Maintenance-free filling plants

Profile

• What was needed: Lead screw modules drylin SLW, drylin W profile guides, plastic energy chains
• Requirements: When adjusting the bottling arm,  high loads (the bottling arm with valve alone weighs 80 kg) and high leverage forces occur. The system must be lubrication-free to avoid potential contamination and should be free of abrasion and wear as far as possible . The costs should also remain manageable.
• Industry: Beverages sector, bottling plants
• Success for the customer: The lead screw module can be easily and precisely moved via the hand wheel and the trapezoidal thread, despite the considerable stress. The entire system operates completely lubrication-free and with minimal abrasion. Thanks to the very flat design, the system material can be integrated into the structure. It is also significantly more cost-effective than alternatives such as recirculating ball bearing guides.

Using a handwheel the operator can position the at least 80-kg filling head without much effort.

Problem

Plants from Fricke Abfülltechnik GmbH & Co. KG are used worldwide where containers such as buckets, jerry cans or hob bocks should be accurately filled, for example with paints and lacquers, dispersions or adhesives and other building materials. For this task, Fricke has developed a highly flexible range of systems that can be adapted to different types of container, among other things.
All plants have in common the bottling arm which is driven pneumatically and pulls into the container, as well as the integrated load cell that allows a verifiable filling. Additional modules, which may also be attached later, can take over downstream operations such as the sealing and labelling of containers.
The variable positioning of the filling head is also a part of the concept of the highest possible flexibility. This creates the prerequisite that different containers can be filled on one and the same line.
For adjusting the bottling arm, Fricke originally used a pipe-in-pipe system, but that was relatively sluggish. Looking for a better solution, the designers of the company tested various systems. The solution has to take high loads, because the bottling arm with the valve alone weighs 80 kg. In addition, there are high leverage forces and the weight of the product in the feed hose. Furthermore, the linear system should manage without lubrication, since it is used above the product container and any contamination must be excluded. For the same reason a possible abrasion- and wear-free operation was needed. Lastly, costs also played an important role.
In addition to the positioning of the filling head, linear bearing technology was also required in other places. Thus, a solution should be found for the feeding of the containers. And last but not least, cable guides were sought for various moving parts of the bottling plant for the different cables for the transmission of energy and signals.

Solution

Adjustment of the bottling arm
Those responsible at Fricke decided on lead screw modules from the drylin product range, specifically the systems of the drylin SLW-2080 series (see pictures 1 and 2 below) with a static load capacity of 1,600 N (axial) and 6,400 N (radial). Their core parts are the proven hard anodised drylin W profile rails and a guide carriage which is guided by four drylin W housing bearings (Picture 3). The operator precisely positions the filling head mounted on the guide carriage using a hand crank, which acts on a drylin trapezoidal thread nut (Picture 4). The entire system operates completely lubrication-free and with minimal abrasion. In addition, the lead screw module can be moved easily and precisely via hand wheel and trapezoidal thread despite the considerable load. With an installation width of 150 mm for the carriage and a very flat design, the system integrates well into the environment.
The ready-to-install system is also remarkable in terms of costs: alternatives such as recirculating ball bearing guides would be significantly more expensive. And if particularly corrosive or aggressive media need to be filled any time, individual elements of the lead screw module can be replaced by stainless steel components. Equally resistant iglidur materials are also available for the gliding elements and trapezoidal screw nuts.
 
Conveyor technology for feeding the containers
Our products are also installed at other points in the filling lines at Fricke. In the conveyor technology that feeds the containers to the filling station, concealed guide rails from the drylin W product range (picture 5) ensure smooth movements and precise positioning of the containers.
 
Energy supply of moving plant components
And even the energy supply business segment is represented in the plants: flexible plastic energy chains (picture 6) ensure the reliable transmission of energy and signals to the moving parts of the filling lines.

Picture 1: The Fricke designers opted for the ready-to-install complete linear systems of the drylin SLW type series.

Picture 2: The compact drylin linear unit in installed condition.

Picture 3: "igus inside": Here you can easily see the igus modular kit with drylin plain bearing bushings and liners.

Picture 4: Using a hand wheel the operator can position the at least 80-kg filling head without much effort.

Picture 5: Concealed guide rails from the drylin W ensure smooth movements during the feeding of the containers for filling.

Picture 6: Flexible plastic energy chains reliably transmit energy and signals to the moving system parts.