Fewer production downtimes for Chimay Brewery

• What was needed: spherical insert bearings for the conveyor belts
• Requirements: lubrication-free, resistant to corrosion and chemicals with which the bearings frequently come into contact during cleaning, suitable for high speeds, fast and easy assembly

The Chimay brewery at Notre-Dame de Scourmont in the Belgian province of Hainaut is one of twelve breweries worldwide that produces Trappist beer. In 2018, it made around 185,000hl of beer. The stringent production requirements posed particular challenges for the bottling plants:

The metallic ball bearings used at the bearing points of the conveyor belts frequently failed. Regular cleaning of the system and contact with chemicals caused the ball bearings to rust, stick to the shafts and damage them. Replacing a defective ball bearing took up to 1.5 days and resulted in production downtimes.

Chimay turned to igus® as part of a project to optimise the filling systems in order to find a permanent solution to the problem. After extensive test series and optimisations, the H3-bearing proved to be the optimal choice. The H3 material offer numerous advantages that significantly improve the brewery's production process.

The H3 bearing material does not reach its limits, even at higher speeds of up to 200 rpm. The spherical insert bearings are much easier to install and replace than metallic ball bearings, which drastically reduces maintenance times. The plastic does not corrode and wear-related shaft damage no longer occurs, which extends the service life of the entire system. Another advantage is the high chemical resistance of the H3 material. Despite regular cleaning processes, they show no signs of damage.

Thanks to this specification, the system achieves an impressive speed of 55,000 bottles per hour. Following a successful test phase on three different production conveyors, Chimay has already ordered 150 more spherical insert bearings to replace the remaining ball bearings. Since the changeover in September 2022, the bearing has shown very little wear.