A UK-based plastics manufacturer has recorded a 24.6 per cent reduction in energy consumption after fitting a GÜNTHER BlueFlow hot runner system to one of its moulds, in a like-for-like comparison against an existing tool using a competitor’s hot runner system
The manufacturer fitted a four-drop valve gate BlueFlow system to a mould with the same footprint as an existing tool, which was fitted with a competitor’s hot runner system. Both tools were used to produce identical PP caps, with a wall thickness of approximately 1.6mm and a part volume of 9.46cm³, at cycle times of 14.8 seconds. To control for other variables, both tools ran on the same injection moulding machines and used independent temperature controllers from the same third-party manufacturer. Barrel temperatures on both tools were set between 225°C and 210°C, with hot runner temperatures set at 210°C.
Each temperature controller was fitted with an energy monitor. Over a one-hour measurement period, the competitor’s system used 764Wh, compared with 576Wh for the GÜNTHER BlueFlow system.
The BlueFlow system uses GÜNTHER’s thick-film heater technology and a bi-metallic titanium shaft design, which the company says provides a more even temperature profile and reduces heat loss between the hot runner and the mould tool. GÜNTHER also states that the design supports leak-free operation.
GÜNTHER’s own figures put typical energy savings for its nozzles at up to 50 per cent in isolation. In this case, engineers at the moulding company wanted to measure total system energy consumption, including manifold consumption, under real-world production conditions.
“We wanted to see if the energy savings from the GÜNTHER BlueFlow nozzles stacked up against the other tools we were using with a different hot runner supplier, and the tests confirmed a 24.6 per cent reduction in total hot runner energy consumption,” said the Injection Moulding Chief of Development. “This was our first time using a GÜNTHER system, and we’ve found the valve gate design straightforward to maintain.”
A brief training session was provided to the manufacturer’s in-house toolroom team, who noted the sealing of the shaft in the mould inserts and the process for replacing worn gates by exchanging PM inserts.
The results add to a small but growing body of comparative data on hot runner energy consumption, as moulders increasingly assess supplier options against measured performance on the shop floor, alongside manufacturer specifications.
About Gunther UK Limited
Gunther UK supplies hot runner systems to the plastics industry and has been the exclusive UK and Ireland agent for the Günther Hot Runner Technology group since 1988. The company provides technical support for injection moulding tooling projects in the UK.
For more information, visit https://www.guenther-hotrunner.com/
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