Energy chains replace festooning on indoor and outdoor cranes at steel mill

• What was needed: energy chain type E4/4 HD , supplied and installed as a pre-assembled readychain® system ; chainflex® cable for moving applications Requirements:
• Highly corrosive, windy, wet and abrasive environmental conditions (outdoor cranes), high temperatures and humidity (indoor cranes)
• Industry: Steel industry, cranes
• Success for the customer: Compared to the previous festoonings, downtimes due to maintenance were never necessary, according to Corus Rail. Regular visual inspections are now sufficient for the energy chain.

To ensure safe energy and cable routing, railway technology specialist Corus Rail (now Tata Steel) was looking for a new solution for its seventeen outdoor gantry cranes and nine indoor magnet cranes.
The requirements for the systems vary considerably depending on the area of application. The steelworks cranes, which are used outdoors near the coast, operate in highly corrosive environmental conditions caused by salty air and salt water splashes, strong winds, whirled up abrasive grains of sand and often pouring British rain. 
In the indoor cranes, on the other hand, the cable solution is exposed to extreme heat when the steel is moulded into rails, which requires particularly temperature-resistant materials. But even the indoor cranes are not completely protected from the changing effects of moisture from outside.
As the cranes were already in operation with festoonings, the project was a plant modernisation. The trailing cable solution for energy and data routing led to an increasing number of incidents due to components requiring maintenance, which, in addition to general wear and tear, were mainly caused by corrosion in the outdoor area. At the same time, the components were difficult to reach for maintenance work, making downtimes particularly time-consuming and therefore more costly. Inspections of the system and necessary repair work were therefore only possible by erecting scaffolding or lifting platforms.

Several Demag cranes were converted to our energy chain years before the project and are still in operation today. According to Corus Rail, downtimes due to maintenance were never necessary. In contrast to the festoonings, regular visual inspections are now sufficient for the energy chain solution.
For the modernisation of the cranes in the current project, energy chains of type E4/4 HD were fitted. The load-bearing surfaces of the pin-hole connections of this chain have been increased by 120% compared to the previous model. The significantly larger wear surfaces have further increased the strength and service life of the energy chain. This predestines the E4/4 HD for high loads in dirty environments over long travel distances at high speeds.
The new cable carrier system was supplied as a pre-assembled readychain® complete package and installed on site by our UK team. The benefit: reduced costs for installation time, hardly any loss of valuable production time. 
The chains are filled with chainflex® cables (CF310 motor cable, CF9 and CF10 control cable and CFLG fibre optic cable) for outdoor use. Highly abrasion-resistant TPE sheaths predestine the cables for harsh environments. They are UV-resistant, can be used at high temperatures between -35°C and +100°C and are highly resistant to coolants and lubricants. The 90 % optical coverage of the shielded cable with a harmonised braid angle increases the requirement for high electromagnetic compatibility safety.