Page 68 - Plastics News April 2024

IN THE NEWS

two systems, it was a very difficult task in gauge variation. I don’t think previ- a small bread box — and it’s also
to get them to work together without ous auto-profile, air-ring technologies modular, so we can mix-and-match
fighting each other, but ultimately we from other vendors for rotating dies modules with capabilities to not only
effectively reduced thickness variation were anywhere near 50%; maybe 20- control the rotation of the die but also
by 50% on rotating dies.” 25%. But we’re seeing 50%.” And, as to monitor for bubble breaks, inflate/
Cree notes, on top of boosting qual- deflate the tube (for non-IBC lines) or
“Our goal here for rotating die was to
try to hit the 50% reduction in gauge ity reducing film-thickness variations,
variation.” this result also cuts material costs and
provides a pathway for a film proces-
He adds, “But it was quite expensive sor to meet its sustainability goals.
for the customer and was complicated
for Addex to program. The customer Addex, however, learned something
had to buy two auto profiles, and you significant on this first retrofit in South
can imagine the math of trying to fig- Carolina that they applied to the sec-
ure out how to separate those two ond, more recent system installation
control algorithms from each other. It at Crayex in Georgia, which took
was a problem, and we stopped doing place in December 2023. For the
it. But we knew there was an oppor- South Carolina film processor, Addex
tunity because of the number of rotat- basically integrated the auto-profile
ing dies still in the market and the fact air ring into the processor’s existing
that other OEMs were having limited die rotator. But the modularity of its
success putting auto profiling on these Gen3 control package enabled Addex
lines.” to go a step further with Crayex.
So, about two years ago, Addex be- Jagannathan states, “So now we are
gan talking with blown film processors taking control of the die movement in
with rotating dies that needed to im- concert with what we’re doing with
prove film quality but couldn’t justify the traditional mapping, and that is
investing in a brand-new line to do so. the system we installed at Crayex.”
“We kept hearing from our customers Jagannathan says that because of the
that they needed more quality from next-generation control technology,
the lines they had —that because of the Crayex line appears to be outper-
the quality push in the industry and forming the line at the South Carolina even control the IBC.”
the move toward sustainability, they processor. Image shows the internal design of
needed to get better film without Cree adds that the South Carolina Addex’s new single-plenum design
breaking the bank. One of my biggest processor has ordered two more air to more uniformly distribute air flow.
customers has a lot of rotating dies, so rings now with the third-generation Notice one circular channel flowing
we were motivated, and we dusted control package. The first of these clockwise all around, and a second
off all of our old notes to take a fresh will start up in March. In addition to going in the opposite direction all the
look at the problem, and installed the two units already in the field, Ad- way around.
our first auto-profiling EGC air ring- dex is beta testing the Generation 3
only system (no IGC) on a rotating die EGC air ring systems at a total of four Single-inlet air rings can be especially
line at the plant in South Carolina last locations, tweaking the technology to troublesome on lines without auto-
March. And the feedback from them enhance its performance with each matic thickness control. Cree says,
was that the quality improvement was startup. “Automatic units can compensate for
dramatic.” any gauge variations caused by erratic
Adds Bill Wilck, Addex’s produc- air-flow distribution, and you can ac-
Jagannathan, who started up that sys- tion manager, “The compact Gen3 tually see the required inlet related
tem, adds, “Our goal here for rotating controller is really simple and easy compensating control effects in the
die was to try to hit the 50% reduction to work with — it’s no bigger than system, so lacking automatic profile

70 PLASTICS NEWS April 2024