The new “magsnap” was developed by igus to hold the energy chain run onto a metal surface which prevents the chain from swinging back and forth. This eliminates the need for installing a complete guide trough thereby saving cost, assembly time and weight. “The magsnap can be retrofitted quickly and easily even to existing systems,” said Christian Barthen, Global Product Manager for e-chains at the igus GmbH. “Two small magnetic adapters are simply clipped on to every fifth crossbar of an e-chain. If required, depending on the fill weight of the chain, even more crossbars can be equipped with the clips.”
Quiet operations in the most varied applications include material handling, crane applications with hanging energy chains or even fully automatic parking garages. In order to prevent unwanted noise, dampening elements are attached to each magsnap clip, so that the noise due to the attractive force of the magnet is reduced. The magsnap is also suitable for applications with rotary motions, where the chain moves within an enclosure (RBR – Reverse Bend Radius applications). Here the magnetic clips ensure that the chain is held onto the enclosure on the outer radius, allowing a simpler guiding structure.