ST BlowMoulding’s virtual exhibition showcases its latest developments in automotive and industrial packaging #closeupontechnology

The ISIT 1320 Duo machine is equipped with a 200-ton clamp and dual 10L accumulator heads. It was originally planned to be displayed at NPE2021 and is now being produced by Reyes Automobile Group for automotive air conditioning and ventilation ducts.

New and upcoming machine developments and advances in productivity, energy efficiency, ergonomics, and safety highlight WEX 2021, which is an online exhibition organized by ST BlowMoulding in late June. This machine manufacturer (st-blowmolding.com) is based in Italy (merging the ST Soffiaggio Tecnica, Zaga and Meico brands). Its manufacturing, sales and service are currently located in Italy, but its headquarters are in Switzerland. The host of the virtual exhibition is Ernie Hollo of Hollo Plastics Equipment, Inc., Northfield, Ohio, who is the US sales and service support team of ST BlowMoulding (holloplastics.com).

ST BlowMoulding specializes in the production of large machines for automobiles, industrial packaging (drums and IBC) and special products. Hollo pointed out that in the past three to four years, its 18 TA and ISIT series accumulator head machines have up to 400 tons of fixtures and 100 pounds of injection capacity. They are making products such as outdoor furniture, sheds, kayaks and other large parts. A project under development is a small bullpen. Four large TA series machines will be delivered in the United States this year, and more machines will be delivered in 2022 and 2023.

The US blow molding machine is using TA series of large accumulator head machines with up to 400 tons of fixtures and up to 100 pounds of injection volume to make products such as outdoor furniture, sheds and kayaks.

The highlight of the online exhibition is the model ISIT 1320 Duo machine, which was originally scheduled to debut in the United States at the NPE2021 exhibition cancelled in Orlando, Florida. The machine has been installed at the Reyes Automotive Group in San Antonio, Texas, where it is specifically used to form automotive air conditioning and ventilation ducts (according to Hollo, visitors can observe it).

This machine has dual 10-liter accumulator heads, each capable of holding 16.5 pounds of HDPE. They are fed by a pair of 75 mm adiabatic extruders, whose insulation is said to reduce heat loss in the factory environment by 90%, and its screw design is reported to prevent the melt from overheating at the maximum output rate. According to the company, the extruder does not require barrel cooling, and with the same resin output, the overall power consumption is significantly lower than that of competing extruders. Due to these extruders and variable speed hydraulic pumps driven by AC variable frequency motors, ISIT series models are reportedly classified as category 10, which is the highest energy efficiency category under the Euromap 46.1 extrusion blow molding machine program (less than 0.29 kWh/ kg HDPE).

According to reports, for the same resin output, the adiabatic extruders on these machines consume much less energy.

This machine has a 200 metric ton clamp with double tie rods, a small hydraulic cylinder for opening/closing lateral movement, and a large hydraulic cylinder for clamping. The rack and pinion on the frame support the fixture and ensure repeatable positioning. It is said that the total cycle time of this machine is shorter than any other printing press of similar size.

The head is designed with an overlapping heart shape and can support 300 mm (12 inches) tools. The nozzle can accommodate direct gas injection for foaming-helping to reduce weight and heat or sound insulation. They can also be configured as a multi-layer co-extrusion with a head made by W. Müller. For example, ISIT 1313 is a special 130-ton accumulator head machine, tailor-made for IBC, Hollo claims ST BlowMoulding is the technology leader. The machine can be equipped with one or two extruders, the second one is used to apply a thin outer layer (10-12% of the total wall thickness) containing industrial safe antistatic additives.

The machine has two heads and two extruders, which can simultaneously form two different parts, even if the color or material is different, but it is limited by the parts with a longer cooling time. The two extruders can run their respective parts at different speeds.

By the way, Hollo pointed out that the company provides services to retrofit its variable speed pumps and high-efficiency extruders on existing machines, even those from competing manufacturers.

Two double-head ASPI Duo machines for 3D suction and blow molding of complex automotive pipes are operating in the United States. They can be co-extruded in multiple layers or sequentially.

