Up to 60,000 bottles per hour

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

Bottle uncapper:
When uncorking, the crown caps are removed from drinks bottles. This requires linear bearings which, in addition to meeting requirements such as freedom from lubricants, corrosion resistance and a high service life, must also be able to withstand high lateral forces when the gripper unit plunges into the crate.

Crate uncorking or unscrewing unit:
This system uncorks or unscrews bottles crate by crate. A bonnet with a processing tool for bottles is lowered onto the crate and performs up to 1200 strokes per hour at a stroke of approx. 400 mm. A reliable drive for the bonnet was sought for high lateral forces.

Neck sleeve remover:
The neck sleeve remover automatically removes the cap parts remaining on the screw cap bottle. The bottle is held and clamped below the thread and above the sleeve. A knife scores the sleeve at the bottom of the bottle neck and the gripper pushes the sleeve downwards. The result: the sleeve is slit open and pops off.

Bottle emptier:
After uncorking or unscrewing, a valve on the bottle emptiers 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 very high cycle rates. It should be easy to clean, insensitive to corrosion and resistant to aggressive cleaning agents. Finally, low coefficients of friction must also be achieved when paired with stainless steel.

drylin® R linear plain bearings:
For example, the drylin® linear plain bearings of type JUM (drylin® R) prove themselves in the bottle decorking unit. They withstand high lateral forces and work extremely wear-resistant and without lubrication thanks to the iglidur® J sliding material (see image 1 below).

drylin® R linear plain bearing:
Rink relies on drylin® linear flange bearings to drive the bonnet during box-by-box uncorking/unscrewing (image 1). They replace bronze bearings, which were manufactured at high cost. The purchased part saves the company money and customers appreciate the maintenance-free design as a major advantage.

iglidur® bearings and drylin® W guide elements
In the neck sleeve remover (Fig. 2), iglidur ® bearings are used in the toggle lever systems that grip the bottles (Fig. 3), and drylin® W guide elements on the handling unit that separates the bottles (Fig. 4). The fixed and floating bearing design of the drylin® W guide elements compensates for inaccuracies in the welded construction in which they are mounted. Nevertheless, a very long service life is achieved.

drylin® R linear plain bearing:
The Rink designers opted for drylin® linear plain bearings of type JUM at the linear bearing points of the bottle valve on the dischargers (Fig. 5). The bearings consist of a stainless steel housing in which a replaceable sliding film is inserted. The iglidur® J sliding material used here is an extremely wear-resistant high-performance polymer with incorporated solid lubricant. It has a very low coefficient of friction in dry operation and good chemical resistance and can also be used in wet applications without any problems. These sliding films can withstand up to four million load cycles before they need to be replaced.