Healthy
animals are necessary for efficient stockyard production. Disease and
other bacterial conditions thrive in close quarters; making regular
vaccination for all livestock a natural pre-requisite. However,
implementing and documenting consistent injections for all animals is
tedious, expensive and, in some cases, hazardous. To solve these
problems, Acushot, an innovative vetrinary design company, designed an
automated, needle-free injection gun for mass livetock vaccination. The
design required a linear bearing system to absorb recoil. Acushot™
turned to Colpitt Designs, who recommended PBC Linear’s Simplicity®
plane bearings for the task.
Typically, hand-held needle injections were
used for vaccinating the animals in the stockyards and barnyards;
however, with thousands of animals coming through production at once,
succesfully and safely supervising the injections became an increasing
concern. Acushot’s™ new system elilminated needles, removing the
possibility for an unsafe employee needle-slip. The unit also enhances
sanitary conditions, the battery powered injection unit can be used
hundreds of times without risk of cross contamination to the animals.
For a rapid prototype and possible added
refinements to their design, Acushot™ turned to Colpitt Designs—a third
party engineering firm. Colpitt worked to reduce components and assemble
the triggering/injection system by using a varying degree of strength
gas cylinder to provide up to 600 pounds of force. The system also
automatically saves each dose with a time stamp for accurate vaccination
records. The cylinders are designed to inject the vaccines to the same
recommended depth as a typical needle that would have been used on a
range of animals. The injector can be set to inject from 0.2cc and
deposit it just in the skin of the animal and up to 2.5cc can be
injected to the recommended depth into the muscle of the animal.
Colpitts immediately set to work. Using a
simplified approach, they were able to reduce moving components and make
the design more cost-effective; while still adhering to Acushot’s™
criteria. The final product was a lightweight, compact and battery
powered needle-less injection unit that packed up to 28,000 psi delivery
pressures while concurrently documenting each injection.
One obstacle to overcome was finding a
linear bearing assembly to support the force of the injection delivery.
Throughout a cycle, 650 lbs of force act on the bearings; which would be
under constant use in extreme temperatures and outdoor working
conditions. To solve this, Colpitts Designs used Simplicity® plane
bearings to withstand the system parameters and environment of the
application.
Simplicity® bearings glide using a
proprietary Teflon liner. This provides even disbursement of forces
throughout the bearing and smooth, reliable travel. Bronze and linear
ball bushings spall the shafting under the high forces and short stroke
which accumulate and contaminate the system; resulting in catastrophic
failure. Simplicity bearings self-lubricate to ensure smooth and quiet
operation for constant or intermittent use. They also thrive in
temperature extremes (from -400°F-400°F)! These design factors allowed
Simplicity® to drive consistent and satisfactory performance of
Acushot’s™ injection gun.
No needle trauma recovery was necessary for
the animals; in fact the livestock does not even take notice when given
their injection with Acushot’s™ new injector. The new injection unit
also reduced the diameter of the injection mark to about 1/8th the size.
Easy to use with no extra vaccine containers the Acushot™ system
improved productivity, safety and the overall health in stockyards and
barnyards world wide.
http://www.colpittsdesign.com/
http://www.acushot.ca/
