Light and vibration-dampening: bearings in handle dispensers for containers

• What was needed: Plain bearings made of the materials iglidur G and J
• Requirements: Lightweight, space-saving, reduced manufacturing costs, low coefficients of friction, increased service life, lubricant-free, maintenance-free and vibration dampening
• Industry: Packaging industry, beverage packaging
• Success for the customer: In pressure sensor technology and as roller bearings, the iglidur plain bearings absorb high forces and impacts without any problems. Among other things, they offer a low weight with larger inner diameters than ball bearings, are self-lubricating and insensitive to dirt and dust.

The "Innopack CSM" (CarryStripMaster) from KHS Maschinen- und Anlagenbau AG applies a carry handle to a wide variety of packages - from shrink packs with cans, PET bottles with and without contours to tetra packs and tray packs. A key component here is the highly dynamically driven application head, which must be as light and small as possible. The application head of the completely newly developed "Innopack CSM" from KHS starts spontaneously as required via a simple pressure sensor system and applies a handle to up to 70 packs per minute. Processing can be carried out in one, two or three lanes - up to 210 packs per minute are therefore possible.
In order to guarantee the high dynamics and positioning accuracy required during operation, the application head was subject to further requirements in addition to the design criteria "lightweight" and "space-saving": Reduced manufacturing costs, low coefficients of friction, increased service life, freedom from lubricants, freedom from maintenance and vibration dampening. The design engineers at KHS were convinced that there was no way around using plain bearings and plastic rod ends.

Today, the application head features several plain bearing applications that absorb high forces and impacts. The bearings can be found in the pivot point for the pressure sensors and also act as roller bearings.
Specifically, these are bearings from the iglidur G family, which weigh very little and have a larger inner diameter than ball bearings. The economical all-rounders withstand extremely high loads and operate at low to medium sliding speeds. The self-lubricating effect makes them maintenance-free in dry operation and insensitive to dust and dirt. As with all iglidur plain bearings, the high-performance material used is composed of base polymer, fibres and fillers as well as solid lubricants. These components ensure that the coefficient of friction and the specific coefficient of wear are set as low as possible. iglidur G plain bearings also exhibit good resistance to chemicals. Most lubricants cannot harm them. The same applies to many weak organic and inorganic acids. In addition, iglidur J plain bearings come with particularly low moisture absorption and low coefficients of friction The specialist for fast and slow movements ensures a very low coefficient of friction and the lowest stick-slip tendency in the "Innopack CSM". It is recommended for applications with medium pressure loads - at high speeds and high wear resistance.