23% of the world‘s energy is lost through tribological contact (the science of wear, friction, and lubrication). By addressing friction and wear, there is the potential to save 1.4% of GDP, 8.7% of total energy consumption, and a reduction in CO2 emissions by up to 3140 MtCO2.

Tribosonics is a transformational technology business with innovative sensing technology that can provide an unmatched level of information density to generate insightful analysis of industrial components and systems, and address the challenges faced by tribological contact; thereby driving value creation and improving sustainability.

Tribosonics introduced its technology to its customer ENGEL, who is the global leading injection moulding machine manufacturer, supplying customers such as Polypipe and many other large companies worldwide.

The Screw & Barrel Wear Challenge

ENGEL was introducing its data-driven INJECT 4.0 program but was experiencing challenges around measuring an enclosed screw. It is a time-consuming process to carry out preventative maintenance on the plasticising feed screw on all plastic injection moulding machines.  In some cases, ENGEL customers must schedule two days of maintenance to stop production, remove the screw and take manual measurements which were recorded to monitor wear in the screw. 

The screw on a plastic injection moulding machine, which is a key component in the process is fully enclosed.  As part of the process, the barrel encapsulating the screw is heated to start melting the plastic material, however, in some cases abrasive plastic material types and friction causes the screw to wear. This wear impacts both the process and product quality and can result in unnecessary downtime and cost implications for ENGEL customers.

Using its innovative sensing technology, Tribosonics captured real-time data to measure the wear on the screw. Reacting to real-time data negates the requirement to carry out the ‘normal’ measurement and maintenance cycles which had previously resulted in extensive periods of downtime.

Using this real-time methodology, ENGEL’s customers will benefit from this value-added service, improving uptime and productivity efficiency, as well as the environmental benefits through waste reduction. Operators will also become upskilled in intelligence-based decision making to monitor and plan maintenance, instead of manual stripping and measuring.

What inspired ENGEL to innovate?

OEMs like ENGEL want to introduce value-add services to improve profitability and meet customer demand. 

ENGEL wanted to innovate using digital technologies to reduce their customers’ downtime and inefficient maintenance processes. They identified an opportunity to work closely with their customers to provide a data stream to increase the productivity of their machines – this technology forms part the INJECT4.0 program, and ENGEL strategically invested in the innovation of a ‘support package’ for both new customers, and a legacy retrofit service.  Inject 4.0 enables ENGEL to guide their customers towards networked, self-optimising injection moulding production as part of their smart factories concept. 

Having identified that the plasticising feed screw was a key element of the machine that needed to be monitored, ENGEL set themselves the task to find the right sensing setup. Unfortunately, there was a lack of applicable sensor solutions initially due to the high operating temperatures associated with the plasticising process on the injection moulding machine. ENGEL originally used a secondary cooling process as the temperature was too high for the original sensors, which resulted in a ‘noisy signal’.  This inspired a hunt for an innovative solution by collaborating with Tribosonics.

What are the impacts from the collaboration?

The adoption of this technology by ENGEL benefits their customers greatly as it will result in fewer unexpected downtimes. Plus, the entire process becomes more sustainable as it is more energy-efficient and provides the ability to plan maintenance work for maximum system availability. 

This innovative collaboration between Tribosonics and ENGEL demonstrates how important it is for manufacturers to partner with novel technology providers to work together to find the best solutions.

To find out more about how Tribosonics can digitize machine health and support your organisation to drive sustainable manufacturing processes, contact our team here.