Profile

• What was needed: Clamps and rollers as special injection-moulded parts and bearings made from the new material iglidur X (To the product range overview: plain bearings made of iglidur X)
• Requirements: Lowest possible wear in contact with glass, durability, resistance to chemical cleaning, hygienic design
• Industry: Beverage bottling plants
• Success for the customer: Thanks to newly developed grippers made from the durable iglidur X material, setup times are minimised and the efficiency of filling systems is increased.

The MultiGuide Base, also known as clamping star wheel, from Krones makes changing sets superfluous.

Problem

While bottle transport involving fillers in Krones systems has so far been implemented with pocket stars, a new solution is now coming into play. Why? When different bottle shapes or sizes are used, the tools of the bottle stars have so far had to be converted. Such an exchange, which is usually carried out once a day in bottling plants, takes around two hours: there is immense potential for optimisation here.
The goal was therefore obvious: a universal gripping mechanism had to be created that could safely transport bottles of various sizes and shapes to their destination. For the implementation, Krones AG was now faced with the task of finding suitable material for the grippers for filling systems and the right rollers and plain bearings for the mechanism.

Solution

The answer for implementing the new gripping mechanism: A new clamp developed by Krones that is also based on the completely new material iglidur X.
The fact that the material had to be specifically redeveloped is due to the particular challenges of bottle handling. Wear in contact with glass must not only be kept as low as possible. Hygienic design and dry cleaning requirements also played a role in the implementation. The germ load on the grippers should be kept as low as possible.
However, the new grippers have even more advantages. Thanks to the universal solution and the durability of the solution, spare and conversion parts are saved, and a whole 2.5 tons of material are eliminated.
And in the end, the market response also speaks for itself: customer enquiries for Krones piled up so quickly that they had to be slowed down first.

The MultiGuide Base, also known as clamping star wheel, from Krones makes changing sets superfluous.

The grippers consist of clips made of iglidur material and rollers made of iglidur X. Also in use, but not visible here are plain bearings made of iglidur X and E7UM liners.