Reliable in continuous operation: Hygienic bearings in a high-speed bottling plant

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• What was needed: iglidur bearings and drylin shaft guides
• Requirements: Bearing components were needed that work reliably in continuous operation and are completely lubrication- and maintenance-free.
• Industry: Packaging technology, filling systems
• Success for the customer: By using iglidur plain bearings with incorporated solid lubricants, no external lubrication is required. They allow high cycle rates under continuous operation.

This fully automatic system from machine manufacturer Gujer Engineering GmbH in Kaltbrunn can quickly fill large quantities of viscous to liquid materials into cups such as yoghurt pots. With a cycle time of 1.5 seconds, the machine achieves an output of 1.7 litres, which corresponds to a maximum hourly output 4,080 litres or 14,400 cups. The machine comprises six different stations, from the cup feeder to the ejector, for which plain bearings, shafts and thrust washers are used for different tasks:
A cup dispenser, which is equipped for eight different cup sizes, pulls the lowest cup from the magazine by generating a vacuum in order to position it for the filling process. The cups are lifted at the dosing and filling station, after which a rotary valve opens and lets the material into the cups. Before the filled cups can be sealed, a lid dispenser removes the individual lid from a magazine by means of a vacuum and performs a rotary movement to position it precisely on the cup.
The packaging process is completed with the sealing step. A water-cooled tool holder enables sealing with high-precision positioning with a large usable space and high temperatures of up to 300°C.
The lids are labelled in the next step. A 2-head inkjet device above the cups is responsible for this process.
Finally, the cups are conveyed upwards in a synchronised manner via a lifting unit. Once here, they are pushed onto a conveyor belt by a pusher and ejected from the process.

Cup dispenser
In the cup dispenser area, the individual cups are gripped with a vacuum and pulled into the turntable in a monitored manner. JFM-1818-17 plain bearings on an SWM-16 shaft are used to move the grippers, enabling an impressive cycle rate of 53 cycles per minute.

Dosing unit
In the dosing unit, the containers are first lifted from below using JFM-1618-17 plain bushings and SWM-16 shafts.
Type JSM-1012-10 plain bearings are used to actuate the rotary valve, which is positioned above the bucket on the machine side and regulates the material output in synchronisation with the dosing unit (shaft: item SWM-10). In addition, thrust washers of the iglidur G type are used on a shaft of the SWM-16 type.

Lid dispenser
The lids are removed from the top of the lid dispenser by means of a vacuum. For the downward rotation of the lid gripper and its exact positioning above the containers, the manufacturer uses guide systems of type JFM-1618-17 on a shaft of type SWM-16. They enable high travelling speeds.

Sealing
The sealing station is water-cooled to ensure maximum precision. For high quantities, up to 300°C can be set for sealing the containers. The high machine performance is supported by type JFM-1618-17 plain bearings and type SWM-16 shafts, which generate a sealing force of up to 4284 N.

Cup labelling
Labelling is carried out using a 2-head inkjet device. The heads can be moved down to the working position by hand. This requires JSM-1618-17 plain bearings and SWM-16 shafts.

Ejector
Finally, the lifting unit of the ejector was realised using JFM-1618-17 plain bearings and SWM-16 shafts, which lift the filled cups to conveyor belt height and then eject them.