Flexible 3D energy chains as cable guidance for riveting robots for aircraft construction

The ARITEX Group company LOXIN was looking for a suitable solution for supplying multi-axis robots with energy. The problem, however, was finding a cable solution that was reliable and robust. This was made more difficult by the high number of cables to be guided and their considerable weight. The tools on the robot's end effector are connected to numerous energy and data cables as well as pneumatic hoses. These must all follow the arm's contortions perfectly, even at high speeds.

In the past, LOXIN had used conventional corrugated tubes, but they were not satisfactory. Due to the rapid wear caused by friction, they broke in several places, which would have meant replacing the entire tube during operation, including the disassembly of the cable. The result was machine downtime for several days.

LOXIN chose our triflex range. The protective cages resemble hoses and are made of wear-resistant plastic. They follow even the most extreme 3D movements of industrial robots. The cables are protected against mechanical stress due to tensile load, torsion and expansion.

With the triflex RSE retraction system the energy chains move close to the arm and therefore do not knock against the aircraft. If the robot arm returns to its starting position after a movement, the mechanical system retracts the chain. The robot arm has complete freedom of movement without parts of the chain rubbing against each other or loops forming in the process. If a chain link reaches the end of its service life, it can be replaced quickly and easily.

We use another energy chain system on the robot arm, the twisterchain. It protects cables from the base of the robot arm to the first axis and moves in a guide trough. If the robot arm turns, the chain folds so that the upper run of the chain rests on the lower run.
In this way, a circular movement of up to 540° is achieved at speeds of up to 1m/s. The twisterchain is extremely wear-resistant and has a proven service life of over one million cycles.