MEDICAL | INNOVATION


Above:


Sumitomo (SHI) Demag reports good demand for its IntElect series machines in medical moulding


accelerated demand for PCR tests, demand for multi-well microtiter plates has significantly amplified due to their high throughput screening and diagnostics functionality, he says. The US in particular has invested heavily in diagnostics, with a lot of laboratory equipment being imported from Germany, Sattel reports: rapid test cassettes, pipettes and tubes, as well as syringes. “This looks likely to continue for some time,” he predicts. For these types of applications, manufacturers generally utilise larger machines. The company is also monitoring the corona preventative agent market, which includes nasal administration pumping sprays. “Production of these containers is anticipated to rise considerably in the coming months,” says Sattel. Strategic, more complex projects, many of which


Right: An Arburg Allrounder 520 H moulded pipettes at Plastpol 2022


were put on pause due to the pandemic, are now being revived. “This is less about fast production and mass volumes, and more focused on the processing of new materials for more demanding applications,” says Sattel. He cites examples of consumer-oriented products such as baby pacifiers and contact lenses, but also the growing market for drug delivery, insulin pens, incubators, dialysis equipment and prosthetic applications. According to Sattel, Industry 4.0 interfaces that deliver process data acquisition and autonomous control are regarded by customers as critical, supporting agility and flexible production within the medical market. Comprehensive quality control and traceability of parts production are essential for minimising risks. To support these efforts, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is currently developing an IoT


50 INJECTION WORLD | September 2022


dashboard to facilitate this data analysis and visualisation, transfer and storage of know-how, as well as maintenance planning and prediction. Within this assistance system, additional autonomous and interconnected functions are being conceived to provide valuable insight into the machine performance and different production variables. Cycle and time-dependent data can already be collected via the machine interface and mapped using an app-based dashboard. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has already commenced developing a process optimisation system, where- by material and knowledge can be integrated with simulation tools to observe advanced settings and capture deeper processing insights. “Our ultimate vision is an intelligent machine that can indepen- dently make predictions about part quality, machine wear and failures and deliver optimisa- tions online,” says Sattel. Medical was one point of focus on the Arburg


stand at Plastpol 2022 in Kielce, Poland in May. It demonstrated a hybrid Allrounder 520 H with 1,500 kN clamping force and size 290 injection unit, producing pipettes in a cycle time of around 6 seconds using a 32-cavity mould from Zahoran- sky. This configuration enables a throughput of around 19,200 moulded parts per hour to be achieved. As a complete production cell, the system features, among other things, a clean-air module with ionisation that can be moved above the clamping unit. At K 2022 next month, an all-electric high-per- formance Engel E-motion 160 combi M injection moulding machine will be producing sample vessels for medical diagnostics in two-component injection moulding under cleanroom conditions in a cell with a minimal footprint. Engel previously exclusively offered the combi M design only for larger machines; this is the first time that it has been applied to a 1,600 kN machine. In the combi M design, an indexing table divides the injection moulding machine’s mould closing area in the centre to operate two moulds in parallel. “This


www.injectionworld.com


IMAGE: SUMITOMO (SHI) DEMAG


IMAGE: ARBURG


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