Engel at Swiss Plastics 2014

Engel Medical e-victory 160 combi

Engel Medical Transfusionskammer / Engel Medical drip chambers for blood transfusions

Engel Teletronics e-motion 30 TL

Engel Teletronics Steckverbinder / Engel Teletronics connectors

Engel CC 300

Maximum precision and reliability levels combined with a tiny footprint: At the Swiss Plastics trade fair that takes place in Lucerne from 21st to 23rd January 2014, Engel will be demonstrating how even very sophisticated applications can be realised efficiently and economically using innovative injection moulding technology.

Three-component hollow bodies with inlays in one step

Engel is setting a new trend in the manufacture of three-component hollow bodies with inlays. At its stand the company will be producing drip chambers for blood transfusions with an integrated filter in just one work step. An Engel e-victory 160 combi three-component injection moulding machine with an integrated Engel easix multi-axis robot will be used to make the chambers in a 4-cavity mould manufactured by Hack Formenbau. The chambers will consist of a PS and a PP component, which will be injection moulded simultaneously. The filter will then be mounted straight away in the same mould and joined by means of overmoulding with another PP. The cycle time will be 14 seconds.

One key prerequisite for realising the integrated process is servo-electric drive technology for all movements of the index plate mould. This enables mutually independent movements to be controlled synchronously. The high-precision platen parallelism setting on the tie-bar-less hybrid machine provides a high level of mould protection.

All-electric, highly precise and tie-bar-less

By combining the benefits of the company's tie-bar-less technology and all-electric drive technology, the new Engel e-motion 30 TL injection moulding machine brilliantly meets the needs of the electronics industry in the low clamping force segment. Outstanding precision, extremely low energy consumption levels and maximum flexibility are all essential here. The company will also be producing 60-pin board-to-board connectors in a 16-cavity mould on its new smallest injection moulding machine at Swiss Plastics 2014. This is an application that requires very high precision levels, as the distance between the pins is just 0.5 mm.

Even complex processes can be kept safely under control

Another Engel highlight being showcased at Swiss Plastics 2014 is its new CC 300 generation of control units. Smartphones served as the example when the interface for these was being developed. In addition to allowing a machine to be operated, the central control element, e-move, gives a feel for the machine back to the operator. This unique combination means the new Engel control unit is able to ensure that even complex processes are controlled easily, efficiently and reliably.

The company doesn't just supply injection moulding machines and robots all over the world; instead it concentrates on providing highly integrated and automated turnkey solutions from a single source. It is only when all the components in a manufacturing cell are perfectly coordinated from the outset that efficiency potential can be fully exploited and new applications with extremely low unit costs can be realised.