Change is good

A collaboration between Husky and Chem-Trend led to the development of the new controller functionality that focuses on automation to optimise colour change processes. EPPM spoke to Matthew Cummings, Product Manager, Mold Controllers, at Husky to learn more.

How will the development of Altanium benefit the operator, and what effect does it have on the final product?

Every machine, every application has different or unique colour change parameters. We’re enabling customers to find a process that works best in their moulding operation. The operator can then be prompted during a colour change so that it's followed exactly, and they can get much more consistent results with the materials they're using.

It's just such an important performance metric and requirement for a lot of our customers. More and more we see customers requiring very high performance with respect to colour change processes. Changing colour within this same given production cell is just so common that if you can shave different elements of time from their changeover process, it can represent significant cost savings.

Your colour change can be the bane of production because while you're in transition you're still making parts that will end up as waste. It's certainly a process they can shorten by following the automation to be as efficient as possible.

Can you give us a hint at just how critical the Altanium portfolio can be in temperature control for injection moulding?

The Altanium mould controller product portfolio is one of our most important product lines at Husky. These units have been around for some time, but they have evolved with many new product releases, offering more advanced features and performance. We offer three models under the Altanium portfolio: the Neo5, Delta5 and Matrix5. These are aligned with zone count and capability so, as you go up from Neo to Delta and to Matrix, the controllers become more capable. They allow for higher zone counts and more technology.

We've had a number of different interesting releases added to the product lines, whether through greater connectivity in support of industry 4.0, but also through various revisions of algorithms that we use to control temperature in a sophisticated way. Furthermore, servo motion has become very important for many of our customers, so our Altanium controllers are no longer just managing and controlling temperature, but various types of servo axes control as well.

A lot of our customers are using the controllers for things like leak and fault detection, enabling them to protect their moulding process. We provide active and proactive notifications prior to any types of faults, which can essentially save their hot runner in their mould and enables them to reduce downtime.

Temperature control has taken on a greater role in the moulding cell than ever before. We’ve been asked many times ‘what else can we do with this controller?’ and that is now coming of age with the controller being able to drive servo control with data collection all around the moulding cell, assisting the customer to systemise and harmonise some of the moulding processes with an informational source around the moulding machine.

The role of what we used to call the temperature controller has really morphed into what we now call the mould controller, which is an overall control device.

Generally, how important is temperature control in injection moulding?

Depending on the market and parts you’re manufacturing, it has become a much more critical stage of the moulding process, and it is recognised that the balance of the hot runner system would be controlled and influenced by the temperature. Before technology had the ability to provide balance geometrically through the hot runner system, it was done thermally on the hot runner controller. That has come to be the gold standard for obtaining balances by harmonising the temperatures to one perfect set point. That then eliminates the variable of temperature control and leaves the work of balance control in the design of the hardware system.

It's also recognised that temperature control is essential if you want to be able to measure other variables. We’re now living in a world where we can control temperatures to fractions of a degree. Previously, if you were within five or 10 degrees, everybody was pretty happy. Nowadays, customers are looking for a one degree or less temperature variation on tips. That's not an easy job, but the Altanium does it very well.

Has digitalisation brought about a new kind of control? 

Digitalisation certainly plays a part, and our controller is a digital device that has made the ability to read those thermocouples more accurately. The thermocouple is just a millivolt signal that is easy to disrupt with noise and other factors. Our controller boasts 100 per cent immunity from external noise conditions that would disrupt its control accuracy. Also, our ability to read that signal and react to it has become much, much faster. The heart of the system, the control card, now has speeds with which it can read those thermocouples and react far faster than ever before – a thousand times a second – so, you're able to detect changes in temperature and react very quickly.

Why would the colour change time be detrimental to temperature control operations?

If it's done improperly, it can take hours to perform a colour change. With a properly utilised purging compound, it can be done in a few shots. If done improperly, it can cause all kinds of other problems too, such as degradation of the material inside the hot runner system.

Consumer goods wherein the colour of the product can make all the difference is amazing marketing. The colour in the plastic makes it more attractive and thereby affects the consumer’s choice. Those colours can't be inconsistent; they can't be different from part to part. You can't have packaging products that are different shades of blue. They have to be the same. If it’s not the right colour, it winds up as waste.

How can we gauge the satisfaction of Chem-Trend as result of this collaboration?

Husky’s had a pretty long-term relationship with Chem-Trend with the purging compounds being sold directly by our service and spares organisation. The collaboration has already extended into other sectors too. There will certainly be refinements to the offering we have right now. So, I think you'll see some more developments along those lines. Chem-Trend, in the purging compounds market, is certainly a wonderful collaboration for Husky. We don't add Husky’s name lightly to third party products, and we don’t endorse their products or collaborate with them unless we know that it works.

At which trade fairs can we expect to see the Altanium range in action?

We’re really looking forward to getting up front with customers again at trade shows, so we’ve started to ramp up our presence after a lengthy pause. We're actively participating in Interplas, as well as at FAKUMA, MD&M West, and Amerimold.

At Interplas, we will demonstrate the functionality of the Altanium with respect to the automated purge feature. We’re going to be running the UltraShot technology at FAKUMA, where Chem-Trend will have their own booth showcasing the Altanium and UltraPurge technology.