Sipa goes off-limits to maximise PET preform mould capabilities
There is a well-known rule of progression when it comes to cavitation in medium and large-sized PET preform molds: 72, then 96, 128, 144. Sipa has demonstrated on numerous occasions that, with some clever hot runner configurations and ingenious tool engineering, it is perfectly possible to squeeze more cavities into a given mould space, with no loss of preform quality.
Unconventional cavity numbers for better output/capital ratio
Think about a “workhorse” 72-cavity mould: this is considered a good choice for low-to-medium output production on a 250-tonne machine like Sipa’s Xform 250. But what if you could give yourself an important incremental boost, without having to invest on a bigger tooling (i.e. 96 cavities)?
Sipa has developed an 84-cavity mould for the Xform 250 platform. This unconventional mould provides a significantly better output per capital ratio than a 72-cavity mould – something like 13% better in fact, when producing preforms for 1.5l bottles on the same Sipa machine – and well ahead of what is possible on rival 72-cavity machine/mould combinations.
Xflow allows consistency and reliability
Creating a hot runner system that consistently and reliably enables more cavities to be filled identically, at high speed, without excessive force, is a task that extremely few companies are capable of handling. Sipa can do it, thanks largely to its Xflow melt distribution system.
Xflow incorporates an innovative hot runner manifold design that provides the best balance of melt distribution in the industry. In fact, it exhibits the lowest pressure drop ever measured. This technology allows the company to create high-cavitation systems without having to compromise on balance, pressure losses, and the formation of acetaldehyde due to polymer degradation.
Cost -effective solution for high productivity
The engineering solution applied to 84-cavity moulds has already been widely proven by Sipa when introducing the first 180 cavity injection mould and which has since then become one of the company’s bestsellers to run on Xform 500 systems that would normally be acquired to run with 144-cavity moulds.
The 200-cavity preform mould makes it possible to produce over 130,000 preforms per hour, making the investment in an Xform 500 production system cost-effective. With a single system producing more preforms, they can cut consumption of utilities, be more efficient in the use of labor, and tie up less valuable floor space.
