The customer

... builds and operates high voltage and low voltage systems and provides power for roads, rails, and air traffic systems throughout Norway and Sweden. The core business of the company is to design, assemble, control, maintain and repair power systems. The company has his head office in Norway and around 350 employees.

The application

The application area of the wheel is an under roller for a high voltage cable on a 4x7m cable drum. The untwisted cable will later be laid in a submarine system and is therefore extra-long and heavy. Therefore, it was very important for the customer that the wheels carry up to 20 tons of load. As the working environment is mainly outdoors and close to the ocean, another requirement of the customer was that the wheels withstand the wet, salty air and cold Swedish winter temperatures. In order to keep the extremely tight schedule, it was aggravating that the proposal could not be suffi ciently tested.

 

Our solution from the standard range

Due to the high load capacity requirements, the Blickle experts recommended the heavy duty wheels made of cast nylon GSPO600/100PR. The highly abrasion resistant wheel also suitable for use at high temperatures below freezing.

The result

Blickle’s exceptional service and detailed advice convinced the customer. With timely delivery, the wheels are now an important part of a submarine offshore project that will provide high voltage power to the entire Stockholm area.

The customer

... is located in the south of Sweden. Their engineers have been active in the machine building industry for over 30 years, especially in the press industry, the automotive, aerospace and wind power industries. Core competence is lifting, turning and transport of heavy and geometrically demanding loads. Single transport carts as well as single machines and complete flow production lines are produced.

The challenge

The machine manufacturer produces electric vehicles for the transport of extremely heavy loads up to 500 tons. Some of these vehicles are possible to use as AGVs (automated guided vehicles).
For the steering of his vehicles, the customer has developed a customized wheel which is used as drive wheel inside these vehicles. Depending on the type of transport platform, one to four drive wheels are used. These are designed to carry heavy loads at low speeds (approximately 3–4 km/h). The electrical vehicles are normally operating indoors on an even concrete floor. Important requirements for this application are a compact design and a high load capacity.
For some years, a wheel was used that did not meet the quality requirements. The manufacturing of the wheel was divided into two steps, receiving the parts from two suppliers, one for the wheel centre and one for the Vulkollan® tread. The quality problems led to complaints and high service and replacement costs.
To avoid further costs, the customer required a complete high-quality drive wheel with a load capacity of six tons.

 

Our solution

The Blickle Besthane® polyurethane tread of the Blickle wheel series GB and the stable, customized wheel centre made of cast iron offers a good stability and a low rolling resistance, so that the electric transport vehicles achieve a longer service life due to the higher efficiency. With a wheel diameter of only 340 mm and a load capacity of 6 tons per wheel, the customized drive wheel easily fits under the flat substructure of the vehicles.

The result

With the Blickle complete solution in higher quality, this customer was able to drastically reduce procurement costs, delivery times and follow-up costs.

The client

… is an American marine robotics corporation that designs, manufactures and sells the Wave Glider, a wave and solar powered unmanned surface vehicle.

The application

Wave gliders are mostly used on the high seas for long duration data collection and transmission, where other platforms such as ships or islands are not or only temporarily available. For example, wave gliders are used in particular by research institutes to track ocean pollution, temperature and salinity changes; oil companies; as well as by armed forces, amongst other things for Military Intelligence sensor platforms. The cradles for the unmanned vehicles are used both on land and on ship decks. The customer had tried a variety of castors, but all failed extremely early. The combination of Arctic temperatures, tropical sun and frequent immersion in salt water has greatly afflicted the castors. The use on the often very rough, high abrasion causing ship decks has led to premature product failure.

 The solution from our standard range

Engineers at Blickle USA, working with engineers and product managers in Rosenfeld specified LEX-POBS 125XKA-FI and LEX-POBS 160XKA-FI as the optimal solution for this application. The hydrolysis-resistant high performance tread Blickle Besthane Soft® and the black nylon core are unaffected by the sun and abrasive decks, while the stainless steel ball bearings with rubber sealing (2RS) and stainless brackets have a good resistance against corrosion. The Blickle “stop-fix” brake prevents the cradle from moving even on a pitching ship deck.

The result

The customer tested these castors on prototype stands in the most abusive circumstances that the application sees. The hydrolysis-resistant Blickle stainless steel castors withstood all tests with flying colours and thus received approval for series production.

The client

...is a traditional German bakery which was established in 1898. The business is now a renowned training institution with 25 specialty stores and its own catering service.

The application

One of the bakery’s city centre branches was getting complaints from local residents about the noise caused by catering trolleys clattering over cobblestones at 4.30 in the morning. The trolleys were using LKRA-TPA series light duty castors with an expander fitting. The customer asked us to find a different castor solution to reduce the amount of noise caused by the catering trolleys. A competitor had also submitted an alternative solution involving castors with soft rubber wheels.

The solution from our standard range

Blickle’s soft elastic rubber “SoftMotion” series (POES series) was the perfect match for the customer’s requirements. In combination with the extra-thick cushion layer, the special high-quality material blend reduces noise emissions considerably compared to the standard solid rubber tread. It also has an extremely low level of rolling resistance, making the trolleys quiet and easy to move. The impact-resistant properties of the tread also protect the transported goods. A complete solution comprising a combination of the Blickle “SoftMotion” wheels and the LKRA light duty bracket series with a suitable expander fitting replaced the castors which were previously used for the trolleys. Our proposed solution beat out the competition due to our well-established Blickle quality and our attractive pricing.

The result

The Blickle "SoftMotion” wheels lowered noise levels significantly and noticeably reduced the number of complaints from the surrounding area.