Service life extension made easy: just three online steps to your smart e-chain
Equip e-chain cable carriers directly with smart condition monitoring in the igus online configurator and avoid unnecessarily early replacement
By Mark McGwin
6 March 2023 – igus®, the motion plastics specialist, now offers a wide range of online tools to streamline assembling ready-to-connect e-chain® cable carrier systems in just a few steps.
The tools include the “e-chain expert,” which enables interested parties to assemble an individual e-chain energy chain system in just three steps. Price, service life, and delivery time are displayed. For the first time, users can now configure their e-chain with the intelligent i.Sense EC.W wear sensor directly. This gives customers a complex, ready-to-connect e-chain system that includes real-time condition monitoring in just a few clicks.
In three easy steps, the igus “e-chain expert” online configurator finds the cable harness best suited for each customer’s application. Users only have to select the harnessed or unharnessed cables in the online tool or indicate the rough fill weight. Then they choose environmental and application parameters, such as travel and required speed. Finally, they can pick the suitable e-chain cable harness from a pre-selection and tailor it further.
“As soon as the customer receives a pre-selection of suitable chain series, the online tool immediately shows which products are compatible with smart plastics. The selected chain can then be equipped with a smart wear sensor with a simple click,” says Richard Habering, Head of Business Unit smart plastics at igus.
The EC.W sensor can also be easily added to existing chain configurations. Users then automatically assign interior e-chain separation as usual, taking into account all interior separation rules. Those who want to skip these setup steps can also work directly with the demo chain configuration.
In the “e-chain expert” customers can now directly equip their ready-to-connect energy chain with smart condition monitoring – and avoid unnecessarily early replacement.
Real-time condition monitoring costs less than ever
As Industry 4.0 advances, more and more companies rely on smart sensors to monitor the technical condition of their systems. igus i.Sense EC.W provides real-time condition monitoring. Integrated, potential-free contacts allow the wear sensor to be connected directly to the PLC machine control system. This makes maintenance over the entire service life simpler and easier to plan and reduces costs.
Users can connect the sensor to a wide range of networks and IoT systems via an i.Cee module and thus integrate it into a predictive-maintenance concept.
“smart plastics enable users to avoid unplanned system downtimes and unnecessary or premature chain replacement. This can extend energy chain service life and greatly increase system availability,” says Richard Habering. “Integrating smart plastics technology into our online configurator makes this even easier. Customers save valuable time and receive their ready-to-connect e-chain system, including intelligent service life monitoring, with the least possible effort.”
You can learn more about igus smart solutions for e-chain cable carriers here: https://www.igus.ca/info/smart-solutions-for-e-chains
