The engineers working at igus had a goal to develop a new and intelligent guide – a sensor in the bearing liners that measure the individually-determinable-wear-limit. If the limit is exceeded an alarm goes off. The technology allows for an advanced and planned maintenance routine which helps avoid an unexpected system failure.
The Linear guides must be able to withstand extreme loads. To help detect early wear of the sliding lubrication-free bearing made of a high-performance plastic – igus has developed a drylin liner system. The new smart plastics technology measures the wear of dirt and dust-resistant bearings and gives the user a signal when the wear limit is reached.
Patented technology for wear monitoring
A new intelligent and patented technology ensures the measurement of the wear of a bearing in all directions. To do this, igus integrates a sensor in the bearing, which sends the measured data to the icom. The communication module collects the data of all smart plastics sensors, processes them and forwards them. The user can take over the monitoring with the terminal device of his choice and therefore always carry out maintenance, repair and replacement.
Fast replacement directly on the rail
If a bearing change is needed, it is quite simple, because this is where igus banks on its smart bearing replacement technique. The linear axis or the multi-axis gantry with toothed belt drive no longer has to be disassembled, because the replacement takes place directly on the rail. Similar to a pit stop in Formula 1, the linear plain bearing can be changed in no time at all and thanks to a free tool, it reduces downtimes to a minimum. The system can be put back into operation within a few minutes.
