Less production downtime with corrosion-free bearings in the conveyor belt

The Chimay brewery in Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey in the Belgian province of Hainaut is one of twelve breweries worldwide that produces Trappist beer. In 2018, it produced around 185,000 hectolitres of beer. The high production requirements posed particular challenges for the filling systems:

Failures frequently occurred at the bearing points of the conveyor belt due to the metal ball bearings used. Regular cleaning of the system and contact with chemicals led to the ball bearings rusting, sticking to the shafts and damaging them. Replacing a defective ball bearing took up to 1.5 days, which led to production downtime.

Chimay turned to igus® as part of a project to optimise the filling systems in order to find a permanent solution to the problem. After extensive test series and optimisations, the igubal ® H3-bearing proved to be the optimal choice. spherical insert bearings made of iglidur® H3 material offer numerous advantages that significantly improve the brewery's production process. They consist of tribologically optimised high-performance plastics that contain solid lubricants embedded in the material. This means there is no need for external lubrication that could be washed out.

The H3 bearing material does not reach its limits, especially at higher speeds of up to 200 rpm. The igubal® spherical insert bearings are much easier to install and replace than metallic ball bearings, which drastically reduces maintenance times. The plastic does not corrode and wear-related shaft damage no longer occurs, which extends the service life of the entire system. Another advantage is the high resistance of the igubal® H3-spherical insert bearing to chemicals. Despite regular cleaning processes, they show no signs of damage.

Thanks to this specification, the system achieves an impressive speed of 55,000 bottles per hour. Following a successful test phase on three different production conveyors, Chimay has already ordered 150 more spherical insert bearings to replace the remaining ball bearings. Since the changeover in September 2022, the bearing has shown very little wear.