spiral spring loaded trailing cable reel

[chumet1]

fellow engineers,

i have a charge car with trailing cables getting damaged as the charge car moves (refer to pictures). the initial design to was hangers where the cable was supported during operation but when we started a coke oven battery rebuild project the hangers were removed thus the cable was left unsupported during operation. my initial point of call was to get a simple mechanical cable reel and the concept of a spiral spring loaded cable reel came to mind. problem is i have never come across one and would like information if anyone has ever used a spiral spring loaded cable reel; what are its advantages and limitations

 

[kjoiner]

Hello,

You might consider a cable track such as Igus Energy Chain. That would provide a guiding system and some protection for the cable. We use smaller ones for linear actuators but they have some large enough for ship yard applications. Check out this link:

http://www.igus.com/wpck/default.aspx?pagenr=4843

Kyle

 

[FACS]

One issue will be the potential energy stored when the spring is wound. Think about a tape measure, and how fast that baby zips in when you press the button... is that what you want on your cable?

Now, one idea is similar to the rewind stations we design for paper industry. Can you make a wheel that turns with the car as it moves? Thus winding and unwinding only when it has to, powered by the movement.
Moving in one direction the cable is pulled out -- simple enough.
Moving in the other direction, a wheel attached to something turns the drum, which rolls up the cable.

A clutch will have to be designed to compensate for the change in diameter of the cable. So when it rolls up, the cable slips the clutch to maintain tension.



Charlie

http://www.facsco.com