Press releasePM1105-GB
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manus 2005 - three times as many entries
Offshore application wins the "2nd plastic plain bearings Oscar" - Awards ceremony on the igus exhibition stand in Hanover - Creative design ideas
At the igus (Cologne) exhibition stand at the Hanover Industrial Fair, the winners of the "manus - 2nd competition for plastic plain bearing applications" were announced at a festive ceremony, followed by a party, on 13th April. The joint initiative saw igus team up with the Institute for Composite Materials (Kaiserslautern), among others, and was again looking for new initiatives in bearing technology, based on lubrication-free polymer plain bearings. Compared with the 1st manus competition in 2003, three times as many entries were received - some of which were exceptional. Not an easy task for the academic jury (including Professor Margot Ruschitzka, President of the Cologne Science Forum). The manus competition has also been very successful in the USA as well as in Great Britain/Ireland and is currently underway in Italy.
45 kg lightweight against 9 t steel giant
Manfred Worms from the company Tuboscope Vetco (Deutschland) GmbH in Celle won the gold manus and 5,000 euros for the use of plastic plain bearings in inspection equipment in the demanding offshore sector. So-called "drilling risers", which are connecting elements between the drilling platform and the sea bed, are used during the oil and gas drilling process under some of the toughest conditions conceivable (corrosion, abrasion, erosion, deformation) and under maximum mechanical loads. A patented inspection device was built for regular inspection work on these risers. This device uses plastic plain bearings in both its centring system and highly sensitive sensor system.
Silver and bronze
The silver manus and 2,500 euros went to Helmut Meyer (Reifenhäuser GmbH, Troisdorf) for his new design of an "economical, stable, corrosion-proof and maintenance-free calibration cage" (Meyer) in a blown film plant. In this case, low-wear and low-friction plastic plain bearings, pedestal bearings and linear bearings are used in combination with hard-coated aluminium shafts. Finally, Thomas Strieker, an engineer at Silence-Aircraft in Verl, was awarded the bronze manus and 1,000 euros. He consistently uses polymer plain bearings in the design of a light aircraft named "Twister", built as a composite fibre honeycomb sandwich structure.
20 years of in-house polymer research
The aim of the joint initiator, igus GmbH, is to continually open up new creative areas of application for plastic plain bearings together with engineers, technical designers and inventors. According to conservative estimates, 250,000 tonnes of conventional lubricants, the equivalent of 8,000 lorries full, pollute the environment in Germany every year. "This is where high-performance polymer bearings can set environment-related trends while significantly reducing costs at the same time," explains Gerhard Baus, manager for plastic plain bearings at igus. For more than 20 years now, igus has been carrying out in-house polymer research. Year after year more than 5,000 trials are carried out and more than 100 new materials tested. Frank Blase, Managing Director at igus: "We have recorded the results in an extensive database which now allows us to predict the service life of our plain bearings accurately and extremely reliably.
If there are no test data available for the shafts used, trials can be carried out at short notice."
Calculate service life online
Just one example is how igus developed a new plain bearing material for a vehicle lighting system application, with a thermosetting pin, within only eight weeks last year. Depending on customer requirements, the plastic compounds are matched to parameters, such as high pressure resistance, vibration damping, shaft material and low friction values. Gerhard Baus: "Our motivation is to develop lubricant-free and thus maintenance-free bearings that cost less and work longer." To this end, igus has even been giving design engineers and other users the opportunity to make their choice of the right bearing, based on empirically verified calculable service lives - available online since 2001.
manus 2005 - a quick glance at further applications: world record vehicle, bottle packing machine, artificial knee joint, Olympic winner
An incredibly wide range of applications for plastic bearing technology were submitted by post and e-mail to the manus 2005 jury. From beaters for use in liquid media in biogas plants to a derailleur for mountain bikes for Olympic champions, a drive chain for a retractable mast for shearing elevating platforms and artificial knee joints. From an elevator system for domestic properties to a circular saw and electric motor-driven children's car; autonomous mobile robots to a concrete pipe mortising machine. From the steering rods of a hydrogen-driven world-record vehicle to veneer composition machines, ultra-speed handling equipment, pneumatically driven grippers in bottle packing machines and a sealing bench to check the quality of heat exchangers.
Picture 1105-01: Tuboscope Vetco (Deutschland) GmbH, Celle
Winner of the gold manus 2005: Manfred Worms from Tuboscope Vetco (Deutschland) GmbH, Celle, relies on plastic plain bearings in a patented inspection device in the demanding offshore sector.
Picture 1105-02: Tuboscope Vetco (Deutschland) GmbH, Celle
Plastic bearing joints in a highly sensitive sensor system.
Picture 1105-03: Reifenhäuser GmbH, Troisdorf
Silver manus 2005: Calibrating cage in a blown film plant. All linear and rotary movements are solved using plain bearings made of high-performance polymers. (Prizewinner: Helmut Meyer, Reifenhäuser GmbH, Troisdorf).
Picture 1105-04: Silence-Aircraft, Verl
The bronze manus 2005 went to Silence-Aircraft. Engineer Thomas Strieker consistently uses plastic plain bearings in the design of a light aircraft named "Twister", built as a composite fibre honeycomb sandwich structure.
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