Durable plastic-energy chain successfully replaces festooning in waste crane

• What was needed: plastic-energy chain, supplied as a completely pre-assembled readychain® system, i.Sense Push/Pull Detection System to prevent failures
• Requirements: High speeds (2.5 m/s) and fast accelerations (0.5 m/s2) were achieved in the cranes. In addition, a long travel of 116 m, a narrow bend radius and the presence of moisture and dust placed additional load on the energy supply.
• Industry: Cranes
• Success for the customer: By installing two e-chain® , the required cable length and cable cross-sections were significantly reduced, resulting in major savings. In addition, the service life increased to 7.5 years for the e-chain® and 10 years for the cable.

MBS is a waste processing company that operates a facility in Geel where bulky waste is handled by two overhead travelling cranes with scrap grabs. The cranes, installed in 2003, were initially equipped with festooning cable systems for the power supply. However, both the festooning cables and the trolleys suffered from the severe operating conditions, including high speed (2.5 m/s), rapid acceleration/deceleration (0.5 m/s2) and the presence of moisture and dust. In addition, the cables were vulnerable due to the extended length required to cover the 116 metre travel and the tight bend radius of the trolleys. And the abrupt accelerations and decelerations very often caused the festooning system's cable trolleys to collide at high speed.
All this meant that the cables and trolleys were often damaged, leading to costly unplanned production stoppages. Although several attempts were made to improve the situation, the problem could not be successfully resolved.

In 2013, the operator MBS commissioned TCS to carry out preventive maintenance on the cranes. They realised that the installed festooning cable system was not suitable for this application. After TCS suggested our e-chain®, the operator decided to install two of our 60 metre long cable carrier systems with floating moving ends. This enabled a significant reduction in the cable length (half the track length instead of 1.2 times the track length) and a reduction in the cable cross-section, resulting in major savings. In addition, the service life was increased to 7.5 years for the e-chain® and 10 years for the cable.
By supplying the e-chain® as a readychain® system, i.e. as a pre-assembled cable guide including cable, the chain could be installed quickly and without long system downtimes.
Additional safety is also provided by a i.Sense tensile/push force measurement system that monitors the entire system and switches off the crane in the event of an overload. This prevents damage to the chain and cable and therefore costly breakdowns before they can occur.