TEMPERATURE CONTROL | TECHNOLOGY
Manufacturers of mould temperature control units for injection moulding are targeting energy efficiency, precision and production flexibility, as well as meeting Industry 4.0 standards. Mark Holmes reports on new products and developments
Maintaining efficiency through accurate temperature control
The temperature control unit is crucial to efficient and cost-effective injection moulding for maintaining a number of important parameters to accomplish the job in hand and there are a great many issues that need to be taken into consideration. According to Tim Miller, Heat Transfer Product Manager at Conair, moulding machine manufacturers are becoming interested in closely monitoring and controlling mould temperature control units (TCU), signalling a definite trend toward increased connectivity be- tween the TCU and the moulding machine. “The objective is to be able to optimise the mould temperature to more closely match the needs of the process,” he says. “Those require- ments can change over time based on factors like air temperature and humidity in the plant and so adjustments need to be made more or less continuously. Also, after a job change, all the settings, for example flow rates, need to be adjusted to the new mould. This can be done manually of course, but if the mould temperature controller is connected to the moulding machine control, it can all happen automatically when the rest of the process parameters are uploaded for the new mould setup. At the end of the day, it is
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about reducing operating costs, improving throughput and part quality. “We are also seeing increased concern about
energy efficiency and that is leading to increased interest in variable speed pumps. Even today, temperature control units are pretty much on/off devices. You run at a constant speed and just valve it down to reduce the flow but that wastes energy. A more efficient solution is to vary the speed of the pump.” Conair is working closely with its suppliers to bring cost-effective advancements in variable- speed technology to the market. “Most moulders, however, look at mould temperature controllers as low-tech and low-cost,” says Miller. “Despite how important they can be to their process, when it comes to TCUs, they have a certain price-point in mind and that does not allow us a lot of room to offer these more advanced capabilities. However, as moulders gain more appreciation for the possible payback I think that situation will begin to change.” One piece of new technology that is easy to implement involves the use of Conair’s new SmartServices platform. Introduced at NPE, the company says that this Industry 4.0 innovation
Main image: Aquatech has introduced Easytherm, a new line of temperature controllers for Industry 4.0 production
June 2018 | INJECTION WORLD 47
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