Machines for the production of surgical swabs

The company Hartmann Rico from the Czech Republic builds machines for the production of surgical swabs. The dusty environment places high demands on metal linear ball bearings. This often leads to seizure and wear of the shafts. To extend the service life of the system, the engineers have therefore switched to polymer linear plain bushings from the drylin® R series(RJM-01-16). They emphasise that no signs of wear are visible after the first six months of testing. Thanks to the self-lubricating system, maintenance costs are also reduced.

Profile

What was needed: RJM-01-16 and RJM-01-12
Requirements: Lubrication and maintenance-free components that are insensitive to dust
Industry: Medicine
Success for the customer: Annual savings of approx. 200 € per machine due to self-lubrication

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Damaged Hartmann bushing with a frayed inner opening on a wooden surface.

The challenge

In the world of medical care, the focus is often on apparent as well as inconspicuous problems. The Hartmann Rico company faced such a problem, as the folding of surgical swabs releases dust particles from textiles or cotton into the environment. This may seem insignificant at first glance, but for precision mechanisms such as linear ball bearings, this environment poses an immense challenge. The fine particles produced by folding easily find their way into sensitive mechanisms and cause abrasion and wear on the bearing components. A constant threat that affects the reliability and service life of these critical components, as is the case at Hartmann Rico.

Hartmann application with metal shaft and plastic bearing.

Solution

To solve this problem, Hartmann decided on an innovative solution. To ensure that the linear ball bearings are no longer contaminated with dust and to prevent "seizure" of the bearings and wear on the shafts, the company replaced the ball bushings 1:1 with drylin® RJM-01-12 and RJM-01-16 solid plastic bearings from igus®. Thanks to the self-lubrication, the machine's maintenance interval has been greatly extended and costs saved. After the first six months of testing, no signs of wear are recognisable. There are 4, often 8 bearing points in a machine. There are currently 63 machines in production. Overall, the drylin® linear plain bearings RJM-01 have resulted in an increase in running time, which has led to considerable cost savings for Hartmann Rico.

Drylin R linear bearing isolated with visible internal rib structure.

Products used

Assembly by press-fitting
Secured via circlip

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What our customer saves

Regular lubrication, maintenance and the associated labour costs are high. Our customer Hartmann from the Czech Republic saves around €200per year on one machine by using our drylin® R linear plain bushes**.** This gives our customer annual savings totalling over €12,000.

Our drylin® linear plain bushings are made from the material iglidur® J, which contains tiny chambers with solid lubricants. This creates a self-lubricating effect that makes the use of additional lubricants superfluous.