Maintworld 1/2017

TECHNOLOGY
SMALL COST,
BIG SAVINGS
in Packaging and
Bottling Industries
Conveyors and assembly processes are widely used across many industries.
As automation continues its upward trend, markets like PET bottling, food and
beverage, and general packaging, which see many sudden stops and starts are
seeing an increased need for shock absorbers to safely control and dampen the
kinetic energy produced throughout the production line.
DIETER KLAIBER,
Project & Application
Manager, ITT Endine
Europe,
dieter.klaiber@itt.com
MOTION CONTROL technologies can
be utilized in all areas of conveyance,
whether linear or rotational motion. In
facilities that use systems like diverter
gates, conveyor stops, pick and place, and
overhead pushers, shock absorbers are
central to maintaining machine reliability
by dissipating the energy and reducing
wear. Shock absorbers are relatively lowcost
components to purchase, install and
maintain as compared to the equipment
they protect, and they provide additional
savings to a facility by preventing machine
downtime, safety concerns and potential
quality issues. Investing in shock
absorbers that are engineered to your
facility’s unique needs and equipment
cycle counts—and maintaining the shock
34 maintworld 1/2017
absorbers and surrounding equipment
as suggested by the user manual—is a
small overall cost and time commitment
for a facility that results in huge overall
savings.
Small Cost, Big Savings
Shock absorbers are key to maximizing
a material handling system’s speed
and load, making the machine more
efficient and cost effective. A customengineered
shock absorber can save the
manufacturer valuable design time and
solve multiple problems economically.
In certain applications like the beverage
bottling industry, conveyor systems are
required to quickly bring a product to a
stop at regular intervals along a conveyor
line in order to be cleaned, filled, sorted
and packaged. The high rate of speed of
the conveyor transport, coupled with the
rapid deceleration of a sudden stop could
result in problems for the product and
the conveyor equipment if the energy is
not properly absorbed throughout. It is
important to custom engineer the shock
absorber to the specific industry, application,
machinery load and product produced.
If the initial design of machinery
involves the implementation of shock
absorbers, it can mean high reliability
and cycle time for a facility, while ensuring
quality.
Maintaining the shock absorber on a
regular interval ensures efficiency, avoids
unexpected failures and reduces costs.
Shock absorbers are adjustable based
on the specific operating condition and
maintaining, adjusting and replacing
them accordingly is an additional step in
the safe and optimal maintenance of your
total assembly equipment. The shock
absorber is a relatively cheap component
within the larger, more expensive machine
system. Lower impact forces from
the motion, results in less bounce and
more control over the motion. As shocks
reduce the impact forces on equipment,
replacing shock absorbers on schedule is
an inexpensive step that will ultimately
save significant long-term maintenance
costs by preventing downtime and po-