From an hydraulic press to an all electric one to improve process and productivity

Less than six months after the delivery of the first Nova eT all electric machine of Negri Bossi, the British IVM has taken delivery of a 280-ton model. The machine was purchased to produce an existing under-seat automotive component, with a visible and textured front face. The tool previously ran on a modern 270-ton hydraulic machine achieving a 46-second cycle time. There were serious quality issues relating to gas being trapped within the tools cavity.  Despite the addition of vents, surface defects resulting from burning were at an unacceptable level.

“People are surprised when we tell them that we chose all electric technology primarily to increase productivity and improve the quality of an existing component.  We all know that these machines use less energy, are cleaner, quieter and have a much smaller cooling requirement than hydraulic models.  These are all contributing factors, but we would not have made this decision based on these benefits alone”, IVM’s Managing Director, Ian Davidson commented.

 “We were confident that the proven advantages of the Nova eT could help us to resolve both the current quality concern, and reduce the cycle time. Having now eliminated the gas burning issue and also significantly reduced cycle times, we were right to be optimistic. Venting is no longer an issue, as we are able to commence material injection when the tool faces are exactly 0.5 mm apart. This ability to utilize “pre-injection” has both resolved the quality issue and contributed towards the cycle time improvement. Most of the cycle time reduction directly relates to the machine’s technological advantages. For example, the opening stroke has been reduced by a second, the machine “relaxing” the toggles towards the end of the cooling phase. This means that acceleration is virtually instantaneous once mould opening commences. Component ejection now commences once mould open is at 60 mm. This ability to “eject on the fly” also means that there is no dwell between mould fully open and mould close commencing”, he added.