Page 54 - Plastics News April 2022

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Energy Efficient Hydraulic Fluids
Improving the Efficiency of Plastic Injection Moulding Machines

he Plastic Injection Moulding Ma- the machine other than changing the ventional mono-grade hydraulic fluid to
Tchine (PIMM) is used in the pro- hydraulic fluid. Lubrizol’s energy-efficient solution can
cess of manufacturing plastic compo- The reference fluid used was a standard provide a significant 8.5% reduction in
nents. PIMMs rely heavily on energy, ISO 46 mono-grade; the candidate fluid electrical power consumption.
with electricity powering the various was Lubrizol’s energy-efficient ISO 46 This efficiency improvement equates
hydraulic systems used to actuate the multi-grade solution. Over an extended to substantial benefits for the operator
machine. To avoid costly downtime, period, 50 channels of data were record- in terms of improving the profitability,
selecting a hydraulic fluid that both ed to monitor the performance of the productivity and sustainability of their
optimises the performance of the ma- machine for every component it manu- operation.
chine and protects against the dam- factured. As shown in the graphic, the 8.5% ef-
age of key components is essential. The most important data recorded was ficiency improvement achieved by
the energy consumption but recording changing to Lubrizol’s energy-efficient
other performance criteria from the ma- hydraulic fluid equates to an annual
chine confirmed that the machine was electricity cost saving of $98,000 for a
operating consistently. factory of ten plastic injection moulding
machines. This will have huge impact
on business profitability.
The annual amount of electricity saved
would also enable the business to pro-
The PIMM Mould duce an extra 566,000 units per year,
Traditional mono-grade type fluids have significantly increasing operational pro-
been the preferred choice for operators ductivity.
in the plastic injection moulding in-
dustry. Today’s increasingly competitive The PIMM injector hydraulics
market, and the drive to minimize envi- Results
ronmental impacts from manufacturing During the trial, over 48,000 units were
operations, however, have led to more manufactured and 2.4 million data read-
efficient and sustainable options being ings were recorded, giving robust statisti-
required. cal validity to the results. With this data,
At the same time, PIMM designs are a statistical comparison was undertaken In addition to these more tangible busi-
evolving with equipment, increasing in between the reference mono-grade fluid ness benefits, the reduction in electricity
both their sophistication and perfor- and the candidate, Lubrizol’s energy- consumption would equate to a smaller
mance levels. This leads to higher opera- efficient multi-grade fluid. The graph carbon footprint, reducing CO2 emis-
tional speeds, pressures and precision, in below shows the result of changing to sions by 174 tonnes per year, therefore
turn raising the severity of the operating Lubrizol’s energy-efficient fluid solution enhancing the sustainability credentials
conditions and placing greater demands was an amazing 8.5% reduction in elec- of the manufacturing process.
on the hydraulic fluid. trical power consumption. Switching to Lubrizol’s energy-efficient
Upgrading the hydraulic fluid, there- hydraulic fluid can have a substantial
fore, can make a big difference to opera- impact on an operator’s business by im-
tional efficiency. proving the overall efficiency of their
Real-world testing equipment.
Lubrizol has collaborated with an op-
erator to conduct real-world testing on a Mr. Rahul Labroo, OEM Manager,
single PIMM. The PIMM was operated Lubrizol Additives India,
with a reference hydraulic fluid before Conclusion Email: Rahul.Labroo@Lubrizol.com
and after the candidate to ensure there This real-world test has proven that
was no change in the performance of switching a PIMM from using a con- Mobile: +91 85913 10571

54 PLASTICS NEWS April 2022