D.R. Joseph introduces new, improved hardware for film extruders

Düsseldorf, Germany — Technology provider to the blown film extrusion market D.R. Joseph showed a series of new developments at K 2019.

The company, which has its headquarters in Arlington, Texas, showed the automatic layflat control, or ALC. Speaking about the system, DRJ Marketing Manager Michael Pilolli said: "ALC improves output by reducing the amount of trim typically taken on blown film lines. This is achieved by measuring and controlling film stretch and shrink as it makes its way down the blown film tower, with a flat-width bar near the winder. This is in addition to ultrasonic sensors measuring bubble diameter above the frost line."

Pilolli continued: "For the ALC, we teamed up with Swiss company Kundig to integrate their flat-width measurement bar. This uses infrared sensors to measure the flattened web, which in turn provides final flat-width measurement used by the ALC to correct for width drift as caused by stretch and shrink."

While width is typically controlled as the film makes its way up the tower, Pilolli went on to explain that stretch and shrink occur as the film makes its way down. By measuring both sides of the process, DRJ width control systems are better able to control final product dimensions.

This helps with expediting job changes, a key focus of the industry. Where calibrating for a new product width involves a time-consuming setup phase, the new system can control this aspect of production.

According to Pilolli, DRJ offers a range of width control equipment to support all product sizes, from small lab-scale pilot lines through to large geomembrane lines. In essence, ALC controls film size by managing factors that can unexpectedly affect film width.

A further DRJ release for K 2019 is the new neck height control function.

"This tackles two factors affecting quality and tolerance. By automatically maintaining neck height on high-stalk HDPE production, dart impact and layflat consistency is improved, as changing neck height also affects the layflat of a bubble," Pilolli said.

Pilolli goes on to point out that while scrap is expected during startup and job changes, reducing wastage at any other point helps to improve a given machine's saleable uptime. He adds that eliminating waste in production can also reduce manufacturing costs, as all energy is consumed manufacturing finished product.

"Both of these new features improve ease of use on a blown film line, reducing scrap and delivering measurable productivity gains. We call it accuracy automation," he said.

A further launch from DRJ is a new version of the internal bubble cooling system, 3G-IBC. This helps to improve layflat tolerances and increase cooling rates, both ultimately delivering higher material throughput speeds on blown film lines.

In addition to having a series of automated features to help manage film bubbles, the IBC is now smaller and uses 50 percent less energy than previous systems. The 3G-IBC can be specified on new machines or retrofitted to existing hardware.

"IBC systems are currently operating on a wide range of blown film lines, from monolayer through to nine-layer production lines," Pilolli said.

The IBC and ALC both use ultrasonic sensors that are unique to DRJ and feature proprietary bubble flutter filtering technology and tamper-proof software. Each sensor measures and compensates for changes in ambient temperature, helping to guarantee the most precise reading of bubble diameter.

This further supports production with virgin polymers, plus recycled and biopolymers. The systems are of particular importance when considering biopolymers, Pilolli said, as in many cases biopolymer is difficult or impossible to regrind and use again.