Sumitomo (SHI) Demag at MEDTEC
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH of Schwaig, Germany, is to make its debut at the MEDTEC Europe trade fair in Stuttgart (22-24 March 2011) with a compact cleanroom production system for medical micro components.
The German/Japanese mechanical engineering company will demonstrate the efficiency, precision and reproducibility of its IntElect machine to international specialists from the medical sector. This machine will show its high reliability and availability in the production of precision components for medical, diagnostic and pharmaceutical applications under cleanroom conditions.
At the MEDTEC Europe 2011 trade fair the smallest model of the IntElect series, an IntElect 50-45 with a clamping force of 500 kN, will be seen producing control knobs with a diameter of 3.5 mm made of polyacetal (POM) for hearing aid devices in a cycle time of 10 seconds. These mouldings, weighing a mere 10 milligrams and having a shot weight of only 280 milligrams, make high demands on quality, and require absolute reproducibility. The IntElect machines, with their precise and sensitive drives and automation integrated in the machine, satisfy these specific requirements with zero-defect production.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag have designed and developed this production cell in a joint effort with several partners. The four-cavity cold runner mould with a tunnel gate was designed and built by Stamm AG of Hallau/Switzerland. This established mould making and injection moulding contractor specializes in the production of particularly challenging micro mouldings from a wide variety of different plastic materials and uses a number of machines supplied by Sumitomo (SHI) Demag.
The cell, built according to cleanroom standards, and the laminar flow unit above the production system have been made by Max Petek Reinraumtechnik of Radolfzell / Germany. The filter fan unit (FFU) of the laminar flow unit purifies the air brought in from the outside, and provides a constant laminar air flow above the mould mounting space of the machine, which guarantees a cleanroom class ISO 7 production environment, and prevents particles from entering.
MAi GmbH & Co. KG of Küps, Germany, a specialist in automation solutions, integrated the six-axis robot from Yaskawa Europe GmbH into the injection moulding machine, whose guarding is extended by only 200 mm on the non-operator side. This robot is suspended on the stationary platen. This design and configuration keeps the cell compact, the mass to be moved low and the robot's strokes short. It also ensures that the susceptible mouldings are
far less likely to become contaminated during unloading, inspection and packaging. The control knobs are even subjected to a complete, fully automatic visual inspection within the cleanroom production cell.
With the IntElect smart, its NC5 control system and its broad catalogue of options, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag offers injection moulders a flexible and economical machine, selected from the modular system of its electric machine range. Owing to its many features, the IntElect 50 is well equipped to produce medical plastic components, even in its basic configuration. It features large tie bar clearances, linear guidance for maximum platen parallelism, outstanding reproducibility and process capabilities as well as high levels of reliability and availability.
These features are the basis for the zero-defect production of precision mouldings for medical and medical engineering applications. The comprehensive preparation of the machine for special options makes it particularly flexible for customized applications.
The IntElect 50-45, is at the core of the production system on display at the MEDTEC Europe trade fair, is fitted with a 14 mm screw for plasticization of small volumes of material for low shot weights.
The patented activeLock non-return valve is designed to prevent any material back flow over the screw tip, by mechanically closing the valve, using a brief counter rotation of the screw prior to injection. In this way, it guarantees a precise and consistent shot volume over a large number of cycles.
This delivers high levels of process consistency, and guarantees high product quality, especially for precision mouldings with very low shot weights, such as the hearing aid device component. Combining the comprehensive monitoring of closing force during mould movement and the fast NC5 machine control system, the highly sensitive activeQ mould protection system is designed to effectively protect the, often expensive, mould against wear or damage.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag produces the IntElect smart, like all of its electric injection moulding machines, at its centre of excellence for electric machine technology in Wiehe in Thuringia, Germany. The IntElect smart is available in eight clamping forces of between 500 and 4,500 kN.
In addition to presenting the high-precision IntElect, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag will also be showing a video of its hybrid-drive high-performance El-Exis SP at MEDTEC Europe. The medical engineering company Becton&Dickinson (BD) has recently started to operate anEl-Exis 550 with a clamping force of 5,500 kN to produce thin-walled culture dishes in a 16+16 cavity stack mould made by Plastisud srl. The production cell is fitted with a high-speed unloading system made by Hekuma GmbH of Eching, Germany, which reaches laterally into the mould parting line. With numerous features, the El-Exis has been optimised for the production of thin-walled mouldings or packaging.
Project engineers from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag provide their customers with technical and organisational advice in relation to the planning, design, configuration and start-up of installations for the production of medical, optical and pharmaceutical injection moulded parts under cleanroom conditions.
They offer comprehensive project support both for safety-related medical parts and for medical mass-produced or disposable items in terms of cleanroom production on injection moulding machines and also offer advice concerning tooling, automation, peripheral equipment and cleanroom technology. Upon customer request, together with partners, they will also look into the issue of legal compliance in relation to the production of plastic parts for medical uses. Last but not least, they offer the customer a qualified injection moulding machine.