Injection Moulding Process Intensification

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research
Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Not Cross-cutting

Dr JFT Pittman
Engineering
Swansea University

3

Carbon Trust

01 July 2004

30 September 2005

15 months

£103,993

Wales

Dr JFT Pittman, Engineering, Swansea University

To develop energy efficient injection moulding technology for plastics by means of optimised process intensification

The UK injection moulding sector uses approximately 1600 GWh/yr of grid electricity. Actions for energy efficiency have been identified, giving considerable scope for economies leading to reduced CO2 emissions. Cooling and solidification of the plastic occupies around 75% of the moulding cycle, and acceleration of cooling offers significant productivity gains and energy savings. Additionally, conventional processing uses energy wastefully. This proposal addresses the problem through a novel combination of technological steps: Thermal intensification of the process is applied, made possible by confining temperature changes to a low thermal mass in the tool; Novel techniques for tool fabrication are proposed; Energy normally wasted is usefully recovered; System design and operation is optimised using process simulation software. Development of the proposed technology will lead not only to CO2 reductions, but will also improve the competitiveness of UK moulders through reduced energy costs, higher production rates, part weight reduction and lower tonnage machines. This project forms the first phase of a two-part project. The objectives of Phase1 are to produce detailed optimised designs. A future Phase 2 will build and trial the new technology based on these designs

01/01/07