To enable industry to produce more efficiently, economically and competitively, the demand in mechanical engineering for ever faster systems with travel distances of 200 meters and more and with higher additional loads is increasing. This development brings new challenges - not only for the energy chain and cables - but also for the slide rail in the energy supply system. Roller energy chains have been solving these tasks for a long time without any problems, but are more expensive.

Slide rails made from a durable material are required to ensure that the energy chain used in a guide trough can glide over long distances without wear despite demanding conditions. For this reason, Igus has developed a new, highly abrasion-resistant high-performance plastic specifically for high speeds of more than five meters per second using its many years of plastics expertise in the field of wear-resistant plain bearing technology.

The slide rail made from the new high-performance polymer has already proven itself in the in-house test laboratory with a five times longer service life compared to the profile previously used. The wear-resistant rail is designed to be gentle on the energy chain. Igus has also developed the EC.T sensor to permanently monitor the condition of the slide rail.

Measures the condition and provides maintenance recommendations
The EC.T sensor is cast directly into the new high-speed rail. The sensor works wirelessly and is battery-operated. It sends a signal about its status to the Icom communication module at regular intervals. This module processes the data from all Igus-Isense sensors and offers the option of integration into the desired maintenance tool. If there is an interruption in the conductor loop in the sensor, the number of days until the next maintenance can be output via the maintenance tool by means of reality comparison of the service life algorithms.

The new slide rails with the sensor are used, for example, on gantry robots in automotive production, on gantries in machine tool construction or on the seventh axis of industrial robots.

Roller energy chains for long travel lengths
The company achieves travel lengths of up to 1,000 meters and more with its roller energy chains. For example, users can also rely on a durable and intelligent solution with the latest P4.1 generation of roller chains. This is because a sensor is optionally available for the plain bearings used, which ensure the lubrication-free bearing of the individual chain links.

This provides information about the condition of the sliding element. Other sensors that provide information on the condition of the data and energy cables, the wear of the energy chain or measure tensile and shear forces, for example, are also available for all energy chains. In combination with the Chainflex Ethernet, Profinet, servo, hybrid and fiber optic cables, Igus offers modern machine components that are equipped for all Industry 4.0 requirements. as