Blue Rollers Enable Faster Conveyor Belt Speeds

igus designed and manufactured a new high-performance tribo-polymer ideally suited for the food production sector. By introducing iglidur A250, motion plastics expert igus further extends its roller product range: the new FDA and EU compliant blue polymer can endure belt speeds upto 1 m/s without wear.

Increasing productivity requirements in the food industry mean that plant speeds are constantly increasing and – as a result – so are the stresses placed on machine components. A challenge that also concerns knife edge rollers, the components that guide the belts, for example, in the production of pasta. And it is precisely for this application that igus – based on its 50 years of experience in bearing technology – has developed a new material.
Polymer iglidur A250 meets the stringent hygiene requirements of the FDA and EU 10/2011 regulations and proves reliable even at high conveyor belt speeds. Due to the low coefficient of friction, the new iglidur A250 rollers require little drive power. Like all iglidur technopolymers, it is free of external lubrication, resistant to dust and dirt, and easy to clean. Finally, thanks to its blue colour, the material is detectable. The service life and wear resistance of the new polymer were tested in the company’s own laboratory; tests showed that iglidur A250 lasts up to 10 times as long as FDA-compliant igus materials.

Knife edge rollers for reliable conveying

For years, knife edge rollers made of iglidur tribo-polymers have proved to be ideal solutions in the food industry when it comes to transporting products over knife edge transitions that are restricted by installation space. This is because if two conveyor belts for very small products are joined together, the radii of the guide rollers result in a gap between the belts. This presents problem for products such as raw croissants, biscuits and even cakes, which can quickly slide into the gap between the conveyor belts. For a safe transfer of products from belt to belt, the deflection radii between the belts of the conveyor lines must therefore be kept to a minimum. This is where the knife edge rollers come into play. They are compact and also reliably guide the belts. As well as iglidur A250, igus also offers the materials iglidur H1, P210 and other food grade solutions such as iglidur A180 and A350 in its knife edge roller product range. l