The results will impress every injection molder

hotset presents its innovative tool temperature control system at the Fakuma

With its Z-System for the partial and cyclical temperature control of cavities, the thermodynamics specialist hotset is currently delighting tool manufacturers, injection molders and designers in very different branches. Wherever the realization of high-quality surfaces or thin-walled microstructures are of paramount importance, this high-speed solution from Lüdenscheid opens up completely new perspectives. At the Fakuma in Friedrichshafen, the company is providing information in Hall B3 on the practical application of its Z-System during the injection molding of molded parts for the consumer industry and automotive construction.

Above all for injection molders and tool manufacturers who have not up until now found satisfaction in the possibilities offered by the variotherm temperature control systems used so far, a visit to trade fair booth 3005 in Hall B3 at this year’s Fakuma could be very much worth their while. Here, hotset is once again presenting its future-orientated Z-System for the targeted partial and cyclical temperature control of injection molding tools. Since its initial launch in autumn 2016, many users have decided for the application of this high-speed solution, and have in this way substantially improved the surface quality of their products. Even acknowledged branch experts such as Professor Paul Thienel have been enthused by the performance capacity of this further development on previous tool temperature control systems. “The results will impress every injection molder”, says the former founder and Managing Director of the Kunststoff-Institut (Plastics Institute) Lüdenscheid, who is of the opinion that above all “high-quality molded parts with excellent surfaces and without weld lines and dullness can be achieved, such as those desired in automotive construction, in lighting technology or in the consumer industry”. Thienel views the fact that the Z-System can be used to “realize particularly thin walls, therefore opening up new perspectives for the manufacture of microstructures and miniature components” as a further advantage.

Highly dynamic temperature control

At the Fakuma, hotset will present to trade fair visitors its Z-System as an individually customer-tailored and ready-to-install complete solution, including the control technology especially adapted for the purpose. The cavities of the molding tools are thus selectively heated and cooled, or heated and cooled in sections, whereby above all one thermodynamic value makes prospective clients prick up their ears: the heating rate of 60 Kelvin per second measured on the tool wall. Andreas Filler, who as the hotset Project Manager always plays a leading role in the customer-specific design of the Z-System, explains: “This exceptional performance parameter makes it clear that our system is a highly dynamic, high-speed solution which is able to realize very rapid temperature changes in very short cycles”.

Over and above this heating rate of 60 K/s (on cavity surfaces), the Z-System by hotset is characterized by two further efficiency advantages. Firstly, the partial temperature control of small masses is made possible using only minor heat quantities, whereby the thermal insulation takes place within the tool. Secondly, the heating performance is not only aligned precisely to the shape of the component due to the highly accurate parameterization, but also to the specific conditions of the production procedure. Seen overall, the Z-System is not only able to run on very low energy requirements, but in ideal cases even makes it possible to reduce the basic temperature of the tool. In practice, a rise in productivity results through the implementation of faster injection molding cycles.

Specific to the respective tool, and individual

Hotset always designs the Z-System individually, and supplies it as a ready-to-install solution for the respective tool. It is comprised of several hardware and software components and is – similar to a hot runner system – inserted into the tool. Andreas Filler explains: “We accompany the customers from system integration via commissioning, right up to user training. This service is part of our product and ensures that everything runs smoothly from the start. On starting the system, the operator just has to follow the menu items on the Z-System touchscreen”.

With the Z-System, hotset offers injection molding tool manufacturers a future-oriented temperature control solution through which they can reliably avoid the typical surface defects on components (weld lines, dullness) and also realize very thin walls (partial thin-walled injection molding). In addition, several of the Z-System projects implemented so far have revealed that its use also substantially improves the flow of the casting compound in construction-related “bottle-neck” areas. Visitors to the hotset trade fair booth in Hall B3 (Booth 3005) at the Fakuma can also find out why this innovation from Lüdenscheid is able to support smaller and smaller batch sizes.