TECHNOLOGY | ENERGY MANAGEMENT


Right: Using HB-Therm’s E-Temp temperature control units, Engel has become a system solutions provider in the field of temperature control of injection moulding processes


hydraulic machine in its Blyth factory. According to Managing Director Gary Powner, al- though there is currently a premium of about 20% to pay compared to that of a hydraulic machine, by saving 40-70% on energy costs, it does not take long to recoup the additional cost and start making further savings. In addition, Guala Closures UK has installed 12 IntElect machines and reports a reduction of around 35% in energy consumption compared to the plant’s earlier hydraulic units.


Sumitomo (SHI) Demag says that it will continue to focus product development on reducing energy consumption. “Following on from the launch of the IntElect2 50-180 in 2017, the IntElect2 220-450 will be released later this year, delivering the same reduction in energy and footprint as its smaller relation,” says Nigel Flowers. “The company will also release further improvements to its super-fast cycling El-Exis machine; this is especially challeng- ing as there is almost no latency with a fast cycling machine and so the opportunities to reduce energy is more difficult.” Engel has introduced iQ Flow Control, a dynamically controlled multi-circuit integrated temperature control system that is designed to improve the stability of injection moulding pro- cesses, reduce rejects and boost energy efficiency. “Most rejects in injection moulding are the result of temperature control errors,” says Joachim Kragl,


Director of Advanced Molding Systems and Processing at Engel Machinery Inc in York, Pennsylvania, USA. “This explains why the processors’ focus is increasingly shifting to mould temperature control.” Engel laid the foundations


for more transparency and consistency in the temperature control process as one of the pioneers in this field back at K 2010 through Flomo - an electronic temperature control water manifold system. This


replaced the maintenance-inten-


sive cooling water distributors and individually monitored and documented all cooling and temperature control circuits. The next generation E-Flomo was further able to actively control either the flow rates or the temperature difference (ΔT) in all individual circuits. The advantage of ΔT control is the automatic setting of the individually required flow rate for each temperature control circuit. The company has now developed iQ Flow


At control level, Engel’s iQ Flow Control merges the injection moulding machine, equipped with E-Flomo, and the temperature control devices into a single unit. The pump speed automatically adapts to the current requirements


52 INJECTION WORLD | May 2018


Control as the next step. The software networks the temperature control units and the injection moulding machine to create a single unit and, based on the measured values determined by E-Flomo, controls the pump speed in the tempera- ture control units on demand. While E-Flomo increases the process stability which consequently reduces the risk of rejects, automatic speed adjustment ensures that temperature control requires substantially less energy. The pump operates on-demand rather than at maximum output all the time, meaning that stress on moving parts is reduced and temperature control units have a longer service life, which makes it possible to extend the maintenance cycles. This allows for further savings. In conven- tional operations, regular maintenance of the temperature control units, including the downtime associated with it, is a major cost factor. As an integrated solution, the entire temperature control process can be set up, monitored and centrally logged at the CC300 machine control display while the ideal operating point for the particular tem- perature control unit is determined and set automatically. This allows injection moulding shops to fully leverage their injection moulding machines’ potential without the system operators needing special training. In order to integrate the temperature control units with the CC300 control unit on the injection


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