Ensure the Efficiency of Your Pipe Extrusion With Screws and Barrels

If you are planning to invest in a Pipe Extrusion with screws and barrels, it is important to know that you will need to consider a few key factors to ensure the efficiency of the machine. These include optimizing the feeding, improving the screw geometry, and reducing energy consumption and scrap. Barrelize manufacture screws and barrels for Plastic Pipe & Profile Extrusion.

Improved screw geometry

The screw plays a crucial role in the extrusion process. The optimal screw design can increase production by up to 25%. The optimal screw has a good formulation, which includes the right mix of steel materials and wear resistant coatings.

The most important factor affecting the thermal efficiency of an extrusion system is the temperature at the screw, barrel and feed section. This is called thermal homogeneity. The most effective way to achieve this is to reduce the temperature differential between the three parts. This will significantly reduce the heat transfer.

The melt rate is a measure of the amount of heat supplied to the material during the extrusion process. This is not as tightly related to the screw geometry as many would assume. The melting rate is determined by the square root of the total amount of heat required for the melting of the polymer.

The aforementioned thermocouple grid was used to quantify the melt temperature. The results showed a temperature difference of 80 degC between 12-15mm from the center of the flow.

Optimized feeding

If you are looking to produce Pipe Extrusion with screws and barrels, there are some important considerations. These include location, process control variables, and materials. These factors affect the efficiency of the production process. Choosing the correct materials and components will ensure optimal performance.

The design of your Screw and Barrel plays an integral part in your extrusion process. An optimized design can help increase production, reduce operating costs, and improve product quality. But, it also has the potential to change the characteristics of your products.

Identifying your dominant factors is essential to reducing the number of variables. For example, you might want to choose a feed screw with a tapered root diameter, if your material is heat sensitive. Having a tungsten carbide on the running surface can also help extend the life of your screw.

A close-loop system allows for maintenance-free feeding and reduces operational costs. In addition, it can also help you save heating energy.

Reduced energy consumption

To save on energy costs, plastic pipe manufacturers must invest in high quality machinery and process their materials at the right temperature. This study aimed to explore how changes in screw speed and barrel heating settings affect the energy consumption of a single screw extruder. By measuring the relevant parameters and evaluating the results, a simple yet effective method to measure real time energy usage in a extruder was developed.

The most significant effect on thermal specific energy consumption is the change in screw speed. Higher screw speed results in lower energy consumption. However, the effect is relatively small. In order to achieve high energy efficiency, the screw must be speed optimized.

The effects of changing the feed area water cooling and barrel heating temperatures on the extruder energy consumption were also examined. The results of the experiment showed that increasing the temperature of the feed area water reduced the energy consumption of the chiller. It also resulted in a decrease in the energy consumption of the motor drive.

Reduced scrap

If you are using screws and barrels for Pipe Extrusion, you may want to look at how you can reduce scrap. Having a high scrap rate can result in expensive downtime and a loss of competitiveness. However, if you use efficient changeover methods, your scrap rates can be reduced.

First, you need to consider the feed hopper. This is where the reground and virgin material is introduced. The fluff of the reground material can cause blockage in the feed hopper throat. This can lead to starvation of the virgin resin in the extruder die. It is possible to prevent the starvation of the virgin resin by introducing it into the feed hopper through gravity.

You should also consider the location of the first and second feed inlets. The distance between the centers of the first and second feed inlets should be between two and six inches. This is to ensure that the total volume of material in the extruder tube is fed.