Energy chains for work portals in large ship production

At the compact shipyard in Papenburg, where mainly luxury liners and high-end cruise ships are built, a gigantic crane system is used over a length of almost 200 metres. This system consists of eight individual cranes connected in series, each of which can move along a section of the longitudinal run of approx. 75 metres. Each crane bridge is equipped with six swivel arms, which provide the welding technology at the manual work stations. Welding units are available at each of these work portals, which are equipped with welding wire feed, media supply with the respective welding gases as well as compressed air and extraction.
In order to ensure a constant supply of these media, the cable and the energy chain had to be able to cope with the particularly harsh environmental conditions in steel construction: welding and grinding are carried out, the energy supply systems are exposed to dust and dirt and sparks often fly. In addition, despite the flexibility and therefore constant movement of the work portals, the safety of the hose with its sensitive media had to be guaranteed.

E4/4 system energy supply systems are used on the longitudinal and transverse axes of the 'mega crane' to supply media to the firing and welding systems. These were supplied with easy-to-install aluminium troughs for the safe guidance of the energy chain over long travel distances. "The requirement here was to give the various hoses a certain amount of room to move. This is because they are pressurised and can change. They become shorter or expand," explains Dirk Wobken. "Nevertheless, they must be positioned as accurately as possible and may only be bent or rolled within a certain bend radius defined by the energy chain." The special internal partitioning elements of the "E4/4" chains also ensure that the hoses are laid neatly. They can move freely in the longitudinal direction at all times and do not exert any tensile force on the energy chain system in the radius. The travel distance of the longitudinal axis is 75 metres. In order to arrange the working gantries on eight overlapping travel paths, the energy chains run partly parallel and partly reverse on two side-by-side tracks in the aluminium troughs. Heinrich Kampen, CEO of Siempelkamp Krantechnik GmbH: "An extremely compact arrangement of the eight energy supply systems was important here in order to ensure a perfect supply to all eight welding gantries."

On the transverse axis, the energy chain systems are also equipped with highly bend-resistant "chainflex®" special cables from igus®, which are used to transmit power and control signals. These are special control and motor cables for energy chains that achieve a high service life in dynamic continuous operation. This is because steel construction is a particularly harsh environment. Both the plastic energy chain and the cables are exposed to demanding external conditions: welding and grinding are carried out, the energy supply systems are exposed to dust and dirt, and sparks often fly.
In addition to the harsh environmental conditions and the possibility of integrating the system into the crane construction in a very space-saving manner, there was another reason to opt for an energy chain solution at an early stage: the radius limitation of the hose with its sensitive media defined by the chain. In addition, this system has already proven itself in similarly demanding applications at Meyer Werft for many years. "This is an optimal solution for the high requirements prevailing here," confirms Heinrich Kampen from Siempelkamp Krantechnik.

energy chain expert igus® provided intensive advice in advance at the Meyer Werft shipyard and at Siempelkamp Krantechnik. The energy chain with the "chainflex®" special cables and the aluminium guide troughs were precisely matched to the requirements on site. The subsequent assembly of the energy chain system at a fixed price was an additional service provided by igus®. "We had a very tight time window for the installation," reports Dirk Wobken. "As we work with flammable gases, the working portals had to be approved in terms of gas technology, so we only had two weeks to install the energy chain systems on the eight portals. But everything went smoothly."