E2 energy chain increases service life for hydraulic hoses

21st May 2019

Alex Lynn

0 0

Special challenges require innovative solutions. This applies to the extendable support legs on many construction vehicles, such as concrete pump trucks or mobile cranes. Here, the safe guidance of hydraulic hoses and cables is critical as they supply the continuous power to the equipment, even under high mechanical stress and tough environmental conditions.

Efficient protection is provided by the E2 U-type energy chain from igus. It not only protects the hoses and cables inside, but also prevents torsion and kinking of them due to the predefined minimum bending radius.

For a long time now, igus has relied on the U-type chain principle when it comes to creating more interior space for guiding hoses. With the new E2 U-type chain, the concept is applied to the low-space requirements of extendable support legs on concrete pumps and mobile cranes. The one-piece bracket design and heavy-duty pin-bore connection ensure high strength, even with large unsupported lengths.

The brackets are moulded directly onto the side section of the energy chain for optimum hose routing and stability. This enables two hoses to be safely routed on top of each other along with the power and data cables, reducing the installation space requirement greatly.

The U-type chain has an outer width of only 41.2mm and height of 57.5mm with a predefined bending radius of 75mm. The total required installation height for the chain is 255mm, which means that the E2 U-type chain can be integrated into almost any support leg application.

As both the energy chain and brackets are made of tribologically optimised plastic with rounded contours and wide, smooth contact surfaces, abrasion and wear of the hydraulic hoses are kept to a minimum. The cables and hydraulic hoses are completely separated by chambers to allow for the widely differing diameters.

The E2 U-type chain can accommodate cables with a maximum diameter of five millimetres and hoses up to 20mm thick. And, since hydraulic hoses swell transversely and lengthwise when pressurised, an expansion space of 20% is provided.