ENGEL Medical Day Events

ENGEL North America, member of the ENGEL Group, a world leader in the design and manufacture of injection moulding machines and parts-handling automation, will host technical symposiums — ENGEL Medical Day 2014 — at both their North American headquarters in York, PA on March 18, 2014 and their Technical Center in Corona, CA on April 8, 2014.

The single day events will consist of technical presentations by both ENGEL specialists and a wide variety of industry experts including Mr. Harry Hamme, Bill Muldoon of NyproMold and Tom Steipp of Liquidmetal Technologies. Customer success stories will also be presented by Sterling Manufacturing (at the York/PA event) and Fisher & Paykel (at the Corona/CA event).

The presenters will also be on-hand through-out the event to provide insight and information to attendees.

On Exhibit

During the Medical Day 2014 events, ENGEL will showcase four moulding systems specifically designed for medical applications, and demonstrating some of the most recent developments in both equipment and technologies for the medical moulding industry:

• Tri-component drip chambers for blood transfusions, with an integrated filter, will be produced using an ENGEL e-victory 310H/80W/50V 160 combi three-component injection moulding machine with ecodrive and a cleanroom design. Each chamber comprises of a polypropylene and a polystyrene component injection moulded in a single work step; the filter is positioned and joined by means of overmoulding with polypropylene. This unprecedented level of integration significantly improves efficiency in the manufacturing of multi-component hollow bodies with inlays. Conventionally, the two 

hollow body components are individually injection molded; the inlay is then fitted and bonded in subsequent process steps. The mold production partner for this application is Hack Formenbau of Kirchheim in Germany.

An ENGEL easix multi-axis robot is also integrated in the manufacturing cell along with a system for total quality control. The drip chambers are inspected for seal tightness directly after injection molding.

• With productivity demands continuing to increase, ENGEL has consistently developed its all-electric series of ENGEL e-motion injection moulding machines for high performance applications even in the high clamping force ranges. Working with the automation specialist HEKUMA (of Eching in Germany) and mold manufacturer Braunform (of Bahlingen, also in Germany), ENGEL will exhibit a highly automated manufacturing cell making needle holders for insulin pens – demonstrating process reliability that is hard to beat. The cores of the 96-cavity mold have a diameter of just 0.3 mm. To counter deformation of cores effectively, the premium version of the electric injection unit is equipped with a direct drive, which provides highly dynamic injection movements and injection speeds of up to 500 mm/s. A camera-based monitoring system instantly identifies any problems with parts. Thanks to cavity specific handling, reject parts are automatically separated and the injection mold can carry on producing without deactivating the cavity. The all-electric ENGEL e-motion 440/220 T achieves cycle times of around five seconds despite the delicate mold cores.

 The foundation of the third system on exhibit is the new all-electric ENGEL e-mac injection molding machine. With sizes ranging from 55 to 195 US tons, the ENGEL e- mac is equipped with an impressive list of standard options including SPI robot interface, corepull software and interface, ceramic heaterbands, parallel plasticizing, programmable I/O’s, swiveling injection unit and can be equipped to run special processes such as LSR, PVC and UV vulcanization.

For the Medical Day events, an ENGEL e-mac 170/55 LSR US machine – equipped for the moulding of Liquid Silicone Rubber – will be running a 4 cavity, valve-gated cold runner mould supplied by partner Roembke Mfg & Design of Ossian, IN.

    The fourth machine on display will be an all-electric ENGEL e-mac 310/105 in high execution running a compact, side-gated 64 cavity runnerless pipette tip mold supplied by Cavaform International LLC of St. Petersburg, FL. (www.cavaform.com)

With all drives being servo-electric -- from injecting and metering to mould and ejector movements – the ENGEL e-mac guarantees the best possible precision and process stability while maximising the effectiveness of the machine as a whole. And with acceleration of more than 20 m/s2, the injection axis is setting new standards around the world.

The event also includes an on-site Partner Fair with exhibits from a variety of mould, automation, raw material and auxiliary equipment suppliers, who will be on-hand to discuss ways they can help companies expand their competitive edge.