Conveyor rollers in packaging machines

Polymer conveyor rollers at Krones AG ensure maintenance-free conveyor belts.

Krones AG produces systems and machines for making, filling and packing beverages and liquid food. The industry never sleeps, so it is hardly surprising that Krones systems have to break their own speed records again and again. It only becomes a problem when a part cannot withstand the pressure and there is not a more powerful alternative. Therefore, we have developed conveyor rollers made of tribo-polymers for Krones, which helped them achieve new top results.

Profile

What was needed: iglide® P210 conveyor roller
Requirements: high performance (20 packages per minute); reliability during use around the clock; resistance despite sugar particles, sand, dust and moisture in the system as well as temperatures of up to 100°C
Industry: packaging branch, beverage sector
Success for the customer: the iglide® conveyor rollers are used around the world in Krones systems and work without failure. They operate reliably; wear is hardly noticeable. In addition, they are easy to assemble, and the customer does not need to laboriously maintain them.

Browse P210 conveyor rollers

"Our systems are used around the world, and there are no failures. The [conveyor] rollers simply work, wear is hardly noticeable. In addition, they are easy to assemble and save our customers time-consuming maintenance."
Jürgen Werner, Design Engineer at Krones AG

Variopac Pro - Krones AG's all-rounder packaging system

Variopac Pro all-rounder packaging system

Problem

Regarding Variopac Pro, a fully automatic all-rounder packaging system, Krones faced a problem in 2005: the system's performance had to be increased by 20 packages per minute. Hence, there was an urgent need for action during the deflection of the conveyor belts. Originally, metal rollers with needle roller bearings were used here; however, they couldn't fulfil the higher performance requirements and were cost-intensive.

But there were further challenges. Variopac Pro packages tins and glass or PET bottles in sizes of 0.2 to 5 liters with cardboard and/or foil. The system operates around the clock and subjects the components to a lot of stress. Furthermore, sugar particles can be found in the surroundings due to production, which have a similar effect to sandpaper on the components. And all this at conveyor belt speeds of up to 0.9m/s. Dust, sand and moisture are also part of business as usual at Variopac Pro's application locations. But that is not all. At the system's shrink tunnel, conveyor belts are continuously exposed to temperatures of up to 100°C.

Despite these environmental conditions and the performance requirements, the new solution for guiding the conveyor belts should have a service life of at least one year. The problem: at that time, there was no product that fulfilled these performance requirements.

Solution

To reach the desired result together with Krones AG, various different approaches were tested in the igus® test laboratory before they were used in Variopac Pro. The result: an injection-molded solid plastic roller, made of a material specifically developed for this application. The best test results were achieved with the material iglide® P210. The iglide® conveyor roller is characterized by its high wear resistance, a low coefficient of friction and resulting low drive power of the conveyor belts. Just like all iglide® materials, this one is suitable for maintenance-free and lubrication-free operations. As it can also be used in a variety of applications, this material fulfilled all requirements.

When it was clear that conveyor rollers made of iglide® P210 exceeded the required service life of one year by far, Krones decided to install them in Variopac Pro. It was a great success. According to Krones, the systems - which are used across the globe, work without failure. The iglide® conveyor rollers operate reliably, wear is hardly noticeable. In addition, they are easy to assemble, and the customer does not need to laboriously maintain them.

Krones is now installing iglide® conveyor rollers in Variopac Pro wherever there is a transition between two conveyor belts or plastic modular chains. As the diameters of the conveyor rollers are small, conveyor belts and modular chains can be guided very closely, which results in the gap between two belts being very small. Even if the system operates at low speed, iglide® conveyor rollers prevent the packages from tipping.

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