Wear-resistant plastic energy chain under high acid load in indoor cranes

energy chain and plastic channel made of chemical-resistant plastic in use for years

Difficult conditions prevail in the pre-treatment line of a hot-dip galvanising plant: To ensure that the workpieces are as clean as possible, they must first be cleaned in diluted hydrochloric acid, among other things. As a result, the proportion of hydrogen chloride in the air of the pre-treatment line is around 2 per cent. This means an extraordinary acid load, especially for the indoor cranes and the associated components. For several years now, plastic energy chain systems have been proving their worth at Wiegel for supplying energy to the process cranes. These run in plastic troughs made of the chemical-resistant material igumid® EG+, which means that the system can cope with the aggressive conditions without any problems.

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Products used

Energy chain E4/4

Guide trough for energy chains

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Problem

In the past, so-called festooning systems were used in the pre-treatment line of Wiegel's hot-dip galvanising plants. Cable and hose are suspended like a garland and moved with small trolleys. The disadvantage of this technology, however, is that a cable station at the end of the travel path takes up a lot of space and the area of the pre-treatment line cannot be completely sealed off. The rollers of the cable trolleys also sometimes fail after some time, as the C-profiles in which they are guided corrode and become sharp-edged due to the acid load. This causes the rollers to wear quickly.

Solution

The project management of the technology department at Wiegel Verwaltung GmbH & Co KG decided in favour of polymer-energy chains from our product portfolio, which offered the customer two main advantages: They ensure a density solution for the material preparation area, which was not previously the case with a festooning system, as well as high wear resistance.
The first energy chain was installed in a Wiegel plant in 2015. The next application followed a year later, where we supplied both the E4/4 series energy chain and the new plastic trough made from the chemical-resistant material igumid® EG+. This ensures high chemical resistance, making the guide trough ideal for use in hot-dip galvanising or fertiliser production, for example. igumid® EG+ is characterised by very low total moisture absorption. This enables increased resistance to aggressive chemicals. With its significantly optimised sliding properties, the material can be used for the guide trough and also for most e-chain® series in a temperature range from 0 °C to +100 °C. As both the e-chain® and the trough in the complete system are made of the chemical-resistant material, they are very good sliding partners.

Overview of the E4/4RHD energy chain system

Guide troughs - overview

In the pretreatment lines of the galvanising plants of the Wiegel group, energy chain systems from igus® supply the process cranes with energy and data.

Before the actual galvanising process, the workpieces must be pre-treated to remove grease, rust and scale.

In the enclosed pre-treatment line, the air contains around two per cent HCL condensate.

Together with Wiegel, Meissner Krane began modernising the energy supply system of the cranes and using energy chain systems a few years ago.

The side sections of the guide trough are connected by clipping and snapping in by hand and without tools. The clamping mechanism specially designed for the system holds them together securely and resiliently.

The chains move in plastic troughs made of the chemically resistant material igumid EG+, as a result of which the system easily copes with the difficult conditions.

Trouble-free in all plants

So far, the energy chain from igus® has proven to work well and reliably at Wiegel. "The experience gained since 2015 shows that the use of an acid-resistant energy chain in the pre-treatment line for energy and signal transmission was the right decision," concludes Ronny Horn, project manager at Meissner Krane. "The systems have been running smoothly in all plants since commissioning." And Peter Zorn from Wiegel adds: "The plastic trough was very important to us. Neither stainless steel in 304 SS nor 316 stainless steel would have withstood these environmental conditions. It was equally important to us that the wall to the pre-treatment line can now be completely closed and that we also have much less maintenance with the new system." These requirements have been fully met so far. Energy chain systems from igus® will therefore also be used in the next Wiegel plants that Meissner Cranes will retrofit.

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e-chain® Series E4/4

5.1 guidelite plus

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