Mechmatic aims to reduce coupling headaches03 September 2013

VBG's claims about the potential benefits of its latest products have been backed up by Gregory Distribution.

Adrian Jasper, a workshop supervisor at the operator's Davidstow site is convinced that VBG's Mechmatic system – currently fitted as a trial unit to one of the six new Scania drawbar farm collection vehicles – is already proving itself a success.

Jasper comments that the "manual operation of opening the coupling is much slicker" compared with those not fitted with the "Mechmatic" system. He is also confident that the life of the mechanism will be extended, while the need for manual lubrication between services will be eliminated giving a reduction in down time.

The VBG "Mechmatic" system not only cleans the coupling but also lubricates it. The operation is both simple, and timed to operate electronically. The "Mechmatic" unit fitted near to the coupling has a connection to the vehicles compressed air system.

Every six running hours, a blast of compressed air is forced through a connection fitted to the lid of the coupling. The air effectively cleans the coupling driving out any dust or moisture which has been drawn into the mechanisms internal workings.

A removable canister built into the "Mechmatic" unit houses an aerosol can of VBG "Mec" oil which when activated electronically , every 24 running hours ,injects the lubricant through the same connection in the lid of the mechanism.

It is estimated that the "Mec Oil" aerosol can will last for 3,000 operating hours (approximately one year). Warning lights fitted to the Mechmatic unit indicate that the lubricant can is either operational (Green) or empty (Red).

However, if the Red warning light is ignored the air cleaning system will still function. This system can be retro-fitted to all current models of VBG couplings with the Version 3.0 type of mechanism (those with a black tin lid).

Author
John Challen

Related Companies
VBG Group Sales Ltd

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