PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2013

PRODUCTS PET products 67 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 10/13 www.petpla.net Hot runner temperature control Husky Injection Molding Systems has announced the launch of Altanium Delta3, which is an addition to its family of hot runner temperature controllers. It is intended to “bridge the gap” between the functionality of the existing Neo2 and Matrix con- trollers. Husky says that Delta3 offers an integrated, intelligent platform for from two to 128 zones of control and helps custom- ers achieve increased part quality and improved uptime. Delta3 is equipped with an improved, intuitive navigation method that is coupled with a large, full-colour touchscreen. It is intended to be easy to learn and to achieve fast and consistent start-ups. Auto- matic storage and recall of set-ups ensure the same processing parameters are used for a mould without operator intervention. Multilingual support is available and historical event auditing and improved process monitoring help to achieve faster trouble- shooting. Delta3 is also claimed to have advanced monitoring capabil- ity, which will further help to eliminate the risk of bad parts entering the downstream process. Integrated mould protection is intended to prevent material degradation and to address issues before part quality is compromised. Real-time power deviation monitoring ena- bles the automatic detection of signs of possible plastic leakage and impending heater failure. Delta3 has been designed on a plat- form that supports network connectivity and close integration with other Husky products. Remote monitoring capabilities are available through the Altanium dashboard application. Husky claims that having one control card for all Altanium models, including Neo2, Delta3 and Matrix, maximises interchangeability and reduces the number of parts to stock and maintain. www.husky.ca Into the future with e-calc Austrian plastics processing machinery manufacturer Engel has announced that it has launched a new calculation app for mobile devices. The app, called e-calc, will automatically supply the values required for material and component-dependent design of injection moulding machines, as well as critical setting data, after the entry of certain parameters. The stated intention is to ensure that the injection moulding machine perfectly matches the application in hand. Relevant materials data are stored in the software and optimum values for the required stroke volume, fill- ing pressure, resulting clamping force and the screw speed and cooling time are computed. Engel claims that the app also offers improved safety, as less-experienced plastics processors can rely on the software to find the right solution, and the machine setter benefits in terms of process settings in on-going operation. The app removes the need for a calculator and manual entry of materials data manually. Materials data for typical thermo- plastics, which were previously grouped on a slide rule, are now stored in the app and include melt, mould and pre-drying temper- atures and times, viscosity and wall thickness factors, tempera- ture conductivities and de-moulding temperatures, permissible peripheral screw speeds, enthalpy values and guidelines for pro- cessing loss. The new software includes a glossary of technical terms. The app is currently available in German and English for Android smartphones; versions for iOS and Windows Phone are under development. www.engelglobal.com