Newark, N.Y. — Newark-based Addex Inc. will introduce the next generation of its blown film cooling equipment at NPE2024.
The Intensive Cooling-brand external gauge control (EGC) — called Gen 3 EGC — can be retrofit to existing blown film plastic lines with rotating dies.
Addex (W5543) introduced the Intensive Cooling brand of auto-profile air rings at K 2016, but for stationary dies only.
While new blown film lines are typically sold with stationary dies, there are many blown film producers with rotating dies in operation that need improved gauge control, an Addex news release said.
The new auto-profile system for rotating dies is based on the company's Generation 3 air ring technology, which can reduce gauge variation by more than 50 percent, the release said.
The new gauge control package retrofits to rotating die lines and controls to the desired 50 percent reduction level, Addex President Bob Cree said in the release.
The system operates much like the one for stationary dies, but with added features, including the EGC air ring having a series of "fingers" that open or close to adjust localized air volume. A 12-inch air ring includes 168 control zones with more than 200 control zones on larger systems.
The release said this new rotating die-enabled technology is facilitated by a proprietary mapping algorithm embedded within Addex's latest Gen 3 control technology. The algorithm corrects for die rotation effects in real time.
The new software/hardware system controls not only the auto-profile air ring but also simultaneously the physical rotation of the die, according to Gautam Jagannathan, Addex software specialist and senior field service engineer.
"We take over all aspects of rotation and then do auto-profile control in parallel. This allows us to continue to map the measurement of thickness bands to each of the high-resolution control zones, all to within one degree. This has enabled us to achieve some really shockingly good results," Jagannathan said. "We actually surprised ourselves on how well this new system performs, and it's all due to what we do with die rotation and integrated real-time mapping."
Addex Inc. W5543