Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH will introduce its vertical VPower injection press at Fakuma 2018.
Fakuma marks the first time the Vpower will be introduced to the general public. Visitors to the company's 10th anniversary celebration in Kottingbrunn, Austria, in June saw the machine.
VPower fits into Wittmann Battenfeld's PowerSeries of presses. The new VPower offers a high level of energy efficiency, compactness and user-friendliness. The rotary table is powered by a standard servo-electric drive.
The injection unit can be converted from vertical to horizontal and back, even after the press is commissioned. The absence of a central tie bar enables central media supply from below through the rotary table, or the installation of a compact rotary manifold.
The open design makes VPower well suited for integrating automation systems such as insert feeding or the removal of finished parts.
In other Fakuma news, Wittmann Battenfeld will show an EcoPower Xpress injection molding machine with 160 metric tons of clamping force — following the launch of the high-speed, all-electric model in the clamping forces of 400 and 500 metric tons.
At Fakuma, the new-size press will mold a polypropylene lid on a four-cavity mold, using in-mold labeling technology from Wittmann Battenfeld, a W837 side-entry robot. Cycle time will be about three seconds.
Also, the Combimould technology be shown on a SmartPower servo-hydraulic press. A WX142 robot will transfer a housing for a Wittmann R9 Teachbox molded by one cavity and transfer it to a second cavity for insert molding.
In a second Combimould application, a two-component MicroPower press will micromold a sensor component for a medical measuring component in a four-cavity mold. The razor-thin spherical membrane measures a specific pressure inside the device. The parts will be processed in a cleanroom environment, created by a laminar flow box located inside the machine. A W8VS4 Scara robot will remove the parts, inspected by an integrated camera system.
Wittmann Battenfeld also will demonstrate Wittmann 4.0 on an EcoPower 90/350 press. The machine's Unilog B8 control system integrates all peripheral equipment and, in a novelty, the electronic data sheet will be used in the controller. The data sheet serves to configure a production cell integrated via the Wittmann 4.0 router according to the selected mold dataset, including all necessary items such as robots, temperature controllers, metering devices, dryers and electronic flow controllers..
The production cell is ready for quick startup.
In robot and auxiliary equipment news at Fakuma, Wittmann Battenfeld will present the latest models of the Primus robot series: Primus 10 and Primus 26. The Primus 10 extends the series downward, with a smaller model designed for removing sprues, and it comes with sprue pinchers as a standard feature. Primus 26 has a load capacity of 10 kilograms—the highest load among the Primus robots.
Fakuma visitors also can see the new WX robots, allowing access to the gripper and vacuum circuits from the sides of the vertical profile. Gripper plugs for signal feedback also are connected there,.
Wittmann Battenfeld also is launching a new rotational A-C servo axis specially for applications with small residual mold openings.
Turning to auxiliary equipment news, the company also will show Gravimax blenders sporting new functions, and the new features on the Tempro plus line of temperature controllers.
The machinery maker's U.S. unit is Wittmann Battenfeld Inc. in Torrington, Conn.
Tel. 860-496-9603, email [email protected]@wittmann-group.com.