An ACS Group spotlight for Sterling, AEC, MiVue

New Berlin, Wis. — New Berlin-based ACS Group (W3921) is planning several introductions of new auxiliary equipment products for plastics processing at NPE2024.

The family of brands was formed through a series of acquisitions that expanded its product line to include size reduction equipment, material conveying equipment, metering and blending devices, heat exchangers, drying systems and presses sold under the names Sterling, AEC, Sterlco, Cumberland, Wabash and Carver.

At NPE, the company's Sterling brand is launching three chillers and a new touchscreen controller for temperature control units (TCUs), the AEC (Application Engineering Co.) brand has a new line of desiccant wheel dryers and a gravimetric batch blender, and the MiVue brand will show expanded capabilities for plant-monitoring software.

Founded in 1916, the Sterling division started as Sterling Engineering Co., a manufacturer of valves, traps and condensate pumps for steam and hot water systems. The business evolved to also serve the plastics, printing, packaging, medial, die casting and converting industries.

As a division of ACS, Sterling also manufactures auxiliary products like granulators and shredders for size reduction and equipment for conveying, metering, blending devices, heating and drying systems.

At NPE2024, Sterling will show:

• GPL packaged chillers, which have been redesigned and are available with two refrigerant choices: R-410A or R-454B, the latter of which is a "low GWP" (global warming potential) refrigerant that meets environmental requirements that went into effect Jan. 1 in 12 states. The new design improves access to components for maintenance. The new GPL is available as both air- and water-cooled models for 5- to 60-ton cooling needs.

• GPL small packaged chillers, which use a low GWP R-513A refrigerant that also meets new environmental regulations and is classified as nontoxic and nonflammable. The units use an air-cooled system available in 1-, 2- and 3-ton cooling capacities.

• LHE central chillers, which also offer the two refrigerant options of R-410A or R-454B. The LHE is available in 20- to 60-ton cooling sizes.

• Sterling TS-5, a touchscreen controller for TCUs, which has a 5-inch touchscreen for easy control by machine operators. The new controller includes USB data logging, standard Ethernet, and OPC UA / Euromap 82.1 capabilities are now included as standard.

The AEC brand also is featuring new chillers, blenders and dryers, including the GPL packaged chiller and its smaller model.

Other products include:

• AD series of desiccant wheel dryers for moisture removal with adjustable process air flow to prevent resin overdrying and reduce energy consumption. This series replaces AEC's earlier NGX and RDX series dryers, and it is available with throughputs ranging from 50 to 2,500 pounds per hour.

• BD-100 gravimetric batch blender for injection molding, extrusion, blow molding and other processes using a lower throughput rate up to 100 pounds per hour. This product expands the company's offerings to six models by joining the ranks of the BD-500, BD-900, BD-2500, BD-4000 and BD-6000.

The MiVue brand is incorporated into operations for Industry 4.0 benefits to improve uptime and reduce operational costs.

At NPE2024, the MiVue brand will show connectivity capabilities to auxiliary equipment, including blenders, conveying systems, granulators, chillers, TCUs, control hoppers and additive feeders.

New features and modules recently added to MiVue include a job report module for lot tracking and quality accountability; a material usage module to track manufacturing material assets and cost; and a preventative maintenance module to ensure maintenance schedules are followed for each machine type.

MiVue-brand connection kits can be installed with new equipment, retrofitted with older equipment and incorporated into custom system integration projects.

The digital manufacturing connection kits provide plastics plant managers more insight into their equipment with production data, including material usage.

The MiVue-brand cellular router connects injection molding and extrusion machines with auxiliary equipment through secure and encrypted data transmission and provides analytics and cloud-based data storage.