GÜNTHER has recently worked with a UK plastics manufacturer to test its BlueFlow hot runner system, which brought a 24.6% reduction in energy consumption compared to an existing tool.
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A UK-based plastics manufacturer has recorded a 24.6% 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 that 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 9.46 cm³, 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 210 °C and 225 °C, with hot runner temperatures set to 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% 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% 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.
