Maintenance-free bearings in drone hangars

• What was needed: drylin W linear bearing technology
• Requirements: Robust and durable bearing technology that is also free from corrosion and lubrication.
• Industry: Aviation, drones
• Success for the customer: The lubrication- and maintenance-free drylin bearing solutions eliminate the need for expensive maintenance trips by personnel to hangars. The components are also self-cleaning and resistant to extreme temperatures, high humidity, and UV rays.

Gas pipelines are subject to a variety of damage hazards: construction activities, vegetation, landslides, etc. So, they require regular visual inspections. Helicopters, which are usually used, mean enormous costs and often constitute a severe noise nuisance for residents.
exabotix offers an alternative: Since 2012, it has been implementing drone solutions, and gas pipeline operators are among their customers. The HD 4-1100 drone developed for this purpose uses intelligent GPS software for fully automated flights over the pipelines they inspect, reporting any conspicuous features in the landscape so that countermeasures can be taken if necessary. As pipelines are often several hundred kilometres long, a large number of drones must be used for the job, with the route split up among them. To position each drone properly before the inspection flight, exabotix sets up drone hangars at regular intervals along the route. Upon receiving a launch command from the control centre, the rolling gates open, and a platform with the drone on it extends. When the drone returns, it lands on the extended platform, where it immediately recharges its battery upon reaching the landing surface thanks to built-in contacts in the feet.
The drone hangar design had to be as robust and maintenance-free as possible to avoid expensive maintenance visits to the remote hangar locations. This required a corrosion-free and lubrication-free system, especially for the 4.5m rails that slide the take-off and landing platform out into the open.

For the hangars, the engineers opted for products from the drylin W series - linear rails made of aluminium and carriages made of zinc die-casting - on which the platforms are now mounted.
The drylin W guide system offers several decisive advantages that led to this choice. For example, the cost-effective linear bearing is virtually maintenance-free. It owes this specification to the high-performance plastic iglidur J used in the pillow block of the carriage, which allows for low-friction and maintenance-free dry operation thanks to integrated solid lubricant - without a single drop of lubricating oil. This also greatly reduces maintenance costs that would result from the time-consuming travelling of technicians alone. As the bearing technology is self-cleaning, no cleaning work is necessary. The carriage bearings slide on the linear rails instead of rolling, so they push the dirt along in front of them until it eventually falls off the rails. The hardened, anodized aluminium rails are extremely temperature-resistant (-20 to +40°C), and UV rays and moisture are no problem for them, either. The plain bearings in the carriages also offer low moisture absorption (just 0.3%).
The drone hangar and similar solutions have already helped exabotix grow rapidly. It now has 30 employees, and that number is rising. The company also has plans for the future. For instance, it is currently considering enlarging the hangar. This would result in a container that package delivery companies could load with five drones to deliver packages in rural areas.