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Motion plastics from igus reduce the costs and raise the life expectancy in shipbuilding

At the 26th SMM in Hamburg, igus GmbH presented their comprehensive offerings for the shipbuilding industry: light and stable energy chains, Germanischer Lloyd-certified cables, and corrosion-resistant sliding, spherical, and slewing ring bearings on a multitude of moving applications – on ship, crane or shipyard, above and below the water surface.

Under the guiding principle of bettering the method of its application and reducing the cost for customers, igus displayed its wide variety of motion plastics, tribo-polymers for moving applications, at the SMM in Hamburg. They are maintenance-free and lubrication-free, seawater, UV, chemical, and corrosion resistant as well as reliable and robust – this in comparison to the traditional raw material of steel is far better, as it has a lower weight and lower price. Components out of high performance plastics work reliably even by high temperatures and adverse climatic circumstances. Their flexibility in the realms of construction and installation make the energy chain systems and bearings out of igus-plastics into a modern and user-friendly technology for shipbuilding.

Certified Safety: chainflex wires with GL-Seal
Ships and offshore sites are based on their areas of operation on fail-safe design and depend on low maintenance energy cables and integrated supply cables. The classification society Germanischer Lloyd (GL), therefore, has developed special audit standards for maritime applications, guaranteed dependability and unnecessary, expensive special approval. Altogether 348 cables from the chainflex program for energy chains already carry the GL-Quality Seal. They are thereby the first worldwide cables in e-chains that comply with this audit standard and assure an especially high life expectancy for dynamic applications. All of the certified cables are in accordance with the requirements of the ship-approval authorities and are delivered from stock, and available parts are deliverable within 48 hours.

e-chain E4.350 and Rotary Modules: field-tested on the high seas
In practice, the largest plastic e-chain in the world, the E4.350, has already been proven and tested. On the ship “Seven Waves,” the placement arm of the “Pipe-Lay-Tower” is performed by the output of the pipeline’s severe services. In the application, the additional load lifts from 120 kg/m. Generally the additional load of the E4.350 is covered from 600 kg/m and is therefore significantly lighter than steel. Also workboats with deep-sea cranes are already successfully equipped with it. Likewise the space-saving installations of the multi-rotary modules are reliably tested. In the North Sea, on the “Innovation,” an installation ship is arranged for wind farms, a two-tier rotary module for the rotation angle from a maximum of 900 degrees. Through the special two-tier construction, circular movements with extreme angles are possible.

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