High temperature energy tube inside a CNC machining center

"We include the majority of our suppliers in the development process at an early stage," says Mario Chemnitz, Director of the Design Department at Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH in the city of Chemnitz, Germany. "Many questions need to be settled early on in the development process – especially when one is dealing with the extremely limited space available inside our machine tools and machining centers."

This also applies to externally supplied parts, such as energy chains, which need to deliver the maximum amount of movement in the limited space available. There are many demands on the energy supply systems which are installed both inside and outside the working chamber. These demands may range from long travel distances, tight bending radii, and high fill weights, as well as high temperature and chemical resistance. All these challenges must be resolved at the design stage.

"The design of the energy chain in the working chamber is especially important," says Mario Chemnitz, "since it has to withstand the most difficult conditions."

"Our goal is to manufacture and globally market products of the highest quality" according to Nils-Simmons marketing manager, Pierre Seidel. About 350 employees work at the company headquarters in Chemnitz, but within the entire NSH Group, there are over 1,100 employees throughout the world. The multi-product range is based on six machine designs, divided into the fields of aerospace, automotive, railway and general machine tool construction, as well as tool and mold construction.

Typical products include horizontal CNC lathes and CNC lathing-milling-drilling machining centers, as well as high precision milling centers. In addition, the company does the planning and construction for complete assembly lines for the automotive industry as well as for workshops for the repair and production of railway bogies as part of the NSH Group.

Thanks to the modular design and ability to accept additional drive systems, the machines can be set up and produced in accordance with the specific requirements of the customer with regard to the work pieces.

"Our machining centers cover all sizes of work piece and have a compact, ergonomic and easy to use design. In addition, we offer excellent service and easy maintenance," says Pierre Seidel.

The energy supply in the working chamber is about 13 ft long and is subject to difficult environmental conditions. During lathing, milling, and drilling, a large number of red-hot chips are produced. These chips can burn into the energy supply and impair the working of the machine in the long term. "This is why the majority of our customers used to demand a metal energy chain for the working chamber," explains Group Director Michael Kamm. "This, however, was not in our best interests since it is then difficult to handle and much too heavy once it has been filled. We prefer a lightweight polymer that is resistant to hot chips and high temperatures in the long term."

A working group requested a material that resists chips, chemicals, and high temperatures, while remaining lightweight to support fill weights of up to 6-7 kg/m. The igus® lab developed and tested a solution under realistic conditions to meet the demands of the working chamber.

The material "igumid HT" was presented as a solution. as Chips at temperatures of up to 1,562 °F just bounce off. All the available "E4" and "E2" energy tubes from the standard igus catalog are now available in this high temperature material.