Turbulent flow means stable control for Warden Plastics 17 March 2014

Fitting Sumitomo Demag temperature control units on two of its highest output machines has enabled injection moulding specialist Warden Plastics not only to stabilise its process but also to shave a valuable 10% off cycle times.

Luton-based Warden Plastics produces its own range of Biomedia branded biological filter media, including the Biomarble, a spherical polypropylene filter used in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants.

To keep pace with demand, last September the firm decided to upgrade the moulding tool on its Sumitomo Systec 160-tonne machine from an eight-impression to a 16-impression tool.

Mark Barrett, managing director of Warden Plastics, explains that the increase in cavities meant more heat entering the tool, meaning a requirement for some serious mould temperature control, if it was to maintain a stable process at high speed.

"As more heat was entering the process, we were unable to run the tooling for any length of time, due to overheating," states Barrett.

"Because of the size of the tooling and the speed of the cycle we needed a temperature controller with more powerful flow and heat transfer capabilities," he adds.

Sumitomo recommended fitting two AEC TrueTemp TCU 300 9kW water temperature control units on the mould. The devices promote turbulent water flow to maximise heat transfer performance, delivering far more efficient and effective control than commonly used indirect cold water systems.

"Sumitomo was able to demonstrate an understanding of our product. With their advice and optimisation, I was confident we'd be able to run the product successfully," says Barrett, who explains that, since installing the units, the firm has been able to run a stable process, producing a consistent, repeatable product with zero defects.

Brian Tinham

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Sumitomo Electric Europe

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