EQUIPMENT NEWS
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Balloon-forming machine handles long dimensions
The trend in the angiography market toward the use of catheter balloons 80 mm long or longer has presented manufacturers with a technical challenge that a line of computerized balloon-forming machines has been engineered to meet. These computerized machines from Interface Associates (Laguna Niguel, CA, USA) allow every aspect of balloon blowing, from the initial pressures and temperature to the final heat setting, to be highly controlled. Their modular design provides considerable flexibility in matching the machine performance to a particular forming process, balloon size, and type of material.
Compact, portable, and easy to set up and operate, the balloon-forming machines are designed to enable manufacturers to produce balloons as long as 170 mm efficiently. While very long balloons are helpful to surgeons treating larger vascular target areas, the longer the balloon is, the greater the chance that inconsistencies in wall thickness can occur during manufacture. The system of computer controls in these machines helps ensure uniform results in terms of the thickness parameter.
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Company bundles product design and tool-building services
A company designs and manufactures high-precision moulds for volume production of medical device, electronic, electrical, and other articles made from thermoplastics, including those with high aesthetic requirements. Idea Stampi S.r.l. (Rovereto, TN, Italy) maintains an up-to-date production system and employs computer-aided design and manufacturing systems.
Supporting its strategy of creating a stable and efficient relationship with customers is its ability to participate in the design of the product to be moulded, along with designing the mould tool itself. The company is equipped to test its own moulds. In fact, it can perform moulding of small to large series of parts whose quality is controlled through application of a computerized optical measurement instrument.
Moulds made in Taiwan are suited for precision medical applications
A mould-making company produces moulds for plastic high-precision medical and electronic components, including two-colour moulds. Chyi Ching Industry Company, Ltd. (T’ai-chung, Taiwan) uses state-of-the-art technology, including computer-aided design, engineering, and manufacturing systems, and employs advanced 3-D mould-flow software to analyze performance in the moulding press.
The ISO 9001–certified facility is equipped with a five-axis machining centre and other computerized machine tools. Other company capabilities include research and development and quality control performed by in-house departments. Syringe components are among the products for which the manufacturer has developed moulds.
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Moulding machines pack high productivity into a small space
A range of injection moulding machines designed to occupy as little floor space as possible is available. Dr. Boy GmbH & Co. KG (Neustadt-Fernthal, Germany) regards its machines as being the most compact in the tonnage category of each. Further, the cantilevered two-platen clamping system of the machines allows downstream equipment to be placed below the clamping unit, preventing any additional floor space from having to be claimed.
Maximizing profitability per square metre might be the way to characterize the ultimate intention of the manufacturer in designing its versatile and capable systems to save customers’ factory space. How much the machines can accomplish in a small area has been displayed recently at the company’s trade fair exhibits. For example, a small Boy 22 A machine with an integrated packaging unit, standing on 3.2 m2 of exhibition floor, produced moulded toy animals in front of observers, and also packed, weighed, and separated them. A Boy 35 A using a family mould to produce a three-part product incorporated a sorting drum into the delivery chute, demonstrating how sprues and parts could be separated without loss of either cycle time or floor space.
Occupying 3.5 m2, a Boy 55 A machine provided a demonstration of capabilities for medical technology companies. The compact laminar-flow unit installed on top of the protective housing of this machine, as well as the encapsulated sorting and parts-storage system positioned below the cantilevered clamping unit, met Class 6 cleanroom requirements according to DIN/EN/ISO 14644-1. A machine of similar force, the Boy 55 M VV, equipped with a modular automation cell to perform the fully automatic overmoulding of hexagon screw pins, including robotic assembly of screw sets and part storage, needed just 3.3 m2 for the entire production system.
Cleanroom machines mould microcomponents from liquid silicone rubber
Microinjection moulding machines specialized for liquid silicone rubber (LSR) are designed exclusively for moulding high-precision implantable-grade silicone parts and nonimplantable rubber medical device components such as cable assemblies and catheter and guidewire parts. Available from the automation engineering firm Kuntz Mfg. Company, Inc. (Santa Ana, CA, USA), the patented horizontal and vertical liquid-injection moulding (LIM) machines are suitable for cleanroom applications. Configured with a central exhaust, they are rated to Class 100.
The LIM machines feature a programmable control system and can inject shots as small as 0.038 cm3 with 0.001-cm3 accuracy. Positive shutoff prevents drooling. The injection system can handle LSR in viscosities ranging from less than 1 cps to more than 2 million cps.
Machine features include built-in radio-frequency identification capability for automatic mould recipe setup, a choice of in-line mixing or chilled-cartridge feeding, electrostatic grounding for static-sensitive devices, and vacuum controls ported directly through the mould. Rolling casters are available for mobility. The machines come in versions for R&D-scale moulding through full production. Clamp tonnage capacities range from 6 to 20 tn.
Precision is hallmark of all-electric machines
A line of all-electric injection moulding machines features modular drive technology. Each of the IntElect machines from Demag Ergotech GmbH (Schwaig, Germany) is equipped with water-cooled high-torque direct drives for all of its axis movements, which make possible a high degree of precision. The manufacturer has been able to draw on decades of development expertise to give these machines such features as a powerful yet sensitive five-point double toggle with computer-optimized braking and acceleration profiles, rugged construction, ergonomic design, an intelligent operator environment, and a full range of modular injection unit options. The machines can be variously configured into systems offering clamping forces of 500, 800, 1000, or 1500 kN.
The precision of this all-electric line is evident in large-batch production where part weights show minimal variation from cycle to cycle. The same high degree of repeatability is maintained for other process variables that the machine evaluates shot by shot, including melt cushion, metering time, pressure at changeover from injection to hold pressure, and screw end position. In addition, these moulding machines consume 60% less energy than equivalent hydraulic machines.
For medical technology applications, the machines are suitable for use in Class 10,000 (ISO Class 7) cleanrooms without the need for modification or additional elements. Water cooling eliminates the turbulence caused by fans or blowers. Because the machines provide such tight control and monitoring of injection and plasticizing parameters, they can hold the tight tolerances on moulded-part dimensions required in processing liquid silicone rubber and producing microcomponents.
