Green is more than a colour: At Plastpol 2023 from 23 to 26 May in Kielce, Poland, Engel is impressively demonstrating its expertise in resource- and energy-saving plastics processing with two challenging applications. All-electric injection moulding machines by Engel reduce energy consumption to a minimum and boost competitiveness in combination with smart assistance systems and process integration.
Maximum output on the smallest footprint
The development focus in the process for manufacturing sample containers for medical diagnostics under cleanroom conditions was a minimum footprint. Minimum both in terms of the CO2 emissions and of the production cell footprint. The all-electric Engel e-motion 160 combi M injection moulding machine is particularly good at saving space. In the combi M design, a horizontally rotating indexing table divides the injection moulding machine's mould closing area in the centre to be able to run two moulds in parallel. One injection unit is installed on the moving platen and another on the stationary platen.
The delivery bulbs are two-component parts. In a first injection moulding step, the primary parts with cylindrical cavities are injected using a polycarbonate material dyed in black. Then the indexing table rotates through 180 degrees in order to seal the cylinders with transparent polycarbonate on one side with lenticular covers in a second injection moulding step. While this is going on, the next set of primary parts is being produced on the other side. The two moulds, with 32 cavities each, come from Hack Formenbau in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
Machine footprint reduced by more than 20 percent
The e-motion machine features a whole series of smart assistance systems from the Engel inject 4.0 program. Among other features, this includes iQ weight control, which detects fluctuations in the injection volume and material viscosity and automatically compensates for them within validated limits in the same cycle, and iQ flow control, which ensures constant temperature control ratios by controlling temperature differences in the individual cooling circuits based on a set value.
combi M horizontal indexing table technology by Engel saves valuable floor space, especially where multiple-cavity moulds are used. A comparable 32-cavity mould with a vertical rotary table would have needed a larger e-motion injection moulding machine with at least 280 tonnes clamp force. In this application, the horizontal indexing table technology reduces the injection moulding machine's footprint by more than 20 percent. Especially in the cleanroom, this significantly improves cost efficiency. The smaller machine consumes even less energy and that despite the fact that the all-electric injection moulding machines from the Engel e-motion series are already some of the most energy-efficient machines on the market in this class.
