At K to win the challenge

As if on a large stage, Moretto exhibits the most innovative systems and products for injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion. There are two exhibition areas in hall 11, one specifically dedicated to the extrusion sector, with Contrex brand products, the group brand specialized in the supply of automation and control systems for blown film extrusion.

Maximum energy efficiency even with small production quantities

At K 2019 Moretto presents the X Comb series of dehumidifiers, a range broadened to cover higher production needs. These mini dryers are a real combination of patented Moretto technologies: fully electric (they do not use compressed air), they are equipped with powerful turbo-compressors, zeolite technology, dew point equalizer and the exclusive OTX hopper.

Particularly suitable for the drying of highly hygroscopic technical materials used in demanding sectors such as the medical, optical and automotive sectors, the X Comb dryers are the best allies in terms of efficiency and energy savings. The ON series, with compact and robust models, is suitable for installation directly on the mouth of the processing machine, guaranteeing constant quality during the production process. The Side series includes larger models up to 24 kg/h, with installation next to the machine, to satisfy higher production requirements, or in battery on trolley for maximum production flexibility.

As for all Moretto dryers, the Moisture Meter device, a solution for the precise in-line measurement of residual granule moisture, can also be installed on the X Comb series. Moisture Meter analyses and detects the exact content of residual moisture up to 15 parts per million.

With Moisture Meter the customer certifies that the material is perfectly dried, proof of a quality production, in line with the technical, aesthetic and functional characteristics required. Furthermore, being able to measure and monitor the exact residual humidity level of the polymer in-line makes it possible to "optimize" processes using only the strictly necessary energy, avoiding production waste, reducing important operating costs and environmental impact.

Energy saving systems dedicated to packaging and PET

Particular attention is paid to the drying of PET granules, a delicate phase especially in the production of large quantities, typical of the rigid packaging and beverage sectors. In a dedicated area of the stand, Moretto presents a drying system consisting of a XD 800X series dryer, combined with the OTX hopper and Moisture Meter Manager. A solution able to guarantee certifiable results, showing an absolute primacy in terms of energy efficiency for any type of material and a completely automatic system of the drying process.

With Moisture Meter Manager, the drying process goes from an "adaptive" logic to a "responsive" cutting-edge logic. Another among Moretto’s unique solutions in the market for the drying of technical polymers.

Once again, a solution that arises from the study of the physical phenomena to which the different polymers are subjected during the drying process, developed based on years of experience and objective results of practical tests.

The innovative turbo-compressors system of the XD 800X series dryer, together with the OTX hoppers, offer high levels of energy efficiency. Furthermore, the XD 800X dryers do not use either cooling water or compressed air, being this another advantage in the treatment of PET and ensuring energy saving compared to conventional dryers.

The use of the exclusive OTX hopper allows the homogeneous flow of the material inside the hopper during the process, guaranteeing an effective and controlled drying and extraordinary energy efficiency of +66% while reducing material treatment time. In the treatment of PET in the beverage sector, one of the aspects Moretto customers are most "loyal" to is the constant treatment of OTX, which ensures a stable process and an improvement in machine cycle times of around half a second. This is equivalent to producing up to 17 million additional preforms per year.

The application of Moisture Meter Manager integrates the dryer into a "responsive" system, as required by the 4.0 intelligent factory project. Moisture Meter Manager measures the initial moisture of the granule. Based on this, and knowing the precise behaviour of each material, it performs the appropriate drying cycle to obtain the result requested by the customer in terms of final moisture, then monitored at the hoppers outlet.

In this way, Moisture Meter Manager maximizes process performance and achieves incredible results in terms of energy savings.

In addition to being intelligent and offering high performance, these machines, featuring extremely user-friendly controls with an intuitive objects oriented touch screen, are also service friendly, devised to ensure facilitated maintenance and preventing system inefficiencies over time.

New feeding and conveying solutions for micro-moulding and small production

At K2019 Moretto proposes a series of solutions dedicated to "micro" conveying for the feeding and conveying of small quantities of technical materials. Very compact feeders, ideal for installation on stand-alone machines, on drying and dosing systems or directly on the throat of the processing machine. These conveying systems, like all in the Moretto range, include models specifically suitable for the use in clean rooms.

Intelligent feeding and conveying

In order to automatically manage and supervise the entire conveying process of small or large quantities of plastic material, One Wire 3 guarantees the greatest transport efficiency, thanks to its advanced FIFO logic.

