MACHINERY | EXTRUDER MAINTENANCE
Above: CPM Extricom’s latest CXE45 sHO extruder is designed with integrated “smart”
monitoring technology
customers to determine when they need to order spare parts, making this service a predictive maintenance tool,” Bessinger says. “As the gearbox is the heart of any extruder it is
extremely important to know the condition of it to predict any future issues. We offer monitoring which is fully integrated with the gearbox to enable maintenance personnel to check its status. It meas- ures an array of properties, such as oil temperature, acceleration and speed, from which it then deduces the condition of the entire gearbox. There is a visual interface that can be loaded on mobile devices, which then enables maintenance personnel to view trends and current operating conditions,” he says.
Right:
Designed to suit JIT production demands, quick screw change is a standard feature on Entek’s QC3 models
Working at the limit Bessinger’s colleague Adam Dreiblatt, Director Process Technology at CPM, adds that some machines with higher outputs are also being constantly pushed to the limits to maximise production rates. “This leaves little or no time for preventive maintenance where there is a ‘run to fail’ mentality and the machine is kept running until something breaks and then requires fixing,” he says. “When something does need to be fixed or
repaired, it should have easy access. This means that the machine design needs to allow for easy replacement and removal of barrels, dies and side feeders, for example. Quick-change designs are available – for example, by using cooling hoses with quick-connect fittings, as well as heaters with plugs instead of being hard-wired,” Dreiblatt says, adding that such features add to the machine price. Dreiblatt also highlights the occasional conflict between efficiency and access. “Good barrel cover design with energy efficient insulation that also provides ease of access remains a conflict for designers. The maintenance department may remove the covers for repair work, which often do
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not get re-installed.” Thomas Bauer, Managing Director at CPM subsidiary CPM Extricom Extrusion, says the company’s CXE45 sHO was designed to provide a compromise between these requirements and allows easy access to frequently maintained sections of the machine. “With our new series we make installation as easy as possible and for customers with high safety requirements we offer proximity switches which detect the installation of safe guard covers,” he says. “The CXE45 sHO offers high output, unmatched productivity, ‘Smart’ performance and monitoring technology.” In future developments, Bauer says high torque machines at high screw speeds will increasingly require more continuous monitoring of the torque and power introduced through each shaft into the process. The simple aggregate monitoring com- monly used today does not mitigate the risk of extreme machine crashes caused by over-torque resulting from foreign particles blocking the screws. The company’s optional single shaft torque measurement tool monitors and reacts to uneven torque and effectively contributes to risk mitigation of major crashes, he says.
Maintenance just-in-time According to Dean Elliott, Technical Processing Manager, and Tammy Straw, Marketing and Business Development Manager, at Entek, key issues influencing developments in extruder maintenance include Just-in-Time (JIT) production and increasingly small-sized production batches, which both create demand for easier maintenance of the equipment. This means quick, easy and safe access is required to electrical and mechanical parts of the extruder to facilitate the greater variety of products being run and the multiple screw layouts used. The critical spare part inventory for
PHOTO: ENTEK
PHOTO: CPM EXTRICOM EXTRUSION
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