Hot runner system featuring compact mould pitch
Petform Hall C5 – Booth 217
Petform has developed a new PET hot runner system allowing for an ultra-compact vertical mould pitch of 40 mm. Many components remain unchanged from previous generations, allowing common hot runner component inventory. On the cold half, Petform has developed a robust mould stack design for 28 & 30 mm necks where the mould pitch can be set at 45 mm x 100 mm. For neck diameters of 25 mm or less, it is possible to reduce the mould pitch down to 40 mm x 95 mm.
The company claims that a lower pitch offers a number of benefits, such as the allowance for higher cavitation and hence production rates or a reduced energy consumption in the hot runner as surface for heat loss per cavity is reduced. This also reduces the load on the chiller for cooling the backing plates. In addition, material degradation in the hot runner with shorter flow path (lower shearing and residence time) is reduced as well as the per cavity stress on the clamping unit and the energy consumed for mould open & close. The lower pitch also increases overall clamping surface to absorb clamping force, thus increasing mould life.
Based on this new technology, Petform has built a 96 cavity mould with a pitch of 45 mm x 100 mm for the Husky GL/LX/XL 300 machine that will exhibited. As of the present, the highest cavitation generally being run on these 300 t machines is predominantly 48 drops and in a few cases 72 drops. With the new technology, convertors can increase their production rates to up to two times, shot size and plasticising capability permitting, says the company.
