TPT May 2015

46 / 92

44 May 2015
Technology News
PE and PE pipe
extrusion
THE Zephyr extruders from Tecnomatic are the evolution of
the Zeus gearless extruders and Vega 37 L/D series used in
the extrusion of pipes. A year since they were first presented
at the K-show in Germany, several extruders have been
sold and tested in production with excellent results.
The new extruder series L/D 40 offers a number of
innovative solutions, with the key guideline of the new
project being to increase the output rate at lower melt
temperatures and power consumption.
This result has been achieved thanks to the adoption of a
spiral grooved feed bush and further improvements in screw
design. The new feed bush ensures minor friction, which
is commonly generated by raw material transport, with the
subsequent increasing of the specific and total throughput.
The further development in screw design, with optimisation
and enhancement of torque and shearing elements, has
improved the output but has also led to the ability to process
the material at lower melt temperatures.
To complete the configuration and to meet the
requirements for production efficiency the machines are
equipped with torque or water-cooled motors (in this case
with one or two step gearboxes) and compact water-cooled
inverters. These solutions combined with the mechanical
features ensure outstanding power consumption levels
(eg lower than 170wh/kg for Zephyr 60.40 at 800kg/h)
but also low noise operation (<74Db), reduced workload
for maintenance, higher efficiency within wide speed and
load ranges, and faster dynamic response. The equipment
also includes modules for constant monitoring of power
consumption and production cost calculation.
The result on the ground shows the evolution trend
for pipe extrusion, which is the reduction of the extruder
size, with increased screw length and smaller motors, to
ensure the same output with a better energy efficiency. A
comparison between a gearless extruder in size 60.37 and
the new Zephyr 60.40 clearly shows the advantages.
Tecnomatic Srl – Italy
Website:
3 Good Ways ...
2015_03 TPT Schwarze-Robitec Ad Issue May 87x260.indd 1 03.03.2015 16:46:15