PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2021

CAPS & CLOSURES 32 PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 06/21 www.petpla.net Heatlock Co Ltd, which was originally founded in Sweden and remains in the hands of the second generation of the Helldin family, has been manufacturing hotrunners for over 30 years. It sold its first hotrunner system in 1977 and, in 1982 it introduced ceramics as insula- tion for hotrunners – the first company in the world to do so. It made a very strong statement about its future when, in 2003, it entered the Chinese market by establishing a joint venture, LKM Heatlock, with Chinese company LKM. Six years later it established its own operation, as Heatlock Co Ltd, with facili- ties in Hong Kong and at three locations in the People’s Republic of China (PRC): in Foshan City, Quandong; 40km West of Shanghai in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province; and in the NE of the country in Qingdao, Shandoing Province. In 2014, Heatlock opened Tech Centres in the USA (Detroit, Michigan) and in Germany (Erbach). In 2007, four years after it entered the Chinese market, the company patented a new generation of ceramic technology, which offered improved performance compared to previous generations. Its all-in-one A3 series was launched in 2011 and remains a strong seller today. Heatlock says that its ‘workhorse’ series is “built to last, durable, with hot to cold or direct gate solutions, including valve gates”. A floating manifold system is also available; it features modular design that can be adapted to suit a wide range of mouldings. Its hot runners are designed to be easy to use, the com- pany says. Among the standard fea- tures of Heatlock’s caps and closures hot half range are built-in flash memory with complete mould details, and a Digital Project Book that includes all documentation for individual projects, including service information. Superior insulation for energy savings The key feature and attraction of hotrunner ceramic components is their superior heat-retaining and insulation performance, compared with titanium and steel. Its ceramic parts have dem- onstrated performance between five and seven times better than titanium and eight to 12 times better than steel, at compression strengths of 2,100M/ mm 2 , and the ability to withstand tem- peratures of up to 1,400 °C. The improved performance is demonstrated in Fig.1. It shows the different levels of mani- fold heat losses in comparable moulds that are each supported by four spac- ers: steel in one case (the red line) and ceramic in the other (the blue line). Over the period measured – three hours/180 minutes – the ceramic spacers saved 0.33Wh for each Improved hotrunner insulation with ceramic components Swedish company Heatlock, pioneers of ceramics in hotrunners, demonstrates clear advan- tages in heat loss and consequent energy usage by using ceramics in key components. Ceramic supports that are individually adapted to the respective height in the mould. Fig. 1: Comparison between steel (red) and ceramic (blue) heat losses 8-fold naturally balanced hot runner system with screw-in nozzles