A challenge becomes a success story: After previously working on a solution with several suppliers, Kronen GmbH finally found the partner in Franke who mastered a difficult storage task with a sophisticated slewing ring. Kronen

develops and produces machines and complete lines for processing food - these include functions for cutting, washing, peeling and packaging. "The quality and consulting competence of our company is appreciated all over the world. Accordingly, the bar is set high. Our customers find the right machines from us for the products they process," explains Sebastian Serrer, design engineer at Kronen.

Demanding conditions for the rolling bearing

One of these machines is the SP150 spiral cutter, which cuts fruit and vegetables into long spaghetti-shaped strips. "At high speed, it turns a butternut squash with a diameter of 15 cm into a 16-meter spiral, for example," says Sebastian Serrer. Another possible application is low-carbohydrate vegetable noodles - currently all the rage.

Building a machine that can perform this kind of artistic cutting is no easy matter. This also applies to the integration of supplied components. For example, specific requirements were placed on the roller bearing that guides the cutting tool. The temperature development was particularly critical here. Strong heating of the rolling bearing would have impaired the quality of the processed food and therefore had to be avoided at all costs.

In addition, other challenges had to be overcome: "During initial tests with conventional bearings, dirt kept entering the bearings," recalls design engineer Sebastian Serrer. "There was also the problem that too much cleaning, for example with steam jets and jet water, damaged the bearings." However, hygiene standards in particular were of immense importance in the food industry. Larger cleaning intervals were therefore not a practicable solution.

Profile of the Franke solution

Tailor-made Franke slewing ring
Application in food processing
Special challenges: avoid heat generation; frequent, intensive cleaning
Bearing requirements: Speed, hygiene, tightness, smooth running and long service life