Five Star Industry Competence

In nur einem Arbeitsschritt fertigt ENGEL auf der Messe Tropfkammern mit integriertem Filter. Die holmlose ENGEL e-victory combi Maschine verarbeitet drei verschiedene Rohmaterialien. (Bild: ENGEL) / ENGEL will produce drip chambers with integrated filters in a single workstep at NPE2015. For this, a tie-bar-less ENGEL e-victory combi machine will process three different raw materials. (Imag: ENGEL)

“It’s your choice to be a winner!” is the motto for ENGEL at NPE2015 from March 23 to 27 in Orlando, Florida. Presenting eight innovative applications, the injection moulding machine manufacturer and system supplier will demonstrate how the specific requirements of five industrial branches—automotive, packag-ing, medical, teletronics and technical moulding—can be realised with efficient and economical injection molding solutions. They will show that the key to in-creased competitiveness can be found in both customised, highly-integrated system solutions and flexible standard machines.

The highlights at the ENGEL booth in the West building, hall A will include the first composite brake pedal manufactured in a one-shot process, the new high-performance ENGEL e-speed machine, the particularly dynamic ENGEL e pic pick-and-place robot, as well as innovative service tools for an even higher level of process security and machine availability. 

The plastics industry in North America continues on a course of growth. In particular, there is an increasing demand for innovative techniques and economic solutions for high-performance applications. Both trends are reflected in the exhibits at the ENGEL booth at NPE2015.

One main emphasis will be on lightweight construction, which is currently one of the areas with the strongest growth. "In the next few years we can look forward to strong growth in the injection molding industry, particularly in the field of fiber composite engineering," points out Mark Sankovitch, President and CEO of ENGEL North America with headquarters in York, Pennsylvania. Directed fiber systems have long since established themselves in high-performance products—for example in the aircraft industry. For composite materials to find even wider use in high volume applications, such as in the automotive sector, the biggest challenge at present is to develop manufacturing processes that provide low unit costs despite high volumes. "ENGEL is providing ground-breaking offerings in thermoplastics solutions to provide production breakthroughs across all industries," emphasises Sankovitch. Injection moulding technologies offer great potential for this. ENGEL already fulfils another crucial success factor with its high levels of system solution and automation expertise. To promote even faster development of new processes, ENGEL established its own technology center for lightweight composites in 2012 at the site of its large-scale machine production facility in St. Valentin, Austria. The technology center was created primarily as a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration with international partner enterprises and universities. In col-laboration with its system partners, ENGEL has been able to set several milestones in recent years.

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ENGEL medical: Higher productivity with a smaller plant footprint

In the Medical section of its display at NPE2015, ENGEL will be producing drip chambers with an integrated filter for blood transfusions.  An ENGEL e-victory 310H/80W/50V/180 combi US three-component injection molding machine with ecodrive and a cleanroom design will be used in this highly integrated production process. The drip chambers will include one ABS and one PP component; in a single work step they will be injection moulded, fitted with the filter, and joined by means of over moulding with additional polypropylene. This un-precedented level of integration significantly boosts efficiency in the manufacturing of multi-component hollow bodies with inlays. Conventionally, the two hollow body components are individually injection moulded, with the inlay fitted and bonded in subsequent process steps. However, this leads to longer cycles, a greater logistical effort including a greater risk of con-tamination, and markedly lower productivity per square foot as production usually requires several independent manufacturing cells. “Drip chambers are mass-market products that need to be manufactured economically while maintaining the stringent demands on product safety and cleanliness,” says Mark Sankovitch, underlining the great significance of the one-shot process. Other industries could also profit from this leap in efficiency. For example, fuel filters are also hollow bodies with an integrated inlay.

For this exhibit, the mold manufacturing partner Hack Formenbau (Kirchheim, Germany), provides a key prerequisite for the high level of integration with the use of servo-electric drive technology for all movements of the index plate mould. This allows the synchronous control of commonly independent movements.

An ENGEL easix multi-axis robot is also integrated into the manufacturing cell for handling both the filter and finished parts. The robot presents the drop chambers to a 100 percent quality control check before they are discharged. 

High performance with maximum safety

In order to increase productivity, the field of medical technology is moving more and more to the use of multi-cavity molds along with the larger injection moulding machines they require. As a result, ENGEL has designed the ENGEL e-motion all-electric machine series to meet the requirements of high-performance applications, with no compromise to process stability and part quality, even when used with high clamping forces. Together with automation specialist HEKUMA (Eching, Germany) and mold manufacturer Braunform (Bahlingen, Germany); ENGEL will be presenting the highly automated cleanroom production of needle holders for insulin pens at the NPE.

The cores of the 96-cavity mold have a diameter of just 0.3 mm. To counter deformation of cores effectively, the electric injection unit of the ENGEL e-motion 440/240 T US is equipped with a direct drive, which provides highly dynamic injection movements and injec-tion speeds of up to 500 mm/s. If, however, there is a problem with a manufactured part, the camera-based monitoring system registers it immediately. Thanks to cavity specific handling, reject parts are automatically separated and the injection moulding can carry on producing without deactivating the cavity. Despite the delicate mold cores, the all-electric machine achieves exceptionally short cycle times of around 3.5 seconds.

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