ENGEL Innovations at the K 2010 Fair
In line with our slogan, "Inject the Future - efficient. reliable. innovative." ENGEL have exhibited seminal technologies and innovations from industry-specific applications at the K trade fair 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany. On a floor space of 1,272 qm2, ENGEL was showing eleven exhibits that clearly demonstrate its industry competence in the Automotive, Technical Moulding, Packaging, Teletronics and Medical fields.
The use of energy saving systems in particular was the highlight of ENGEL's presentation at K 2010 in Düsseldorf this year. ENGEL have once again demonstrated its reliability as a partner with efficient technology and innovative solutions for our customers. There was a total of 20 ENGEL machines on show at the fair.
All told, the K Fair again hosts an impressive demonstration of performance centering on ENGEL's system competence in injection moulding machine manufacturing. And this is true for all branches of industry.
In the Automotive field, for example, the manufacturing of an injection moulded structured component, reinforced with organic sheet, was showed on on an ENGEL duo 2050/500 pico. ENGEL was demonstrating this method by producing a steering column made of PA in a complete manufacturing cell featuring sophisticated automation with three robots. This application revolutionises lightweight design in particular as it allows steel and aluminium sheets to be replaced by thin organic sheets.
They comprise a special fabric of glass or carbon fibres embedded in defined orientation in a thermoplastic matrix of PA or PP. Companys project partners for this exhibit are Siebenwurst/Germany for mould making, and Bond Laminates/Germany as the material supplier.
On top of this, ENGEL was also demonstrating flow-coating of an injected part with polyurethane on a fully electric ENGEL e-motion 280 T using the ENGEL clearmelt process.
This involves back injecting a wood design foil with a thermoplastic carrier and then covering the part with a transparent layer of PUR. The process is characterised in particular by a visually impressive 3D effect and excellent scratch resilience. Compared to legacy approaches – such as multiple layer coating – excellent productivity and thin layer thickness are the major benefits. The advantage of the clearmelt process is that both back injection of the decor foil and flow-coating with PU occur in a single mould without interrupting the process. Fully automated insert placing, take-off and stacking of the manufactured parts is handled by an ENGEL viper 40.
In addition to this, processing of solid silicon to create gaskets was demonstrated on an ENGEL victory 330/90 tech. Production of the parts with a diameter of approx. 6 mm is fully automatic and post-processing free using a 64-cavity mould including cold runner technology. The machine is also equipped with the new ENGEL roto feeder. This new rotary conveyor ensures maximum process stability by feeding the material continuously to the plasticising cylinder, avoiding inclusions and maintaining constant pressure.
One of ENGEL's exhibits in the Teletronics field was feature first showing of the newly developed ENGEL e-insert – an electrified version of the ENGEL insert machine with a servoelectric rotary table and a fully electric injection unit – the clamping process and ejection use the new ENGEL ecodrive servohydraulics.
An ENGEL e-insert 310V/100 was producing a sensor housing made of fibreglass reinforced PA with metal inserts for control electronics on a 4-cavity mould. The process involves over-moulding of insert parts with maximum precision by the electrical injection unit and maximum rotation speeds with maximum positioning accuracy of the servo-electrically driven rotary table. This concept reduces the cycle time and both improves cost-efficiency, and ensures considerable energy savings thanks to electrification, in the production of high-precision moulded parts. Automation is handled by an ENGEL viper 20.
Another ENGEL highlight is the production of a leadframe from a modified PA on a fully electric ENGEL e-max 200/100. The lead frames are manufactured in a 64-cavity mould. A stamped metal strip is pulled from a roll, cycled through the mould by a feed unit and rolled up again after overmoulding. The particular advantage of the ENGEL e-max for this procedure lies in the low space requirement of the cell concept due to the use of a standarad electric machine, combined with fast and precise injection by the fully electric injection unit.
Two further innovations were showed for the Packaging field. The new, fully electric ENGEL e-cap series successfully delivers the market requirements in cap production with respect to short cycle times, a high level of flexibility and low energy consumption. Fully electric and with a cycle time of less than three seconds. Compared to all the other machines on the market, the e-cap has by far the lowest energy consumption. This is made possible by a new premium quality injection unit, increased ejector force and a reinforced clamping drive.
At the K Fair, ENGEL was exhibiting an ENGEL e-cap 3940/420 T featuring a 96-cavity mould by Schöttli / Switzerland for the production of HDPE caps with a cycle time of 2,7 seconds. In addition, quality control is integrated in the form of a Q-Vision system.
An ENGEL e-motion 740H/440M/280 T cube technology was demonstrating the manufacture of a tube including a PP cap with a 4-cavity mould. Production relies on a rotary cube and a second travelling unit on the moving mould fixing platen.
The tubes are produced in the first cycle and the cap injected in the second – in a single step. The machine displayed at the trade fair also features an in-mould labelling system. ENGEL is unveiling this production system, which manufactures a complete, decorated tube with closure on a fully electric injection moulding machine, as an absolute world first.
