Unsupported over a travel of 28m: energy chain for DECKEL MAHO milling machine

Profile

• What was needed: guidelok horizontal
• Requirements: High modularity – The machine tool must be extendable from 6 to 28m. Long travels. High travel speeds and accelerations.
• Industry: machine tools
• Success for the customer: guidelok makes the heavy hoses and cables safely unsupported and the required 28m travels easy to achieve. The energy chain is also designed for high speeds and accelerations, a long service life, and quick and easy installation.

This XXL machining centre can extend the travel distance according to customer requirements up to a length of 28m.

Problem

DECKEL MAHO Pfronten, a machine manufacturer, focuses on maximum modularity with this machining centre: The modern DMU 600 Gantry five-axis machining centre for milling workpieces needs to be easy to convert to different machining lengths. The standard X travel distance of the machine (and energy chain) is six metres and must be extendable to 28m as customer requirements demand. The machine can thus handle even XXL workpieces. Linear axis positioning accuracies are well below 10µm, so machining is highly precise. During machine design, great emphasis was also placed on high travel speed (45m/min) and an acceleration of 3m/s² for the 50-ton machine cross beam. The task was to find a suitable guidance system for the cables and hoses that met just these requirements. Because of its great weight, it was important to prevent the energy chain from sagging. Technical considerations ruled out classic, static support or a gliding chain application.

Solution

Arranged high up on the control cabinet horizontally next to the machine, a guidelok energy chain is now safely guiding the heavy hoses and cables. Multiple supports at different positions on the chain hold the upper run at the proper height and prevent the upper part of the chain from gliding on the lower run. The key to the support system is that, at the end of the supports holding the chain's upper run up, there are roller holders that fold in as soon as the chain radius passes them. When the chain comes back, the brackets spring back in and support the cable guidance system. This flexibility allows unsupported travel distances of up to 50m.
Since two such energy chains have been arranged in a reverse configuration (the alternative being interlocking chains), the cables and hoses move from the same position in both guidance systems. And this is true even if the customer requires a greater travel distance and thus a greater chain length. Complex adjustments can thus be avoided for machine variants, and assembly costs can be reduced.
The energy chain is also designed for high speeds and accelerations, a long service life, and quick and easy installation.

Two reverse guidelok energy chain systems are used for cable guidance.

Supports allow the energy chain to be unsupported (upper and lower runs do not touch). If the chain radius reaches two supports, the rollers fold away and the chain can travel through them.