Repotenciación de una máquina extrusora de plástico mediante la implementación de un sistema automatizado de carga de material para la reducción de tiempos de fabricación

Abstract

The main goal of this work is the repowering of a plastic extruder machine through the implementation of an automated system that integrates a blower, a hopper and a timer. The objective of this system is to feed in a continuous and controlled way the raw material load, which consists of virgin polyethylene combined with masterbatch, used to color plastics. During the first test runs of the repowered machine, the thermocouples were turned on for approximately 20 minutes until a temperature of 250 °C was reached. Subsequently, the hopper was filled with the raw material and, using the timer, the blower was activated for 10 seconds. Then, the material was extruded for about 20 seconds, the time it takes for the material to come out of the nozzle (mold). The project arose in response to the need to significantly reduce extrusion times, which will increase the efficiency and productivity of the process. The results obtained by means of this technological improvement were evidenced by the operating tests carried out on both the manual machine and the repowered machine, reducing extrusion times by 20.73\% in the first average of both machines, 15.5\% in the second average and 17.85\% in the third average, which indicates an increase in the productivity of the repowered machine and an improvement in the consistency of the quality.