Another specialty of ST BlowMoulding is the under-hood automotive ducts and ducts with tortuous and other geometric complexity. A special example is the intake pipe of a turbocharged engine. Its ASPI machine uses 3D suction blow molding (they can also perform traditional extrusion blow molding) to produce such shapes without burrs from engineering resin. More than 150 ASPI models are in use; two in the United States (the second will be installed in northeastern Ohio at the end of 2020) are Duo models, which have a mobile extrusion platform that can shuttle between two fixtures. The ASPI 400 model (shown at NPE2018) is located in the DuPont Laboratory in Troy, Michigan.

The ST BlowMoulding machine has formed a coolant pipe with a diameter of 18 mm. It is about 2 meters long. The current development focus is on coolant pipelines up to 2.5 m long, with the ultimate goal of 3 m.

These machines continuously control wall thickness during extrusion and use proprietary 4WDS tools to program asymmetric radial parisons. The Coex function can be used for hard/soft sequential extrusion, such as placing elastic cuffs on a rigid tube body; or two-layer co-extrusion, such as for glass filled/unfilled structures to provide noise reduction.

One of the company's latest developments is the all-electric ASPI e-move, which is a small model with a 70-mt clamp and a 0.5L accumulator head.

The latest development of the ASPI series is the "e-move" all-electric version, which will be launched at the 2021 Chinaplas (via remote video link) this spring. With 70-mt clamp and 0.5L accumulator head (torpedo type), it is aimed at very small pipes, such as coolant pipes or fuel pipes that may have special geometries.

Other recent developments are aimed at achieving production traceability—for example, the D-Print device, a new generation of parison marking that uses two-dimensional codes for data retrieval, is said to be 100 times faster than the previous version.  

ASPI series of 3D suction and blowing machines have manufactured automotive coolant pipes with a diameter of 18 mm. It is about 2 meters long. There are 2.5 and 3 m long cooling pipelines in the project.

Designing a safe and easy-to-use machine is the focus of the virtual demonstration by ST BlowMoulding experts. On the one hand, it is part of the takeaway. One configuration shown uses an electric robot to demold the part and transport it to the operator station, where a second robot lowers the part to operator level-avoiding the need to reach out and grab the part. The laser scanner ensures safety by stopping the movement of the robot when the operator is present.

The easy-to-use controls are also discussed. It is said that the latest touch screen controls are similar to smartphones in terms of ease of operation.

Another important point is safe and efficient tool conversion. On TA machines, shuttle mold carts and mold lifting fixtures can improve operator safety. On ISIT machines (and EC continuous extrusion models), the die change is performed from above. The upper platform containing the extrusion head moves backward and clears the area above the clamp. All movements are driven by electric motors and controlled by position sensors. This greatly simplifies the process of quickly and accurately returning the extrusion head to the correct position stored in each mold recipe. The motor on the mold is set from the operator screen.

A rotating arm helps to change the core in the accumulator head more safely and easily. The rotating arm supports the head and lifts it to release the core rod body.  

The company's latest machines adapt to the convergence trend of Industry 4.0 connectivity, the general shortage of technicians, and travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The remote service function is a function of Reyes Automotive's ISIT 1320 machine, and now every new ST BlowMoulding machine has this function. This allows technicians from machine manufacturers to remotely access the control system to configure, test, and optimize the machine; diagnose and repair problems; and update software. Information collected remotely from the machine can be processed through sophisticated diagnostics to predict potential failures before they occur. Real-time chat can be carried out from the control panel of each machine.

These capabilities have recently been combined in the remote assistance debugging of machines in the United States and China. After the initial installation is completed by ST BlowMoulding technicians on site, debugging is only carried out with remote assistance.  

One of the company's latest developments is an electric toggle clamp to replace its current variable speed hydraulic device. The first version is an 80-ton device and is currently being tested.

Other upcoming developments may target application areas that ST BlowMoulding has identified as the "market of the future." A nylon lining used for composite pressure vessels, such as hydrogen fuel tanks, LPG and CNG. The other is the "floating dock" of solar panels. Company sources envision these as two-layer hollow HDPE parts with UV stabilizers in the outer layer.

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