2023 gold manus award for use of plastic bearings in farm fertilizing equipment

Application Overview

Industry: Agricultural engineering
Customer requirements: Corrosion-resistant bearing points, problem-free contact with liquid nitrogen fertilizer, long service life despite oscillating movements, no lubricants
igus solution: iglide plain bearings

J&M Manufacturing wins gold manus with iglide plain bearings!

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Application Solution

The problem is that the knife is behind the coulter and swings up out of the ground faster than the blade. This can cause some of the nitrogen to volatilise and be lost as fertilizer. To solve this problem, J&M Manufacturing engineers developed a spring-loaded system. The design keeps the knife and blade at the same level with respect to the ground when engaging, so more nitrogen stays in the soil.

The designers use iglide® polymer plain bearings in all coulter blade pivot points. The 30-foot version of the system has eleven coulters and the 60-foot version 37.

The iglide G polymer bearings are corrosion-resistant in contact with liquid nitrogen fertilizer and reliably withstand oscillating movements. They allow low-friction dry operation without a single drop of lubricating oil. This saves money on lubricants and makes the machine fail-safe.