Here’s a look at how the oversized safety shock absorbers—capable of stopping 4,000-ton cargo ships—are key to protecting the lock gate and ensuring the safety of the ships passing through.

Like Navigating A Tight Parking Spot
During the design phase of the ship lock system, Dutch construction and steel company Mourik Lumburg had to take into account the fact that ships may touch the safety beam while navigating into the lock. The action resembles the way a car, as its driver navigates a tight parking spot, might tap the car next to it. But with loaded vessels weighing up to 4 million kg and traveling at 0.5-m/s speeds, the gate would need to withstand a considerable amount of force.

Mourik technical experts needed large, heavy-duty shock absorbers that could protect the gate. They approached ACE Controls for a solution.

An Extra-Large Solution
ACE technical experts calculated that the shock absorbers would need to withstand 500,000 Nm of energy—requiring a customized design. Weighing in at 320 kg, these special oversized shock absorbers feature a length of 2,649 mm, outer diameter of 200 mm and stroke of 800 mm.

After the collision in the Netherlands ship lock, engineers installed a new beam on the gate—a process that required temporary disassembly of the shock absorbers. During this process, ACE technical experts were on hand to provide the repair team with all the necessary support on how to remove and then reinstall the dampers.

Thanks to these extra-large components, the ACE and Mourik teams are confident the ship lock will continue to operate safely for many more years.

To learn more, download our latest case study.

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For more than 25 years, Blow Up Video Production has provided broadcast engineering services and equipment for a range of video and television projects around the world. With the help of profile dampers from ACE Controls, the company developed unique shipping cases, ensuring its cameras and other high-quality equipment could be transported to their various locations undamaged.

Avoiding Travel Accidents. The company saw many accidents in the past. Shipping cases were known to have been pierced by forklifts or dropped from damaging heights. “Air travel is another big source of potential trauma,” Martin Schiemann, who heads Blow Up, said. After several accidents resulting in equipment damage, Schiemann and his team decided to revamp the shipping cases with the help of ACE Controls.

ACE TUBUS Profile Dampers. ACE engineers recommended TUBUS TR67-40 profile dampers, which enable very long, yet soft deceleration with a gradual reduction of energy at the end of each stroke. Designed for radial damping, these dampers have an energy capacity of up to 204 in-lbs/cycle and a dynamic force range of 49 to 1,686 pounds.

Within each shipping case, equipment is placed on 19-inch stackable racks, each of which is supported by four TUBUS dampers. Engineers can also easily adapt the damping effect, depending on the weight of the equipment. “Thanks to the TUBUS dampers, we can guarantee that our equipment will arrive safely at any location in the world,” Schiemann said.

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With its wheel-truing machine, Dutch company Holland Mechanics BV specializes in making sure the spokes on bicycle wheels are loaded with the correct tension, avoiding rim warpage. By integrating ACE hydraulic brake cylinders into the machine’s design, the company discovered it can better control the machine’s motion, resulting in several benefits.

Avoiding rebound. Initially, during operation, rubber buffers were used to absorb the movement of the truing machine, causing a rebound. This effect, combined with stricter customer requirements, prompted the designers to look for a different solution. They decided to switch out the rubber buffers for hydraulic brake cylinders from ACE Controls, which would prevent any rebound from happening.

Reducing tolerance. The addition of ACE brake cylinders into the wheel-truing machine, along with improvements to the machine’s drive unit and the integration of other, more precise components, lowered tolerance values from ±0.4 mm to ±0.1 mm.

Increasing production speed. Thanks to the cylinders, production speed also increased by 10 percent. With the machine’s movement under control, gripping accuracy has improved. No longer does the machine’s grippers miss the spokes, bringing production to a grinding halt.

ACE hydraulic brake cylinders (model HB-12-20-EE-P), which resemble industrial gas springs in terms of their structure, have a small, compact design, meaning they can be easily integrated into your existing system. With diameters of 12 mm and stroke lengths of 20 mm, these components can apply compression forces of up to 180 N and have an operating temperature range of -20 to +80°C for use in virtually any environment.

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Just ask the students of Hamburg University’s HAWKS racing team, who integrated ACE Controls industrial gas springs into their H0X racecar, demonstrating a nontraditional, yet functional use for the component and highlighting the design flexibility and power of ACE’s products.

ACE Partners With HAWKS
Each year, university students around the world participate in Formula Student, Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition. The purpose of the event is to design and build a single-seat racing car, which is then put to the test at the famous Silverstone Circuit. Students from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, dissatisfied with the performance of the conventional helical springs used to attach the accelerator pedal, partnered with ACE to incorporate the company’s industrial springs into their racecar. The students were impressed that ACE’s gas springs could be easily integrated into their existing design, saving them time and costly modifications.

ACE Industrial Gas Springs
Universal and tailor-made, ACE’s industrial gas push type springs can support muscle power with forces from 2 to 2,923 pounds, or 10 to 13,000 N. The springs used in the HAWKS racecar (type GS-15-40) needed to exert an extension force of 150 N for a stroke of just 40 mm—a requirement they easily met. The students also found that the ACE spring offset the vibrations of the car very well by keeping the accelerator pedal in a constant position.

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