Squeezing a catamaran into a single berth: igus vector award

e-chain director Justin Leonard explains: "These double-hull boots always need two adjacent berths in the harbour - which is very expensive and usually impossible to book in the peak season. Lifting these double-hulled vessels out of the water is also extremely difficult, since there are only a few cranes available that can accommodate widths of up to eight metres."

An igus video shows how the patent-protected system adjusts the width of the high-sea catamaran to just 4.85m. This enables it to use the infrastructures of single-hull ships in the harbour. A combination of E04 series energy chains and linear guides from the drylin family offer all the necessary characteristics to deal with the torsion load and realise adjustment perfectly.

Don't forget, applications for this year's vector awards can be submitted online (www.igus.co.uk/vector), by filling in a simple form with a design brief and description of the energy chain application. Supporting photos and videos can also be uploaded. The closing date for entries is 23rd February 2018.

To watch the video, please visit www.igus.co.uk/specialvectorfutura.