TECHNOLOGY | MEDICAL
Above: The medical products manufacturing plant at Evco Plastics
Technical advances: a medical moulder’s perspective
US medical injection moulder Evco Plastics says moulding systems are continuing to evolve with higher speeds and precision through the continued use and development of electric servo motors and controls. “We are seeing a switch away from hydraulic valve gates to pneumatic to keep the manufacturing floor free of oils,” says Mike Busser, Innovation Process Engineer. “For high-heat applications, we are also using high pressure water temperature control units to cool moulds instead of oil heaters.” He adds that polymers are also improving. “Nuclear medicine and sterilisation methods are pushing the upper limits of polymers to withstand these harsh environments, so we are seeing more parts being designed with PEEK, PESU, LCP and LSR. Radiation sterilisation and dimensional stability are also major current market trends for plastics in medical applications at present, as well as the need for transplantable devices. Continued developments in the medical moulding area involve further expansion of Industry 4.0 and the utilisation of CT scanning of moulded parts to help facilitate validation during the IQ-OQ-PQ process.” Evco says that new solutions under development in medical moulding include automated systems for measuring and data analysis to help speed up validations. In addition, recently there has been the need for Covid-19 test kits and diagnostic testing supplies, as well as protective face shields. “We are currently running 18 machines that produce Covid-19
related products,” says Bruce Fallahi, MED Plant Manager. “Most of this capacity represents parts for Covid-19 test kits and diagnostic components, but we are also producing our own proprietary Evco medical face shields, which we sell both wholesale and on Amazon. One of our DNA testing customers recently pivoted their focus from commercial DNA test kits to a saliva-based Covid-19 test kit. We were able to quickly ramp up production of the individual compo- nents we were already producing for them, followed by a full kitting line to help meet the severe uptick in demand.”
28 INJECTION WORLD | September 2020
giving the highest priority to the production of machines ordered for Haidlmair’s face mask moulds and the company’s decentralised machine produc- tion ensures the shortest possible lead times. In another Covid-19 initiative, Engel and Hack
Formenbau are collaborating in the high volume production of test swabs, where the demand for nasal and throat swab tests continue to grow strongly. By providing an integrated system solution and process technology consulting, the companies say that they are helping plastics processors to launch high-volume production of two-component test swabs with a short lead time. The test swabs have a stable thermoplastic handle
and a head made of a thermoplastic elastomer to make the examination less uncomfortable for the patient. Hack Formenbau developed this two-com- ponent design, initially with three different head design proposals. “We adapt the handle length and shape, the design of the swab head and the materi- als individually to suit customer requirements,” says Gunnar Hack, CEO and owner of Hack Formenbau. The development objective is to combine high product quality with high-volume output and cost-effectiveness. With a 32-cavity mould and a cycle time of 6-8 s, processors can achieve an output of up to 320 test swabs per minute and 460,000 test swabs per day with a single production unit. The companies say that high efficiency is ensured by the integrated production process, which Engel specifically adapts to the mould solution developed by Hack. The process is based on a tie-bar-less, hydraulic, two-component Engel Victory machine with an integrated Engel Viper linear robot for fully automated removal and depositing of the swabs. The Victory machine is equipped with iQ weight control for high process consistency. The smart assistance system from Engel’s Inject 4.0 program detects fluctuations in the raw material and ambient conditions, and automatically compensates for them shot by shot by adapting the quality-relevant process parameters.
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IMAGE: EVCO
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