March/April | 2019 http://www.design-engineering.com
quite often. When we
switched to the energy
chains, all of that stuff
goes away.”
Energy chains
require only a visual
inspection to check
for wear or damage to
the cable. Festoons
can require additional
scaffolding or lifts to
access the crane’s
electrification system,
and multiple parts
need to be inspected
for wear, corrosion or
damage.
“In the first year
they were in service,
we were waiting for
something major to
go wrong,’’ Johnston said. “It just didn’t happen. The main-
tenance we had to do was minimal compared to the main-
tenance we had to do with the wheeled festoon systems.”
With its iSense products, igus can reduce downtime even
further by providing predictive maintenance capability. These
systems can relay to monitoring devices precisely when com-
ponents need repair or replacement.
Powerful Port
The practices at the Port of Virginia are catching the attention
of others in the industry. Its container volume increased seven
percent from 2016-17 and total tonnage rose 24.4 percent from
2016-17. It handled 11.6 percent of the East Coast’s total through-
put in 2016. Just recently the Port of Tacoma took delivery of
new STS cranes outfitted with e-chain systems from the factory
and Freeport Container Port just completed a revitalization
project and are now 100 percent igus on their waterfront.
“The size of the port itself, and the projects we’re under-
taking, and the aggressiveness we’re going after is unrivaled,’’
Webb said. “Everybody’s thinking, what’s Virginia doing?”
During a ferocious winter storm in 2016, ports all along
the Eastern seaboard of the US had their operation disrupted.
Snow, ice and high winds forced many ports to suspend
operations. The Port of Virginia, however, remained opera-
tional at full capacity. Reliable and durable energy chains are
one of the key reasons why the rough winter weather did not
stop operations.
“Having been a customer and partner of the Port of Vir-
ginia for 25 years is a statement in and of itself,’’ said John
Fornazor, Chief Executive Officer of Fornazor International.
“Looking toward a future of ever-changing container flows,
we feel the Port of Virginia will remain a vital export gateway
for our cargo.” DE
http://www.igus.ca
Sean McCaskill is the Engineered Systems Manager for igus
North America.
March/April | 2019 http://www.design-engineering.com
20
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— AND —
DES_MarApril_Berendsen.indd 1 2019-03-20 12:06 PM
PowerTransmission
Energy chains, like this spooled igus plastic
e-chain, slash maintenance costs over the
more traditional festoon systems.
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Integrating our accumulated expertise
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PRECISION MACHINE COMPONENTS
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DES_MarApril_NSK.indd 1 2019-03-25 10:53 AM
DES_MARCHAPRIL2019_LAZ.indd 20 2019-04-10 1:56 PM