One Wire 3 also controls those devices which, with their exclusive technologies, contribute to optimizing the granule conveying and feeding process. In particular, the Dolphin manifold unit automatically supplies and distributes all the materials to all the machines, avoiding any risk of contamination and human error.

KruiseKontrol is able to manage the speed of the material during the conveying phases, eliminating the peaks and the formation of angel hair and wear of the pipes, and adapt in a responsive way the transport conditions, differently from inverter systems that act on the air speed, without taking into account the different variables that characterize each material and which constitute elements of strong differentiation of their behaviour in the pipe.

High-precision gravimetric batch dosing in any situation

The DGM Gravix series dosing units are now a standard among processors who seek maximum precision in batch gravimetric dosing even in extreme use conditions. DGM Gravix is ​​the dosing unit that, thanks to its particular control with exclusive Vibration Immunity System and the double eyelid system, doses with precision up to 0.01% even when installed on a blow moulding machine, without being affected by the continuous movements and vibrations to which it is subjected.

The DGM Gravix dosing units cover dosing requirements for granule, powder and flakes materials, with dedicated applications, up to 12 materials and 12,000 kg/h. Applications dedicated to micro dosing, such as Rotopulse, make these machines extremely flexible in their use in the department.

Systems dedicated to the beverage world for the dosing of virgin PET, r-PET and flakes guarantee homogeneous mixtures and very high precision (around 0.1%), even with a very high hourly production.

No overdosing of additives and colorants with the DPK weight-in-loss system

DPK is a compact, precise weight-in-loss dosing system, suitable for the dosing of small amounts of masterbatch or additives. The technology of the load cells and the control algorithm, make DPK reach dosing accuracy of up to ±0.03%. The masterbatch or additive to be dosed is contained in a hopper built in a specific transparent resistant acrylic material, free from electrostatic charges, which makes immediately visible the content material and the load level and prevents material from stopping on the hopper walls. The hopper is easily removable without the use of tools and, together with the intelligent storage and recognition system of the masterbatches alongside the machine, the recipe change is even more immediate.

Multicomponent micro dosing with DPM

For micro dosing, Moretto also offers DPM, a precision microdoser available in single-component versions and up to 4 hoppers. Pulsed dosing is immune to vibrations and does not require a mixer thanks to the simultaneous dosing of the components. The hoppers are removable. It can also be used for regrind recovery thanks to its compact construction.

4.0 technologies for process supervision and control

For the supervision and control of plastics processing plants, the company has developed the advanced Mowis 3 supervision system, a modular software capable of adapting to the needs and to the qualitative, productive and managerial objectives of each customer, allowing connectivity between machines, processes, departments, plants and factories.

Mowis 3, a proprietary Scada software entirely developed and designed "in house" is the latest evolution of Moretto's advanced supervision system, an essential tool for efficient and safe production, also of the "lights out" type.

Through Mowis 3 the user monitors the status of each machine and each operation of the system: it records anomalies and creates a history, sets and/or modifies the process parameters, stores the changes to the system parameters, programs the work times, manages material consumption and production lots, generates process reports in real time and operating and efficiency statistics. Connected to the "service", it provides information on the status of the machines and identifies their maintenance needs. Mowis 3 connects up to 1100 clients.

Mowis 3 has customized modules that allow a total “4.0 tracking" of the process: the Lotto batch module allows to trace the batches of material through the entire production process; Sil-Control" avoids human errors in loading materials into the destination silos; Item-Go, based on the item to be produced, defines and sets the parameters for each machine, automatically from the silo to the processing machine; Mould Control automatically recognizes the mould and defines the process parameters. Mowis 3 is remotely controllable and communicates with business management (ERP), production (MES) and customer data management systems via the universal OPC UA protocol.

Solutions for temperature control and cooling

The company offers a complete range of thermo and cooling systems to satisfy any production requirement, from single unit on the side of the machine, to ad hoc developed modular open centralized systems with a maniacal attention to total energy efficiency.

The large amount of energy required for cooling processes in the plastics processing industry requires extremely efficient and flexible systems. The X Cooler series of modular chillers was created specifically with these prerogatives. The cooling scalability makes it possible to supply the appropriate cooling capacity, according to the real needs with a consequent drastic reduction in energy consumption, resulting in a clear reduction in operating costs.

The temperature controllers of the Te-Ko series ensure absolute efficiency and precision in automatic temperature control both in the moulds of injection moulding machines and in the cylinders and rollers of the extruders. Reliability, speed of temperature regulation, reduction of consumption and ease of use are the major benefits offered by these machines. Available in water, pressurized and oil versions with temperatures up to 300°C based on the processor's production needs.