MACHINERY | TWIN-SCREW EXTRUDERS
Right: Krauss- Maffei has extended it ZE BluePower family to include four new large diameter models ranging to 166mm
as the screw shafts come to a complete stop. The company has
also completely overhauled its ZS-EG side-devolatilization unit and ZS-EG and ZS-B side feeder. These can now be more quickly removed from the process section of the ZSK. This means the time needed for screw changes, cleaning, or maintenance falls significantly, so minimising downtimes, Coperion says.
Below: Latest edition to Coperion’s STS Mc¹¹ line is this 25mm laboratory model
Digital developments As part of its ongoing digitalisation initiatives — branded under the C-Beyond 4.0 banner — Coperion launched new control technology for its extruders. The design is said to be more powerful and features a more user-friendly HMI (human machine interface). It will be equipped with an OPC 40084 interface in the middle of 2020. OPC 40084 is based on the OPC UA machine-to- machine communication protocol for industrial automation and is specifically intended for extruder communication with higher ranking manufacturing execution systems (MES). It was jointly established by the Euromap association of European plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, Germany’s VDMA mechanical engineering industry association, and leading plastics machinery manufacturers. The extruder controls enable the integration of a number of intelligent functionalities, summarised under the Smart Machine name. These include alarm-based handling recommendations, process monitoring, and predictive maintenance features based on diagnostic data. The new HMI was displayed on ZSK 70 Mc18
and ZSK 45 Mc18
machines during the K2019 exhibition and the company said feedback from visitors was “consistently positive.” Recycling is one of the fastest growing areas of
interest in the compounding industry at present and Coperion says it is an application area where the high torque and gentle processing of the ZSK make it well-suited. “Client feedback at K2019 reflected this strength of the ZSK,” it says. “Addi- tionally, clients reported a high degree of flexibility and efficiency.” The company says the highly modular basis of
its ZSK design means that it can be implemented for a wide variety of applications in compounding of recycled plastics, such as reprocessing polymer regrind, manufacturing films, PET recycling, or for “upcycling” of various materials. With recycling of PET in particular, the ZSK can save energy and time as pre-drying and crystallisation can be omitted in the single-stage production process. In addition, only minimal iV degradation occurs during repro- cessing. Pelletised new product and different regenerated material (ground product, agglomer- ates, flakes) can be processed together, even if they have different iV values. Coperion has also added a new 25mm labora-
tory extruder to its STS Mc¹¹ series. It features a simple operator-friendly design and is easy to clean due to the use of an exchangeable sleeve insert in the barrel and a quick-release die head. Water cooling, vacuum unit and air supply can be integrated into the base frame as an option. Cartridge heaters provide precise single-zone heating of each individual barrel. The STS Mc¹¹ has the same Do/Di ratio of 1.55 and the same maxi- mum specific torque of 11.3 Nm/cm³ as other STS Mc11 extruders series, so production parameters can be reliably scaled, the company says.
Modular benefits Turkish equipment producer Polimer Technics also highlights modularity in its poex T series machines. The company uses two kinds of barrel — solid for poex T27 extruders and a liner insert barrel for the
18 COMPOUNDING WORLD | March 2020
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: COPERION
IMAGE: KRAUSSMAFFEI
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