Plain bearing
High speeds, long travels and compact installation spaces: every two years, igus GmbH bestows the vector award, with which fascinating and creative energy chain applications are honoured. This year, 266 entries from 32 countries were received. The gold vector was won by the multi-spindle lathe of Gildemeister Italiana S.p.A.. In a very restricted installation space, a total of eight harnessed energy chains guide cables and hoses reliably and safely.
Presented last year as a prototype, igus has now developed its first isense plain bearing series with five iglidur materials for predictive maintenance. Whether in the food industry, textile machines, forklifts or construction machines, with the intelligent isense plain bearings, users receive a durable and lubrication-free solution that provides information about their wear. Maintenance can be planned in good time and machine and system failures are prevented.
For the bearing of pivoting and rotary applications, igus introduces iglidur J3, a lubrication-free and long-lasting tribo-polymer. The endurance runner convinces, above all, with its proven, very low coefficient of friction. As the yellowish material did not always match the design concept of the user, igus has now further developed the tried-and-tested tribo-polymer into the black iglidur J3B. But igus always has the right material for other applications as well. The intuitively operated iglidur online expert system helps with the selection.
Defrosting glaciers and declining fish stocks are just two examples of the effects of climate change in Alaska. In order to raise awareness of the issue among the population and to promote alternative drives, the Hoepner brothers from Berlin are developing their amphibious vehicle “Urmel”. They want to travel across Alaska with it. In order for Urmel to be able to drive over hill and dale and ice and snow, light and wear-resistant bearings are required. With the support of igus, the young inventors opted for lubrication-free iglidur tribo-polymers.
With specifications such as low coefficient of friction and excellent vibration dampening, the tribo-polymer iglidur E7 has already proven its strengths in the sliding elements of the drylin linear technology from igus. Now the plastics specialist has also included the material in its plain bearings catalogue range. This also allows users to benefit from iglidur E7 mechanisms with rotating or pivoting movements. The low coefficient of friction of the material ensures smooth movements, reduces the required drive energy and saves additional costs.
For the designers of Surf Evolution, the metallic bearings proved to be too maintenance-intensive and too expensive in their novel surf machines. Looking for an alternative, they quickly came across the motion plastics from igus. And the design engineers were thrilled, because the retrofitting significantly reduced the maintenance and saved 70 per cent in costs.
The goal of the World Solar Challenge was to cover 3,022 kilometres of the Australian desert powered only by the sun. One of the participants was Team Sonnenwagen from Aachen. To develop their solar-powered car, the students relied on the lightweight, wear-resistant and lubrication-free iglidur plain bearing technology made of durable tribo-polymers from igus. This enabled the team to comfortably finish sixth in the race.
According to the United Nations, world population will grow to 9.7 billion by 2050. In particular, the population of the cities will increase significantly. Vertical farming is considered a promising alternative to conventional methods to produce food for the growing number of urban dwellers, reliably and cost-effectively. In these vertical farms, motion plastics from igus already play a major role in their cost-efficient and reliable operation.
Users rely on ball tables for transducers in roller conveyors and for the transport of sensitive goods. Here igus polymer ball transfer units are used, because they can even move loads up to 500N smoothly and in all directions without any lubricant. To protect both conveyed goods and people from uncontrolled static electricity discharge, igus has now developed the tribo-polymer xirodur F182 for its ball transfer units. The new material is extremely durable and has proved its electrostatic conductivity in tests.
In times of increasing digitalisation of factories and warehouses, au-tomated guided vehicles (AGVs) are continuously conquering intralo-gistics. The reliability requirements are high in order to ensure faster processing and unimpeded material flow. AGV manufacturers are therefore equipping their systems with motion plastics components from igus, which make the autonomous vehicles less maintenance-intensive, lighter and more energy-efficient.