TPT September 2009

T echnology U pdate

Corrugated pipe production at 30m/min

Cutting out deviations in repeatability measurements

UNICOR, Germany, is a manufacturer of corrugated pipe extrusion machinery and it claims its UC 125 corrugator has been designed to allow producers to reduce the cost of production while simultaneously increasing output of plastic pipe. It says the machine can produce double wall pipe with the nominal size of 110mm at 30m/min, compared to an average speed of around 18m/min for other corrugator machinery available on the market. The company attributes the high production speed to a new developments in the cooling system and the mould blocks. Unicor’smanagingdirector KlausKaufmann commented: “Our new technology enables pipe manufacturers to replace two corrugators that worked with average speeds by the faster UC 125.” According to Unicor, one main focus of the development department has been the reduction of operation and maintenance costs. The result is that the number of wearing parts could be minimised, and the change of wearing parts can be executed much faster. The Unicor staff optimised the curve geometry of the mould block in-let and out-let in reaction to the higher mechanical requirements and the demoulding of the forming blocks has been extended by an additional demoulding element. These developments ensure an extension of the components’ lifecycles.

A NEW ‘robotically’ programmed measuring technique that aims to radically improve repeatability measuring consistency has been developed by TeZet Technik AG, Switzerland. The tube-specialised software, TeZetCAD, is modularly structured and has more than 100 tube functions. It is also menu driven, making it more user friendly and accurate than previous technology available to the industry.

It says it is possible to replace single mould blocks quickly, and a complete mould block set consisting of 82 pairs of blocks can be replaced by two operators within only 30 minutes. This hopes to keep any interruptions in the production process to a minimum. Unicor presented the UC 125 during an in-house show in May, in its technical lab in Hassfurt. Impressed by the speed, a visitor to the symposium said that the UC 125 “might be the fastest corrugator in the world”. Unicor’smanagingdirector,KlausKaufmann, said: “The UC 125 is not only fast and efficient. The corrugator is furthermore an important tool for pipe producers that, when focusing on output and price per metre, can help customers to remain one big step  Visitors at the UC 125 symposium watching the corrugator’s starting process

ahead of the competition.” Unicor GmbH – Germany Email : sales@unicor.de Website : www.unicor.com

The measurement process has always been time consuming and complex for tube measurements. For example, optical measurements using fixed cameras to measure a fixed tube are only accurate when the tube has no re-entrant angles or add ons. The process is particularly fraught with difficulty when it comes to bending tubes, with many attempts often needed to get it right, often wasting material and time. TeZetCAD claims to ensure that the bent tube is correct almost immediately due to the software’s built in bender correction processes. TeZet adds that other techniques can result in bent tubes springing back and claims that using its measuring software removes this possibility of error, however complex the pipe is. TeZet Technik AG – Switzerland Email : tezet_leistritz@compuserve.com Website : www.tezet.com

 The outlet of the UC 125 during pipe production

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S eptember 2009

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