Hot chips bounce off a new type of tubing developed to protect cables and hoses in high-temperature production engineering environments.

A new material has been developed by igus for ‘energy chain’ applications.

In the past, the size, temperature and number of chips in many such applications left behind burn and melt marks; for example red hot chips would melt open the thermoplastic, cling to the energy supply system and burn themselves into the material. This happened with high-temperature applications in foundry plants, steel mills and on some machine tools.

With the new material, ‘igumid HT’ hot chips up to 850°C just bounce off. Under test at igus' in-house laboratory it achieved superior results to all other igus polymers. Consequently all standard igus E2 and E4 energy tubes are now available in this high-temperature material. igus energy tubes have been successfully protecting cables and hoses in the machining industry for almost 20 years.

The robust, plastic energy supply systems are resistant to dust, dirt, moisture, low or high temperatures and harsh environments. Enclosed energy tubes can be easily filled, simply by snapping the lids open with a screwdriver. This means cables remain easily accessible even after being laid into the tube and maintenance and machine downtimes are kept to a minimum.

 Many different interior separator, strain relief and connector options are available, as well as guide troughs, if required. If requested, the chip-resistant energy tubes can also be delivered as a ‘ready chain’ completely pre-harnessed with cables and hoses and ready to fit to a machine.

igus

www.igus.co.uk