Robust roller energy chain on ship unloaders over 400m travel

Profile

• What was needed: Crane operator's cabin: Chain of type 4040.25.150.0, load-carrying equipment (trolley): rol-e-chain 5050R.21/21/21.250.0, chainflex cables, stainless steel guide troughs and enclosure
• Requirements: Corrosive environmental conditions, dust generation
• Industry: Crane, ship unloader
• Success for the customer: Complete energy supply solution from a single source, reliable solution for highly corrosive ambient conditions

Longitudinal travel 441.3 m rol e-chain 5050 complete in stainless steel enclosure

Problem

In Lumut, Malaysia, the planned construction of a new modern coal-fired power plant for the operator Lekir Bulk Terminal Sdn Bhd.  a large-scale project.  The coal for the power plant is delivered by ships; for further processing, berths for the cargo ships have been built on an artificial island about 2 km off the coast, which are served by two large ship unloaders.  The ship unloaders each have a travel of 441 m and were built by the Koch company in Wadgassen in Saarland. For the energy supply system, the operator was looking for a sophisticated system that could also withstand the local environmental conditions and cope with the high load caused by the continuous operation of the plant.

Solution

The operator finally decided on an e-chain system from igus.  Today, the crane operator's cabin is supplied by a chain of type 4040.25.150.0.  Due to the high travel speed in combination with the very high fill weight of 41.03 kg/m, a 4-belt chain was used for the trolley with 2 centre plates. Specifically, roller energy chains (rol e-chain) are used here, which are fitted with stainless steel bearings to withstand the highly corrosive load of the sea air. The weight of an e-chain including cables is almost 2.5 tons.  The e-chains are filled with medium voltage cables of the type CF Crane 50/6.6/10KV or CF Crane 35/6.6/10KV, a fibre optic cable with 6 fibres 62.5/125 as well as a water hose, since water mist is constantly used to suppress dust as much as possible during the unloading of the ships due to the high dust generation. Furthermore, all energy chains are completely equipped with stainless steel guide troughs and are protected against the effects of weather and high UV radiation by an enclosure.

igus energy chain on a crane, in stainless steel enclosure.

Supply of the crane operator cabins:

The crane operator's cabin is supplied with a chain of type 4040.25.150.0.

• Travel 73m
• Speed 19.8 m/min
• Acceleration 0.5m/s2
• Fill weight 4.1 kg/m
• Various cables of the chainflex product range

Load carrying equipment (trolley):

• Travel 90m
• Speed 189.6 m/min
• Acceleration 1m/s2 
• Fill weight 41.03 kg/m
• Used e-chain® rol e-chain 5050R.21/21/21.250.0
• All igus® chainflex® cables

Cross travel

• Cross travel 441.3 m
• Acceleration at 0.1 m/s2
• Speed at 20 m/min