefore looking for a cable routing that was as free-running as possible and could also be installed quickly and easily without major assembly work.

Solution
After talking to our sales experts, the machine specialist decided in favour of an energy chain solution from the autoglide product portfolio. More specifically, the company now relies on a autoglide E2/000AG. The biggest advantage of the energy supply is its space-saving design. Instead of guide troughs, autoglide relies on floor guides that are only mounted every 2 metres on the floor to the right and left of the energy chain and prevent it from breaking out. As they can be easily driven over by industrial trucks, the floor guides do not block the transport of goods in the production hall and warehouse. Clip-on sliding wings are installed on the chain for the first few metres to ensure that the upper and lower run always run safely over each other.
The energy chain was ordered together with the chainflex® cable as a pre-assembled system, a so-called readychain®. This allowed the customer to carry out a quick installation on site without having to pull the cable into the chain themselves. The cables came with Module Connect plug connections, which enable the power system and the entire switch lever to be disconnected quickly in the event of a system element failing.