help with cable cover 1

[jdkuhndog]

Does anybody have any information/experience with covers for troughs?

I have an application with an overhead crane being powered by a 2" diameter cable coming off of a horizontally fed cable reel. The cable will be pulled by the crane and will lay in a trough mounted just to the side of the runway beam. The trough needs to be sealed after the cable is laid into the trough and after it is lifted up out of the trough (the cable is being lifted up and layed into the trough by simply reacting to where the crane is located).

I was thinking of using an elastomeric type cover which has a 'finger type' mesh to it - in that it would only open or close in the immediate vicinity where the cable was passing through. Should be a relatively solid seal/cover when closed.

Does this make sense? If not I can go into more detail.

Anyhow, is anybody familiar with a product out there that would suit this application. The trough will be approx. 8" wide & the material to cover the trough will need to be pretty resistant to gamma radiation.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[arto]

Maybe look up "way covers?"[i.e., machine tool slides]

http://www.gortite.com/gordillo.htm

http://www.centryco.com/products.htm

 

[jdkuhndog]

Thanks arto...I didn't see anything in my quick search on those pages which would work for me...my situation is horribly illustrated below:

cable above trough before entering:

O
===
| |
| |
-----

cable entering trough:


=\ /=
| O |
| |
-----


cable laying in trough:

===
| |
| O |
-----


cable rising out of trough:

O
=/ \=
| |
| |
-----



Side view of action:
______________________
|
|
CABLE | OVERHEAD CRANE <---->
------X|_______________________
___________/__________________________
CABLE /
------------/ TROUGH
________________________________________

 

[pennpoint]

jdkuhndog
If your confident that the cable will always self deploy and return to the cable tray without need of assistance or guides then look at this company:

http://www.sealeze.com/

Otherwise if the cable will become unrully, become tangled or fail to lay back into the tray. You might want to consider this company:

http://www.igus.com

check out their &quot;Energy Chain System&quot;.

I do not work for these companies but I have used their products with very good results.

Good Luck

pennpoint

 

[MintJulep]

Take a look at the seals used on various brands of rodless air cylinders. They may give you some ideas, although I think you will need to scale the concepts up for your application. Looks like a custom application to me.

Would a brush type seal work for you?

 

[IFRs]

How about this:

http://www.precisionbrush.com/Group/31TDCDBD3WQ9KUZV.htm

 

[EdDanzer]

What are you trying to seal out?
Also look at seals used in linear scales. If you can leave the wire in the trough and just have the contact arm go through, sealing will be simpler.
Another option is to have the arm come up from the bottom if you are trying to protect only from falling debris.

 

[jdkuhndog]

Actually I am trying to seal in radiation contamination. The cable reel is in a CMA (Crane Maintenance Area) - the cable trough extends out through a shield door to a hot cell (an area where there is radiation & radiated particles/contamination).

The cable gets exposed to this radiation out in the hot cell (there is no cover on the trough in the hot cell). As the crane moves into the CMA, the cable is following along (actually the cable is leading the crane) - the cable has been contaminated by the hot cell as has the crane...the crane is put through a wash down/ the cable is covered so that personnel will be protected from the contamination/radiation on the cable.


Thanks to all who have responded...I have not checked out the links yet...but will do so this morning as I get a chance.

 

[fredt]

What about overlapping, relatively stiff lonitudinal rubber strips covering the top to the trough. (Like conveyor belting material). Feed the cable through a &quot;plow&quot; attached to the crane that parts the strips to let the cable pass through. The strips will close before and after the opening due to their inherent elasticity.