60,000 bottles per hour

Profile

• What was needed: drylin R linear plain bearings, drylin W guide elements, iglidur plain bearings
• Requirements: In the various application areas, the bearing solutions must always be lubrication-free and have a long service life even at the very high cycle rates. They should be easy to clean, insensitive to corrosion and resistant to aggressive cleaning agents.
• Industry: beverages sector
• Success for the customer: The linear and rotary plain bearings help in the most diverse areas: They are extremely wear-resistant, operate under high forces and are completely lubrication-free and maintenance-free. Overall, they noticeably reduce operating costs.

Rink's product range includes automated systems for emptying bottles.

Problem

Bottle uncorker:
Uncorking is the process of removing the crown corks from drinks bottles Here, linear bearings are needed which, in addition to requirements such as freedom from lubricants, corrosion-free specification and a long service life, must also be able to withstand high lateral forces when the gripping unit is inserted into the crate.
 
Crate uncorker or unscrewer:
This system uncorks or unscrews bottles crate by crate. A cover with a processing tool for bottles lowers onto the crate and performs up to 1200 strokes per hour with a stroke of approx. 400 mm. With high lateral forces, a reliable drive for the cover was sought.
 
Neck sleeve remover:
The neck sleeve remover automatically removes the parts of the cap remaining on the screw cap bottle. The bottle is held and clamped below the thread and above the sleeve. A knife cuts the sleeve at the bottom of the bottle neck and the clamp gripper pushes the sleeve down. The result: The sleeve is slit open and pops off. 
 
Bottle emptying unit:
After uncorking or unscrewing, a valve seals the bottle contents against the environment and then sucks them out. The linear guide in the valve must be lubrication-free and have a long service life even at the very high cycle rates. It should be easy to clean, insensitive to corrosion and resistant to the aggressive cleaning agents. Finally, low coefficients of friction must also be achieved when pairing with stainless steel.

Solution

drylin R linear plain bearings:
e.g. the drylin linear plain bearings of type JUM (drylin R) prove their worth in the bottle uncorker. They face high radial loads and work extremely wear-resistant and without lubrication, thanks to the iglidur J gliding material (see picture 1 below).
 
drylin R linear plain bearing:
For the drive of the cover during the crate-wise decorking/unscrewing, Rink relies on drylin linear flange bearings (picture 1). They replace bronze bearings that were manufactured at high cost. The purchased part saves the company money and customers appreciate the freedom from maintenance as a great advantage.
 
iglidur plain bearing and drylin W guide elements
In the neck sleeve remover (picture 2), iglidur plain bearings are used in the toggle lever systems, which grip the bottles (picture 3), and drylin W guide elements on the handling unit, which takes over the separation of the bottles (picture 4). The fixed and floating bearing design of the drylin W guide elements compensates for inaccuracies in the welded structure in which they are mounted. Nevertheless, a very long service life is achieved.
 
drylin R linear plain bearing:
For the bottle valve on the emptying units (picture 5) the Rink designers decided to use drylin linear plain bearings of the JUM type at the linear bearing points. The bearings consist of a stainless steel housing in which a replaceable liner is inserted. The iglidur J sliding material used here is an extremely wear-resistant high-performance polymer with incorporated solid lubricant. This has very low friction values in dry operation and good chemical resistance and can also be used in moist applications without any problems. These liners can be subjected to up to four million load cycles before they are replaced.

Picture 1: The drylin linear plain bearings consist of a cylindrical aluminium housing in which a replaceable liner is inserted.

Picture 2: Patented innovation: a system for automatically removing the sleeves from screw caps.

Picture 3: Maintenance-free iglidur plain bearings are used in the toggle lever systems that grab onto the bottles.

Picture 4: The drylin W linear guide systems are used in the cover adjustments of the neck sleeve remover. These are also maintenance-free and resistant to cleaning agents used in the beverage industry.

Picture 5: Rink's product range includes automated systems for emptying bottles. The valves of these units are equipped with cylindrical drylin plain bearings.