Safe format adjustment in inspection technology at Krones AG

• What was needed: drylin® SLW-1660 and SLW-25120, iglidur ® plain bearing, [Link pagenr="21015"], dryspin® lead screw nut, robolink® Apiro® joint, e-chain® of type E2 mini
• Requirements: Hygienic design, lubrication and maintenance-free, safe and reliable function
• Industry: Inspection technology; beverage industry
• Success for the customer: iglidur® materials in plain bearings and the sliding elements of linear axis are maintenance- and lubrication-free and significantly extend the maintenance intervals in the Krones inspection systems.

Inspection technology is becoming increasingly important in the beverage industry. On the one hand, it maintains quality standards and, on the other, it represents a cornerstone for modern returnable concepts.
The line manufacturer Krones therefore also offers inspection systems for empty containers as well as filled bottles. In the former case, for example, the Linatronic 735 is used, which ejects foreign bottles before refilling and checks the remaining bottles for impurities or breakages, for example.
After filling, bottles are checked for fill level, correct closure or labelling, for example. In all these cases, not only are numerous format adjustments required to align the system to different bottle sizes, but several camera systems are also used, which also have to be moved reliably.

So that different formats can be inspected during the inspection of empty bottles, Krones relies on dryspin® TR16x2-lead screw nut for its Linatronic. In the downstream rejection system for unwanted bottles, iglidur® plain bearings and a drylin® SLW-1660 linear system are used for format adjustment.
Maintenance is also simplified with motion plastic. To open the inspection system, the previously used hinges were replaced by iglidur ® PRT-01-50 slewing ring bearings for the maintenance- and lubrication-free bearing: an important contribution to hygienic design.
The plant manufacturer also relies on the torsion-resistant aluminium double-shaft profiles of the SLW series for format adjustment when inspecting the already filled products. For example,drylin® SLW-1660 and SLW-25120 linear axes are used to adjust cameras in order to check the filling and the shutter. The camera technology cables are moved safely using e-chain® type E2 mini . And a
robolink® Apiro® joint RL-A9.0108 and a dryspin® trapezoidal lead screw nut align the bottles before labelling.