At Plastico Brasil, which will take place at the São Paulo Expo from March 27 to 31, 2023, we will present our extensive range of hot runners for small shot weights. Applications of our FLEXflow's hot runner technology and other advanced hot runner solutions specifically designed for PCR materials and biopolymers will be on display at the booth.
Oerlikon HRSflow offers a complete multi-cavity line designed for the injection molding of demanding parts with small shot weights requiring tight nozzle pitch solutions. The systems include nozzles with small dimensions in all designs, from thermal gate to valve gate, as well as the associated manifolds and actuation mechanisms. For multi-cavity applications, a multi-valve plate (MVP) provides perfectly synchronized control of the injection channel across all cavities for high part-to-part weight consistency.
Oerlikon HRSflow systems offer:
The low shot weight system line covers market segments such as medical technology, thin-walled packaging, beverages, and home goods, e.g. caps produced in multi-cavity moulds, as well as beauty and personal care and technical applications. A version with a specially coated nozzle tip is available for processing highly corrosive polymers including flame retardant compounds.
FLEXflow future trends
Available at the booth some challenging applications of FLEXflow servo-driven valve gate system including family molds and film back-injection applications.
A trend in automotive interiors are interactive panels controlled by touch sensors, whose elements and information only become visible when there is activity. For their production in the IMD process (In-Mold-Decoration), the FLEXflow hot runner technology from Oerlikon HRSflow with its servo-electric needle positioning is increasingly proving to be the tool of choice, because it enables precisely controlled, gentle and low-warpage overmoulding of the sensitive electronic components with high-quality surfaces at the same time.
The cost- and energy-efficient applicability of FLEXflow for perfectly balanced family moulds, even with extremely different part volumes, ensures additional acceptance in this industry. This also applies to HRScool, Oerlikon HRSflow’s solution for hot runner injection moulding, which eliminates the need for water cooling of the associated actuators.
Both technologies help to reduce the environmental footprint of the injection moulding process. This starts with the lower energy consumption of the servo-electric system compared to the hydraulic system and includes the ability to use smaller injection moulding machines and family moulds, reduce wall thicknesses and reduce scrap thanks to better process repeatability.
Human Machine Interface (HMI) 4.0: the updated FLEXflow operating software
Oerlikon HRSflow has recently made the operating software for controlling the FLEXflow hot runner systems even more intuitive and convenient. With the thoroughly revised Human Machine Interface (HMI) 4.0, systems with different nozzle types can be integrated and several parameter sets can be stored per mould. Extended possibilities exist for the individual control of the respective servo motors for nozzle needle positioning and for monitoring process stability. In addition, specific user accounts for individual access authorisations can now be set up and managed. Thanks to the web connection, access to the control unit is possible regardless of location.
We look forward to meeting you at booth F078!
