Maintenance-free bearings in bottling plant

drylin® and iglide® bearings in filling plant for dairy products replace vulnerable metal bearings

In this system from KASI Tempra Pack, milk cartons are folded, glued, filled, sterilized and sealed. Important for use in a dairy: To prevent the milk from being contaminated, the bearings and linear guides should be dry-running. They must also be resistant to disinfectants and high temperatures. This was achieved by using drylin® linear guides and iglide® plain bearings.

Profile

What was needed: iglide ® sleeve bearings, iglide® plain bearing, drylin® R linear bearing
Requirements: The environment of the plant is highly corrosive. In addition, light alkaline and acidic solutions, disinfectants and hot water are frequently used for cleaning.
Industry: Food technology
Success for the customer: The new bearing technology made of iglide® plastics is not only completely maintenance-free and dry-running, it is also cheaper to purchase and operate. After two years in use, the results for the customer are so positive that the new bearings are also to be used in other machine types.

Problem

The РР20 is a rotating linear mono-block designed for filling and sealing pasteurized milk and milk drinks in gable top cartons with a polyethylene coating. Several successive actions take place within an automatic cycle. Once the unfolded cardboard blanks have been fed in, the adhesive is applied to the cardboard and the cardboard base is glued on. The machine also automatically places the cap on the milk carton, disinfects it using UV rays, fills the product into the containers and seals them.

The existing metal bearings for the various format adjustments and rotating movements in the system were to be replaced by new products, as the high demands of the machine could not be met by the current components.

The environment in the facility is highly corrosive, making metallic components in particular susceptible. Equally problematic is the frequent use of mild alkaline and acidic solutions, disinfectants and hot water for cleaning.

Solution

The various conflicts mentioned in the APP20 for filling and packaging pasteurized milk in the food industry were solved by exclusively using our linear bearings and bushings. They are an alternative to steel bearings and ball sleeves, as they adapt perfectly to the specific working environment.

Specifically, iglide® sleeve bearings, drylin® R linear bearings, and iglide® double flange bearings were installed, which bring several advantages to the bottling plant. By switching from metal bearings to plastic bearing components, it was possible to find a cost-effective alternative that also saves costs during operation. This eliminates the need to use elements to seal the rotating and moving parts.

It was particularly important to the operator to enable economical operation. In addition to the increased reliability of the machine, the new bearings also make cleaning and maintenance easier. It is also important in the food industry that the plastic bearings are completely dry-running, which eliminates the risk of contamination of the product.

Two years after the introduction of the new components, the results for the customer are so positive that the iglide® and drylin® bearings are also to be used in other machine types, such as in vertical tubular bag machines for liquid products in soft packaging.