Igus high performance engineering plastic bearings for beverage filling and packaging systems

Nowadays, there are many more types of consumer drinks such as juices, juice concentrates and wines on the market than in the past few decades, and the corresponding filling and packaging needs are also increasing. Sports plastics expert igus has long-term cooperation with many world-renowned beverage machinery manufacturers such as Krones, Fricke, Küppersbusch, KHS, etc. with its lubrication-free, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant engineering plastics solutions. 20 years.

Provide a reliable solution for many possible applications

In the long-term cooperation with many beverage machinery manufacturers, igus has explored many high-quality application solutions. For example, Krones' Sleevematic TS sleeve label uses a range of igus products, from lubricated engineering plastic nuts in the position of the bottle set and brush set, to linear guide systems for eye adjustment and to pre-shrinkage mechanisms and guides in the label. The film drum height adjustment mechanism uses a SLW screw drive module. Fricke uses a screw-free lifting module consisting of a line of lubrication-free and wear-resistant drylin linear products for the filling head adjustment of its equipment to improve equipment performance and reduce costs. In addition to its corrosion and hygienic properties, KHS's Innoket Neo labeling machine is also very attractive, with up to 60,000 bottles per hour, and a lubrication-free drylin linear product. There are countless such cases. The bearing product line made of igus high-performance engineering plastics has been well-received, long-life, does not require any external lubrication, and meets FDA standards for direct contact with foods such as beverages, so it has always been favored by food equipment designers.

The iglidur J trapezoidal flange nut is used in the Krones Sleevematic TS sleeve labeling machine.

Fricke uses a screw-free lifting module consisting of a line of lubrication-free and wear-resistant drylin SLW in its filling head to improve equipment performance and reduce costs.

Igus high performance engineering plastics - trusted choice

For example, the Küppersbusch spirits filling equipment currently being tested in the final test before delivery in Velbert, Germany, uses a wide variety of different types of igus bearing products: drylin is used in various height adjustment mechanisms. Trapezoidal thread screws in the linear product range and flange nuts made of high-performance engineering plastics; position adjustment guides are made with drylin R linear flange bearings; self-aligning clamp bearings are mounted on the brackets of the motor, thus ensuring Convenience of installation; on another (vertical) guiding system, drylin R linear flange bearings with aluminum alloy casing and matching hard anodized aluminum alloy shafts are used. Klaus Voigt, project engineer at Küppersbusch, said: "We have been using this solution for almost eight years. It is perfect in shape, does not require any lubrication, and has almost no wear."

In addition, Küppersbusch uses igus high performance engineering plastic bearings on valves and pumps in filling and batching stations. At the filling station, the bottles are lifted and connected to the filling port via the drylin T linear guide. In the centering mechanism of the filling head, iglidur flange bearings are installed. These bearings are not only FDA-compliant, chemically resistant, but also have an extremely long service life. Klaus Voigt shared his experience: “These bearings are under a lot of pressure. We have a filling machine that has been running 40 million cycles and still use the original igus shaft and bearings.” Küppersbusch bottling equipment only needs Very little maintenance can reduce the user's maintenance costs, so the customer's reputation is very good.

A wide range of iglidur high performance materials

In order to meet the growing demand for high-performance applications and to facilitate designers to choose, igus has been developing, testing and launching new iglidur high-performance materials. For many years, the igus high performance engineering plastic bearing product line made of FDA-compliant iglidur A180 material has been widely used, especially in the beverage and food industries; many customers are now using the new FDA-compliant iglidur A181 ( Blue) material and FDA-compliant and high temperature resistant iglidur A500 bearings. In addition, another newer product from igus is also used in the exit zone of the Küppersbusch bottle conveyor rotary table. The guide plates of the bottles were originally made of stainless steel. In order to eliminate the noise generated by the metal colliding with the bottle, the wear-resistant strip made of B160 material by igus is now used. The wear-resistant strip wear-resistant medium has very good sliding performance or friction coefficient compared with ordinary polymer plastic.

Maintenance-free 3D printing fixtures improve packaging machine efficiency

Since 2015, igus has begun to provide 3D printing with wear-resistant threads made of non-lubricating high performance plastics optimized for wear and friction. Currently, the igus wear-resistant wire has been used by many companies, and Carecos Kosmetik is one of them. The problem they face is that product replacement means that the fixture of the packaging machine must be remanufactured. In the past, they were all aluminum fixtures that were carefully machined. But this not only costs a lot of money, but it takes six weeks. Therefore, the use of the high-strength and impact-resistant wear-resistant wire iglidur I150 for 3D printing has become an ideal solution for the production of cost-effective small-volume fixtures. Compared to previously selected aluminum materials, the use of iglidur I150 in 3D printing can save up to 85% of the cost and 70% of production time for Carecos Kosmetik. Not only that, plastic fixtures are seven times lighter than metal fixtures.

The 3D printed plastic fixture made of the wear-resistant optimized material iglidur I150 saves 85% of the cost and 70% of the production time for the packaging equipment.