A drop-size carrot sorter, fitted with Vesconite plain bearings
The plain bearings installed on the conveyor chains of a drop-size carrot sorter has continued to work efficiently at South Africa’s largest carrot producer for two years, reports the farm.
A drop-size sorter consists of a mainframe with sprockets on each side. A chain runs on the sprockets and a polyethylene plate is attached. Rollers, spaced increasingly further apart, are located on the polyethylene plate and carrots, depending on their size, fall through the differently spaced rollers into bins below.
The carrot producer installed the Vesconite plain bearings on one of its two processing lines to test whether the processing line with the new bearings performed better than the standard processing line.
Since installation, the farm notes that the Vesconite bearings on its conveyor chains have reduced wear and resulted in quieter operation.
Vesconite agricultural application engineer Johan Cronje says: "Farmers are concerned about conveyor chain wear. A break in any one of the steel links means that the entire chain needs replacing."
A chain breakage could result in loss of operation and resulting losses in production and processing time. In addition, quieter operation helps enhance worker health and safety, further improving production and reducing overall costs.