Flexible design, secure guidance: modern office furniture with e-chains from igus ZF14 energy chain for moving applications in the furniture industry.

The workplace ambience is changing and with it furniture design. Today, modern office furniture is characterised by flexibility and increasing electrification. For these applications, the motion plastics specialist igus provides the ZF14 energy chain, with cables guided safely and unobtrusively on the furniture.

Desks whose heights can be adjusted by pressing a button, worktops that automatically move forward and backward, cabinets that extend a presentation display electrically – office furniture is increasingly being geared to the individual needs of their users. Simultaneously, the electrified furniture should fit harmoniously into the design of the room without disturbing cable clutters. One solution is a guidance system that allows cables and connectors to be bundled and routed safely. With the energy chain ZF14, igus has designed an energy chain for these applications in the office furniture industry.

Guide energy and data safely

The e-chain ZF14 integrates into modern furniture design and is fixed by means of mounting brackets that simply attach to the furniture. Mounting brackets can be either screwed on or bonded, thanks to the large smooth surface on the bottom The e-chain is then simply clipped in, small barbs on the mounting bracket snap onto the crossbar of the chain and ensure a secure hold. Thanks to the easy chain principle, the insertion of cables by hand is very easy, even when the energy chain is already installed on the furniture. The ZF14 is very cable-friendly in use because it has very smooth inner contours. In this way the cables are still securely guided, even after many years. The colour of the chain can be individually selected for major projects and can be based on the design of each piece of furniture. The development of ZF14 owes much to the specific requests of customers: thus, at present several thousand desks by American and European manufacturers of office furniture are being equipped with the ZF14. 

igus GmbH is a globally leading manufacturer of energy chain systems and polymer plain bearings. In 2015, igus generated a turnover of 552 million euros with motion plastics, plastic components for moving applications. igus operates the largest test laboratories and factories in its sector to offer customers quick turnaround times on innovative products and solutions tailored to their needs.