- English
- العربية
- 简体中文
- Português
“Continuous improvement has always been a guiding principle of our business at Stolle,” says Stolle CMD President, Gus Reall. And a prime example of the results of this practice are several significant improvements Stolle recently introduced for Standun Bodymakers.
Two major servo-technology related upgrades are available for Standun bodymakers; a servo-driven cup feed, and a new servo can conveyor, both of which offer numerous benefits over the previous mechanically-driven units. Cary Monroe, Standun Product Manager, says, “The servo motor drive eliminates the cup feed chain drive and all its associated mechanical components, which eliminates the backlash on the bodymaker drive system.
It also provides more positive cup feed and improved tracking for better cup placement, which virtually eliminates misfeeds and improves the feeding of out-of-round cups.” The elimination of the mechanical cup feed components reduces the bodymaker’s maintenance requirements, and allows much better access to the machine for easier servicing.
The other new application of servo technology is the can conveyor that retrieves the can bodies as they exit the tooling and carries them to the exit chute. Again, the new servo can conveyor eliminates the previous system’s mechanical components and all of their associated maintenance. Both the cup feed and can conveyor use specially-designed servo motors that are built to withstand the harsh conditions of a bodymaker. Karl Fleischer, R&D Manager for Stolle CMD, says, “We worked with the motor manufacturer to develop new materials and methods to keep coolant out of the windings and prevent premature motor failure.”
Another Standun innovation that uses a new technology is the Hycomp® Ram Cartridge with new design sealpacks. This ram cartridge replaces the traditional bronze hydrostatic ram bearings with a single cartridge assembly that contains long-life Hycomp® composite bearings. According to Karl Fleischer, “The major advantage of the ram cartridge is that it uses the plant’s D&I coolant rather than high pressure oil to remove heat. This significantly reduces the bodymaker’s oil requirements and reduces the heat load on the plant’s high pressure oil supply system.” Another advantage is that the cartridge doesn’t have the lee jets and lube detection blocks needed for hydrostatic bearings, which eliminates another source of maintenance issues.
In addition to the coolant advantage, the Hycomp cartridge improves the stability of the ram because of the better-controlled ram temperature throughout the machine cycle, resulting in more consistent can wall thickness.
While developing the Hycomp Ram Cartridge, Stolle engineers did extensive testing on different seal materials for the front and rear seal-packs. Senior Project Engineer Rodney Blue notes that “we found a new composite seal that reduces oil consumption by one half to two thirds
compared to traditional polyurethane seals.” He added, “And as an added bonus, we got a seal life of over six months in our production trials - that’s a lot longer than before.” To complete the picture, Stolle is using split seals on the rear sealpack as a major maintenance time saver. This new patent-pending design allows the seals to be replaced without removing the ram, which saves several hours of maintenance labor every time a replacement is made.
Gus Reall sums all of this up by noting: “These new components will help every can plant slash their Standun operating costs and actually produce a better product at the same time.” For more information on the Standun Servo Cup Feed and Can Conveyor, and the Hycomp Ram Cartridge with new design sealpacks, please contact:
Cary Monroe
cary.monroe@stollemachinery.com
