PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2013

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 38 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 06/13 www.petpla.net Preform & blow moulding corner Akei: Fully automatic EBM machine for 25l containers Akei (Akei Plastic-Machine MFY. LTD.), founded by Dr. Banny Tam in 1974 in Hong Kong, can be considered as one of the most advanced EBM machinery manufacturers when it comes to the one-step process and the blowing of larger bottles and containers. The different business units include EBM machine manufacturing, EBM mould manufacturing and injection mould manufacturing. This year the company again put its focus on containers of 20 to 30l volume, which are widely used in the food and chemi- cal industry. These containers are usually produced using single station, manual or semi-automatic blow moulding machines which can be slow and inefficient. With the introduction of the extrusion blow moulding machine LIN-90-TSI, the company is aiming to change the rule of the game. The machine, fully automatic with two stations, can be configured to a single or double head for the production of 20 to 30l industrial drums in single, double or three layers with view strip. The production output of a three layer, 20l drum at double head configuration is claimed to be 260cph. The clamping force is at 50t, clamping stroke 460-820mm and car- riage stroke 900mm. This machine is also equipped with servo pump actuated hydraulics. www.akei.com.cn Intravis: Inspection of PET preforms and closures The German company Intravis GmbH presented new developments in optical inspection systems for closures and preforms, namely the Sample-PreWatcher, CapWatcher II and SpotWatcher. The Sample-PreWatcher is a system for the detailed inspection of preforms. Placed directly behind the injection moulding machine, the system measures length, diameter and ovality with a standard deviation of less than 0.02mm. In addition, the system recognises core shift as well as form changes and simultaneously checks the pre- form for material defects. The CapWatcher II is able to inspect up to 144,000pph for practically all measurements and visible defects. The system inspects the complete inside of the closure and checks the diameter and ovality of both, the tamper band and bore seal. Contamination on the inside of the head plate, colour deviations and flow lines are also detected. And the company’s SpotWatcher system checks the entire circumference of the plastic container for material errors, such as pin holes, burn spots, material inclusions and colour smears. Structures that are desired in the plastic material, such as edges or imprinting are not considered as errors by the evaluation system. According to the company, several machinery manu- facturers have equipped their machines with inspection systems from Intravis during the Chinaplas, both local and international companies. www.intravis.de Netstal: 25 PET systems supplied last year Netstal sees itself well positioned in Asia, especially in the growing beverage market in countries such as China, Thai- land and Indonesia. At the exhibition Netstal stated that the company is reaping the rewards from its two PET systems: the PET-Line from Netstal and the PETForm from KraussMaf- fei. More than 25 PET-Line systems were supplied to various local preform manufacturers in the past year. Business is also currently on the rise in Thailand and Indonesia. www.netstal.com Yizumi: Preform system Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. ran an injection moulding machine to produce PET preforms (18g, 500ml water, 28mm PCO) with 72 cavities. The “daily output” is claimed to be 565,560ppd. The machine was running with a self-developed servo driven, three station extracting robot. The 72-cavity mould was provided by the Chengdu Lianyu company. www.yizumi-group.com ZQ Machinery: Stretch blow moulding with a patent Zhejiang East Zhouqiang Plastic & Mould Industry Co., Ltd. had two stretch blow moulding machines running, both equipped with 2-cavity moulds. The ZQ-B2000-2 was produc- ing 20l containers with 600-800bph, and the ZQ-B2500-2 produced 2.5l bottles with 900-1,200bph (2 cavities). This machine is also able to produce handled bottles in a fully automatic process: preforms are loaded and positioned with the help of a servo-motor device, before the handle is posi- tioned accurately into the mould. The company mentions that the heating system is special: a patent light box provides an even temperature whereby the lamp distance is about 101mm rather than the 240mm offered by competitors which is said to save power by up to 50%. The company claims that the machines equipped with eight cavity moulds can reach out- puts up to 9,000bph (2.0l bottles) and up to 11,000bph (0.6l). www.cnziqiang.com The automatic 25litre blow moulder of Akei attracted the visitorsitor