Shaft couplings for packaging and palletiser systems

The most popular non-alcoholic drink amongst Germans is, of course, mineral water: per capita, each citizen drank approximately 143.4 litres on average in 2015. Nationally, more than 200 mineral springs fill over 500 different mineral and curative waters - sales of these totalled more than 11.1 billion litres in 2015. Intelligent, high-performance machines are required in order to efficiently and quickly pack, transport or sort mineral water bottles. The traditional family-run company Beyer Maschinenbau from Rosswein in Saxony specialises in the design and construction of packaging and palletiser systems for the beverage and food industry. Not only renowned mineral water springs are amongst their customers, but also other renowned beverage manufacturers and breweries.

Till Beyer, who manages the company today in its fourth generation, explains: "Regardless of whether a large brewery or a small family-run business, we plan and build conveyor and packaging technology which is specially coordinated to the requirements of our customers - from individual machines, to complete systems." For this purpose, the packaging and palletiser systems must in part lift and position extremely heavy weights with very high accuracy, which is why Beyer Maschinenbau relies on robust and high-performance ROBA DS disk pack couplings by mayr power transmission in their systems.

With the MultiPal palletiser family, Beyer Maschinenbau provides a wide spectrum of different column and gantry palletisers and industrial robots, which, depending on the application and task, can be designed with up to three, four or six axes. Describing one possible application, Till Beyer says. "The MultiPal machines de-palletise pallets containing, for example, empty drinks crates, in layers. This means that a gripper head lifts a layer of eight or even 16 crates from the pallet and positions them onto a conveyor belt." The crates then travel via the conveyor belt into the cleaning or filling line, and subsequently return filled to be stacked onto pallets by the palletiser, ready for transportation.

Till Beyer explains: "Depending on the application, our palletisers can lift load capacities up to 700kg and process up to 4000 crates per hour." So that the operation runs faultlessly even with this output, all movements must be executed with the utmost precision, i.e. the crates must be stacked exactly on top of one another or the bottles positioned with high accuracy into the intended compartments of the crate.

Precise, robust and high performance

The couplings which transmit the torque from the drive unit, for example to the guide of the gripper head, must therefore operate with the utmost precision and simultaneously withstand high loads. This is why patented ROBA DS disk pack couplings from mayr power transmission have been used. These couplings transmit the torque backlash-free and with extreme torsional rigidity, and compensate for existing radial, axial and angular shaft misalignments. As a result, they not only ensure precise torque transmission, but also protect the bearing installed in the shaft train against undesired loads, and therefore unnecessary downtimes and costs. They are robust, reliable and temperature-resistant. Furthermore, they are wear-free and thus reduce the necessary maintenance effort to a minimum.

Aligned to the respective drive units of the different palletiser and packaging systems, ROBA DS disk pack couplings are used in different sizes and with different torques. Depending on the application and requirements, in part couplings with very short constructional designs or also with intermediate sleeves of 1-3m are required. For all ROBA DS disk pack couplings, the nominal torques stated in the catalogue can be used without restrictions. A reduction in the nominal torque due to misalignment, load complexes or balancing requirements is not necessary.

The couplings are compact, and have a high performance density and small construction dimensions. Providers who have to consider misalignments and alternating torques for dimensioning often have to select a larger coupling for the same nominal torque and also the same speed. The patented ROBA DS disk pack couplings simultaneously combine high performance density with an absolute backlash-free function, because design details with the disk packs and the use of specially formed collar bushings ensure a backlash-free flow of force with outstanding force flow density between the input and the output. The ROBA DS disk pack couplings transmit torques up to the nominal torques absolutely backlash-free and with a constantly high torsional rigidity. The stated shaft misalignments can be exploited by 100 per cent in total without influencing the transmitted torque.

For more information about the ROBA DS disk pack couplings please visit www.mayr.com.