TAGS: Machinery Cost Efficiency K Show 2022
At the K show 2022, ENGEL is joining forces with partner NEXUS Elastomer Systems to provide new impetus to the production of blade valves made of liquid silicone rubber (LSR).
The fully automated high-end production cell combines maximum output with maximum quality consistency, substantially improving cost effectiveness at the same time.
Smart Assistance with High Precision
The production cell at the ENGEL stand leverages the quality and efficiency potential for the production of blade valves with a blade diameter of 7 mm in the best possible way.
It combines an e-victory injection molding machine and smart digital assistance with NEXUS's innovative mold and plasticizing technology. Production is fully automated in a 64-cavity mold with an ENGEL easix articulated robot and an integrated vision control system for 100 percent quality control.
Featuring tie-bar-less servo-hydraulic clamping and electric injection units, the injection molding machines from the ENGEL e-victory series are predestined for precision applications with LSR. The electric ENGEL injection unit ensures high-precision injection. On top of this, the machine design features of this model support low-flash, rework-free processing of low-viscosity materials.
The moving platen follows the mold precisely while clamping force is being built up, which results in excellent platen parallelism. Patented force dividers ensure that the clamping force is distributed evenly over the entire platen face. Even for large multiple-cavity molds, the cavities near the outer edge of the platen are kept closed with exactly the same clamping force as those nearer the center.
But the highest possible machine movement precision alone is not enough. It is in cases of batch fluctuations in the raw material, or environmental conditions, for example, due to weather conditions, that digitalization comes into its own.
Equipped with the iQ weight control smart assistance system from ENGEL's inject 4.0 portfolio, the injection molding machine continuously analyses the injection profile and readjusts quality-relevant process parameters in the same cycle whenever deviations from the reference cycle occur.
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Increased Productivity at low Costs
The excellent accessibility and the space available in the mold area are unique on this tie-bar-less injection molding machine. Where multiple-cavity molds are used, smaller machines than the mold size would normally dictate can be used in many cases. This keeps both investment outlay and operating costs low. At the same time, the productivity per unit of area, a key efficiency indicator in many operations, and especially in cleanroom production, is boosted.
The ENGEL easix articulated robot ensures optimum space utilization on the automation side and also requires very little headroom. It connects the injection molding machine with camera-based quality control and the discharge station and adapts flexibly if additional process units need to be retroactively integrated upstream or downstream of the injection molding process.
NEXUS designed the 64-cavity mold with a demolding device; this means that the parts can be picked up very easily and quickly by the end-of-arm tooling on the easix robot.
For high-precision control of the fill quantity, the cold runners in the mold are equipped with electric needle shut-off systems. NEXUS's Timeshot technology controls the fill quantity as a function of the injection time. Each cavity can be controlled individually, even in very large molds with up to 128 cavities.
Complete Traceability and Reliability
NEXUS also specifically developed the ServoMix X20 LSR dosing system, which ensures air-free dosing of the liquid silicone rubber, for use on the smallest footprint. Via OPC UA, it is networked with the injection molding machine and the MES authentig by TIG, an ENGEL Group company. This ensures full process data monitoring and complete traceability down to the level of the individual cavities.
This is the first time that ENGEL is demonstrating networking of the injection molding machine and the LSR dosing unit via OPC UA in line with the Euromap 82.3 standard live at a show. What becomes clear is how networking makes production more transparent and reliable and how work processes are accelerated.
The process data of the dosing unit are available during ongoing production in the CC300 control system of the injection molding machine and can be used for even more precise process monitoring and continuous process optimization. The dosing parameters are stored in the mold’s part data record. This means that they are immediately available at the machine control when the mold is set up again.
Source: ENGEL
