Plain bearings for individually adjustable assembly supports in automotive engineering

iglidur plain bearings in car assembly combine load capacity, flexibility and low weight

For the development of an assembly support, which was for use in an assembly line in the automotive industry, the project managers decided on the use of iglidur polymer plain bearings. The plain bearings allow pivoting, rotating and sliding application. They are highly resilient, require little maintenance and allow a long service life. Unlike steel bearings, they combine these advantages with exceptionally low weight, which was explicitly desired in this application.

Profile

What was needed: iglidur polymer slewing ring bearings
Requirements: Assembly support had to be pivotable, rotatable and slidable, the plain bearings had to be lightweight and at the same time highly loadable as well as requiring little maintenance and guaranteeing a long service life
Industry: Automotive industry
Success for the customer: Approx. 60 assembly supports were successfully fitted with the polymer plain bearings; they combine the desired weight saving with the high demands on load-bearing capacity, flexibility and service life

Assembly support with console

Problem

In assembly lines such as in the automotive industry, assembly supports are used on which the vehicle is gradually assembled in several steps. In such an assembly line, such an assembly support had to be developed for the assembly of centre consoles of passenger cars (Ford). Due to the high degree of flexibility required, high demands were placed above all on the plain bearings in the application. In order to be able to carry out all the necessary assembly activities in the best possible way, the assembly support had to be able to pivot, rotate and slide. Due to the use on an existing assembly line and for ergonomic reasons, a further focus was on keeping the weight of the assembly supports as low as possible. In addition, it and all of its components had to be highly resilient, require little maintenance and still have a long service life.

Solution

Möve-Metall GmbH, which was responsible for the construction of the assembly support, worked with plain bearings from our product portfolio in order to implement the points described in the problem. Specifically, it was decided to use an iglidur polymer slewing ring bearing (PRT-01-100). The function of the bearing is to enable the rotary movement of the assembly support. The decisive advantage of the PRT polymer slewing ring bearing over the steel slewing ring ball bearing otherwise used for this application is in particular its significantly lower weight. Further characteristics are a high load capacity, low necessary maintenance as well as a long service life and high corrosion protection. Today, a total of approx. 60 such assembly supports with the polymer slewing ring bearings are in production use.