Injection moulding: greener, smarter, more efficient

PBT-Automotive-Steckverbinder, hergestellt auf einer elektrischen e-mac-Spritzgießmaschine, die mit sämtlichen iQ Lösungen ausgestattet ist. (Foto: Engel) / PBT automotive connectors produced by an ENGEL e-mac equipped with all iQ assistant systems. (Photo: Engel)

Die auf der Plast ausgestellte ENGEL e-mac zeigt, wie es danke Digitalisierung möglich ist, den Energieverbrauch um bis zu 67 % zu senken, ohne dabei Kompromisse bei Präzision und Reproduzierbarkeit einzugehen. (Foto: Engel) / At Plast 2023, an ENGEL e-mac will demonstrate how the digitalisation makes it possible to cut energy consumption by up to 67%, without affecting precision and repeatability. (Photo: Engel)

125 ml dünnwandige (0,32 mm) lebensmitteltaugliche Schale, die in einem einzigen Schritt, d. h. ohne Verwendung von Preforms, spritzgegossen wird. Der Behälter kann aus 100% rPET hergestellt werden. (Foto: Engel) / A 125 ml thin-wall (0.32 mm) food grade tub, produced in a single step, i.e. without the need to use preforms. The container can be made of 100% percent rPET. (Photo: Engel)

Dank der neuen, verbesserten Spritzeinheit erreicht die e-speed eine maximale Geschwindigkeit von 1.400 mm/s und einen Einspritzdruck von bis zu 2.600 bar. (Foto: Engel) / Thanks to the enhanced injection unit, the ENGEL e-speed reaches a maximum speed of 1,400 mm/s and an injection pressure of up to 2,600 bar. (Photo: Engel)

Schirmventile aus Flüssigsilikon sind in vielen Anwendungen wichtige Komponenten für Funktionalität und Sicherheit. Die Anforderung an den Spritzgießprozess lautet daher "Null Fehler". (Foto: Engel) / LSR blade valves are important components for functionality and safety in many applications. The requirement for the injection moulding process, therefore, is "defect-free”. (Photo: Engel)

Die Kombination aus 64-Kavitäten-Werkzeug, der holmlosen e-victory und dem iQ process observer sowie der kompakten Automatisierung bringt die Massenproduktion von Flüssigsilikon-Schirmventilen auf ein neues Effizienzniveau. (Foto: Engel) / An ENGEL e-victory featuring a 64-cavity mould, iQ process observer and compact automation takes the mass production of LSR blade valves to a new efficiency level. (Photo: Engel)

Die intelligente Assistenzlösung ENGEL iQ process observer überwacht die Qualität, indem hunderte Prozessparametern analysiert werden. (Foto: iStock) / The ENGEL iQ process observer monitors quality by tracking hundreds of process parameters. (Photo: iStock)

Energie- und Materialeinsparung sind zwei wesentliche Punkte der Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie von ENGEL. (Foto: iStock) / Energy and material savings are two key points of ENGEL’s sustainability strategy. (Photo: iStock)

At Plast, which takes place from 5 to 8 September, ENGEL will be demonstrating highly innovative applications and integrated solutions to make injection moulding more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable. For the benefit of a leaner and more resilient production.

Continuous innovation - this is the topic on which ENGEL Italia presents technologies that enable injection moulders to make their productions competitive. Key pillars are the leveraging of potential savings in energy consumption, the digitalization of processes, and the opportunities opened up by a circular economy. This is where ENGEL's solutions come in.

The booth shows a wide range of solutions for different industries and requirements. At the Expert Corners, interested visitors will also find information on how complex production processes can be simplified – regardless of the specific area of application: from the automotive industry to technical moulding, to packaging and medical, ENGEL provides answers to the challenges of the future.

Everything under control with smart machines and assistant systems

The steady improvement of process efficiency would be an unattainable goal without the adoption of machines and plants capable of using machine learning technologies and processing with algorithms the big data collected to support proactive process management. To support this trend in the industry, ENGEL has developed the iQ smart assistant systems, a range of software packages that integrate specific knowledge into the injection moulding machine control system to allow the operator to optimise the quality of processes and products with just a few clicks.

The performance of all iQ smart assistant systems, available as part of ENGEL’s inject 4.0 programme, will be demonstrated at the fair with a production cell based on an all-electric ENGEL e-mac 265/80 injection moulding machine with a clamping force of 80 tons. The cell is equipped with a four-cavity mould for the production of PBT automotive connectors. The total shot weight of 28 grams and a specific consumption of 0.8 kWh per kilogram of processed material, without affecting precision and repeatability. An ENGEL viper linear robot in the new size 4 will remove the components from the mould and place them on the conveyor belt.

