For 10 years SACMI has been developing the Injection Preform System (IPS). A range of presses for the production of PET preforms that has established itself at the top end of the market thanks to superior versatility and performance, low consumption, easy and fast set-up and changeover.
 |
Completing the range by pushing the ultimate frontier of digitalisation and control even further forward is the aim of the IPS 300. The latest addition to SACMI's preform press range, which the company will be exhibiting at the K fair in Düsseldorf (19-26 October 2022).
Among the opportunities presented by the new machine is that of pushing process control to previously unthinkable levels, opening up the industry to the opportunities of the IoT. Plus, integration with the PVS 156, SACMI's latest-generation vision system that uses advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithms.
The result, an evolution of total quality control into a source of competitive advantage in terms of the efficiency of the entire process, exploiting all the opportunities of the IoT.
State of the art performance, versatility, ease of use. With the IPS 300, SACMI completes its range of PET preform production presses. As a digital, high-performance, and versatile system, the IPS 300 enhances the benefits of the IPS SACMI platform: ease of use, compatibility with different types of moulds and market-leading productivity.
As with the IPS 400, SACMI's new IPS 300 is characterised by its compatibility with various types of moulds, including those produced by third parties. The IPS300 is compatible with all moulds equipped with external compressed air and coolant connections, thus improving the customer's investment (a preform mould, if well maintained, can have a longer service life than the machine housing it).
As with the other IPS models, the intuitive HMI facilitates usability, simplifying the operator's work, especially in the start-up and changeover phases and in the management of auxiliaries, which are fully controllable through the IPS HMI. Reliability is guaranteed without compromise, thanks to the highest quality components.
Products, moulds, productivity. The IPS 300 can work with moulds from 24 cavities for 48 mm necks and up to 96 cavities for 30 mm necks. One of the opportunities for customers, notwithstanding compatibility with moulds produced by third parties, is to exploit the advantages of the SACMI mould and thus the new HR17 hot chamber range, which has already enjoyed considerable success in the market thanks to the many advantages it offers. These include reduced dust and longer maintenance intervals, reduced stress on the material and thus a strong contribution to reducing acetaldehyde formation, and improved balancing and control over the nozzles.
Furthermore, by making use of the “Nano-pitch” patent of partner company MHT, the IPS300 can mount up to 128 cavities for 26/22 mm necks, a truly unique solution within the current panorama of available technologies.
The high performance places the IPS 300 in the exclusive league of the best performers on the market. The press features a lock-to-lock time of 1.9 seconds and extremely fast cycle times. How? Among the solutions adopted is the innovative after-cooler with COOL+® (inside cooling system), which improves the thermal efficiency of the cooler. This significantly reduces cycle times, especially on thick-walled preforms.
In terms of versatility, the high level of configurability - three plasticisation units are available, for 625kg/h, 900kg/h and 1220kg/h, as well as plasticising screws with 120mm diameter for 900kg/h of processed product, or 100mm diameter for 625kg/h or 140mm for 1220kg/h - responds on the IPS 300 to the most diverse production requirements. There are also a number of optional devices, including the static mixer for dyes and additives, the injection cycle completion kit in the event of a power outage, the process control sensor kit, piping and process water filtration, along with other optional extras designed to facilitate the use of the plant and the quality of the final product.
Digital, Automation, IA. On the IPS 300, automation is designed to translate into a real and immediate economic benefit for the customer. IPS is based on Beckhoff's TwinCAT© architecture, with EtherCAT© fieldbus. This infrastructure takes process control to advanced levels, opening up the industry - thanks to its enormous computing and data transport capacities - to the opportunities of the IoT (self-learning, predictive controls, etc.).
But that's not all. On the IPS 300, the solution adopted for the after-cooler also allows the adoption of a fundamental process control option: the PVS156 vision system from the SACMI PVS (Preform Vision System) range, fully integrated into the press.
How does it work? The system removes a column of the press, before it is released by the unloading hand. The control takes place in a predefined time, using advanced artificial intelligence algorithms, based on the amount of preforms present and the complexity of the inspection.
Extremely powerful, the PVS 156 can complete the inspection of 96 preforms in a maximum time of about 5 minutes, completing a series of thorough checks on every area of the preform and detecting the main geometric dimensions, weight and number of cavities and, based on this data, generate real-time statistical reports.
The result is the ability to perform constant and continuous monitoring of production quality, without interfering with the machine's work cycle, increasing coverage and accuracy of routine checks, reducing non-conformities but, above all, evolving quality control into a source of competitive advantage thanks to the data obtained from the system.
