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machinery | Maintenance


Right: This cut-open


cooling water inlet reveals


how ineffective maintenance


can allow chalk and minerals to clog cooling channels


major driver in the company’s development of its “Cool and Clean” barrel cooling system. “The user now has the chance to open the cooling system, inspect it and take all necessary measures to clean it and put it back into operation with an as-new-condition,” he says. Feddem Business Development/Project Manager Klaus Hojer points out the ease of cleaning of barrel cooling bores in his company’s extruders. “Feddem’s cooling concept guides cooling water through barrel segments via straight through-holes,” he notes. “The holes are positioned perpendicular to the barrel axis. In case cleaning of these borings is required during long-term service of the extruder, the barrels can be directly accessed for mechanical cleaning of the borings after removal of the fittings – without disassembly of the extruder barrel.” Hojer cites several other maintenance-friendly


features on the company’s twin-screw extruders. Fool-proof positioning of the melt sensors is one: melt pressure and melt temperature sensors can stay in place during removal and insertion of the extruder screws. Easy access to the processing section is another: the processing section of the extruder is shrouded for minimising settlement of dust on the barrel components and to facilitate cleaning. During maintenance segments of this shrouding can easily be removed manually without the need for tools. Hojer also highlights the user-accessible service plan


in the extruder controls. “A simple but effective display page in the extruder controls allow for entering time schedules for preventative maintenance (such as dates for oil change in the gearbox, filter changes in auxiliary equipment, checking the condition of the vacuum pump),” he says. “When the time for the scheduled maintenance comes up the operator gets a clear signal that execution of the corresponding job is due.” Al Bailey, Controls Engineer at Entek, provides his say


Right: Extruder Experts’ “Cool and Clean”


cooling system can be seen on this used


element (seals and liner


removed). All


water channels are open


making it easy to return the part to “as


new” operation 20 COMPOUNDING WORLD | April 2017


on best practices for keeping twin-screw extruders in optimal condition. “Entek is not only a top manufacturer of extrusion equipment, it is also a world leader in the manufacturing of battery separators,” he points out. “Since Entek uses its own extruders in a 24/7 production environment, ease of maintenance is dear to our hearts.” All Entek extruders are fitted with the capability of


full remote access, allowing its controls engineers to troubleshoot problems from almost anywhere. Most manufacturers have at least partial remote conductivity, but Bailey says all current Entek extruders provide the ability to connect to all main components of the machine (the Allen-Bradley PLC, the HMI, all remote I/Os, all temperature controls, and all variable frequency drives). “This allows for remote processing help, in addition to aiding in a maintenance activity,” Bailey says. Extruders from Entek are shipped with copies of all


relevant documentation in digital form, including the extruder manual, assembly drawings, electrical schematics, OEM manuals of purchased components, and full bill of materials. All this documentation can be easily accessed through the HMI. Bailey further notes that the machine controllers provide customer’s screens depicting the state of all PLC instrumentation. “Since this is viewable from the HMI, it allows for quicker diagnostics without the need of any special software or separate computer,” he says.


Preventative options Bailey says preventative maintenance (PM) has become an important part of manufacturing culture. To facilitate this, Entek extruders have numerous built-in timers for key maintenance functions. In addition to the standard timers, there are user-configurable timers that can be associated with maintenance functions for other equipment associated with the line. When the mainte- nance time expires, the operator receives an alarm that stays in the summary until it is completed and cleared by a maintenance engineer. If the factory has an


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PHOTO: EXTRUDER EXPERTS


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