"Green" solutions for an affordable cut of pipes

16 February 2021

In recent times, the R&D investments made by Sica, an Italian plastic pipe machinery manufacturer, have definitely gone “green”, contributing to a sustainable world with solutions that reduce process costs, energy and material consumption and avoid plastic dust and chips recycling for a cleaner and safer environment.

One example is the patented solution to cut and chamfer PVC pipes without removing material. The new saw warms up a portion of the pipe, cuts it with a parting knife and then creates a bevel by shaping the heated portion instead of using a chamfer tool that creates dust and/or chips. It is a big innovation that allows a noiseless cut and avoids the need for expensive recycling equipment, cleaning the environment around the saw. In fact, traditional saws - even those equipped with an excellent evacuation system for dust and chips - cannot completely avoid chips depositing on the saw mechanism or on the cut pipe. Therefore, pipes will always carry part of the scrap material with them on their way towards the belling machine or the end of the line.

Another interesting innovation in the field of swarfless pipe cutting is the patent pending electric saw for HDPE, PP-R, multilayer and PVDF pipes. Each cutting movement is electric, therefore silent, precise and extremely repeatable. In particular, for the movement of the cutting arm, the machine has been equipped with an innovative extremely compact servo-actuator which integrates the motor and gear unit, and guarantees superior thrust force even at high speeds, impact resistance, complete absence of vibrations and high efficiency. All this translates into superior final quality of the cutting process. This is clear from the pictures on the right of a 3-layer pipe (PPR-FG-PPR) cut with a conventional hydraulic system (above) and with a specific electric cutting action (below).