The all-electric drives of the e mac machine contribute to this high degree of energy efficiency, further enhanced by the e-flomo and e-temp temperature control technology integrated with the smart iQ flow control assistant system, which saves 4,000 kWh in one year of operation at full capacity. The ENGEL e-flomo temperature-control water manifold system monitors and regulates the flow rate, pressure, temperature and temperature differences. Based on these parameters, iQ flow control assistance actively regulates the temperature difference in the individual circuits. This means that the thermal conditions in the mould remain constant at all times, even if there are fluctuations in the system. The result is very high repeatability and minimum cooling water and energy consumption. The integration of e-temp temperature control units into the CC300 control unit of the injection moulding machine via OPC UA delivers an additional energy saving. In the integrated ENGEL solution, the flow rate of the temperature control water pumps is automatically adapted to match the actual process demand.

Change of pace in packaging

In addition to saving energy, the processing of recyclate is another important pillar of the sustainability strategy that ENGEL pursues for the benefit of its customers. An example is the application developed in collaboration with Alpla Group, Brink and IPB Printing. This allows post-consumer rPET containers to be produced in a single injection moulding process step, i.e. without the need to use preforms. Featuring a wall thickness of 0.32, the transparent, round 125-ml containers are representative of a whole genus of packaging, especially in the food industry. Thanks to integrated in-mould labelling (ILM), the containers are ready for filling as soon as they leave the production cell.

An ENGEL e-speed 280/50 injection moulding machine is the heart of the production cell. ENGEL specifically developed this hybrid machine with its electrical clamping unit and hy-draulic injection unit for the high performance requirements of thin-wall injection moulding. The high-performance injection unit achieves injection speeds up 1400 mm per second at a maximum injection pressure of up to 2600 bar when processing small shot weights with an extreme wall-thickness to flow path ratio. This makes it the most dynamic injection unit on the market worldwide.

To process rPET, ENGEL combines the new injection unit with a plasticising unit from in-house development and production specifically designed for processing recycled material. During plasticising and injection, the viscosity of the PET is configured for thin-wall injection moulding. The new ENGEL e-speed supports the processing of arbitrary recycled materials up to one-hundred percent rPET. Moreover the mould is able to process different types of IML labels in order to allow customers to adapt to global trends and comply with different standards and recommendations.

Precision and efficiency for liquid silicone rubber

On a fully automated high-end production cell ENGEL produces blade valves made of liquid silicone rubber (LSR). A seamless integration of tiebarless injection moulding machine, peripherals, automation and digital solutions ensures quality and at the same time high efficiency and cost effectiveness. Whether in cars, medical technology products or packaging, blade valves are used in a very wide range of applications. What all of these applications have in common is the very strict process consistency requirements in terms of injection moulding production. The precision of the small parts is safety-relevant.

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 com-bines an e-victory injection moulding machine and smart digital assistance with NEXUS's in-novative mould and plasticising technology. Production is fully automated in a 64-cavity mould 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 moulding machines from the ENGEL e-victory series are predestined for precision applica-tions with LSR. The electric ENGEL injection unit ensures high-precision injection. The excel-lent accessibility and the space available in the mould area are unique on this tie-bar-less in-jection moulding machine. Where multiple-cavity moulds are used, smaller machines than the mould size would normally dictate can be used in many cases. This keeps both investment outlay and operating costs low. The moving platen follows the mould 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 moulds, the cavities near the outer edge of the platen are kept closed with ex-actly the same clamping force as those nearer the centre.

The ENGEL easix articulated robot ensures optimum space utilisation on the automation side and also requires very little headroom. It connects the injection moulding machine with cam-era-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 moulding process.

It is in cases of batch fluctuations in the raw material, or environmental conditions, for exam-ple, due to weather conditions, that digitalisation comes into its own. Equipped with the iQ weight control smart assistance system from ENGEL's inject 4.0 portfolio, the injection moulding machine continuously analyses the injection profile and readjusts quality-relevant process parameters in the same cycle whenever deviations from the reference cycle occur.

Anticipate markets’ needs

In addition to the exhibits mentioned above, visitors will find further innovative applications that take into account the megatrends from the automotive, medical and packaging industries, as well as in the field of technical injection moulding. Anticipating the markets’ needs is a daily challenge. ENGEL meets this challenge together with customers and partners, because a culture of collaboration is the best way to achieve success.