HRSflow provides close-to-production test tools for trials in Asia

At Chinaplas 2015, HRSflow is set to demonstrate the potentials of the FLEXflow system in practice and to persuade OEMs and their suppliers of the advantages of the FLEXflow hot runner systems.

HRSflow has now produced three close-to-production spoiler tools. In this way, the interested parties can carry out trials and material tests themselves at the sites of San Polo di Piave/Italy (corporate headquarters), at the factory in Hangzhou/China and, from midyear, at the factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan/USA. The tools are also used by customers for the training of installers.

Another test tool for the manufacturing of a thin-walled instrument panel, with only 1.8 mm wall thickness, is available from the Japanese cooperation partner TMW (Tatematsu Mold Works Co., Ltd.).

The spoiler tools, identical in structure, are replicas of an original tool for the manufacturing of the roof spoiler of a production vehicle that is currently available on the market. The component, measuring 1,260 x 280 x 120 mm with a wall thickness of 4 mm, is molded from a PP/EPDM compound with 20 % talc. One tool is equipped with 7-fold and one tool with 5-fold FLEXflow system and, additionally, six pressure sensors (the 7-fold system) and 5 pressure sensors (the 5-fold system), directly behind a nozzle and each one on the end of the flow path, in the middle part or on the outer end of the component.

The FLEXflow valve gate nozzles, equipped with a servomotor, are designed specifically for the manufacturing of large-scale exterior and interior components, such as spoilers, front ends, dashboard carriers or interior door linings. In the hot runner system, the individual valve pins can be precisely and gradually opened and closed, independently from one another, with pre-selected speeds. The filling process, which is thus precisely controlled, contributes to the fact that the surfaces of the components have “class A” qualities without pressure drop marks, allowing weight reduction up to   5% and a 20 % reduction of closing force requirements depending on the individual case.

Up to eight valve pin - opening and closing - positions are available for each one of the nozzles with a precision up to 0.01 mm. Specifically, the FLEXflow system allows for the individual eight-fold setting of the parameters for the opening and closing flow of the valves, precisely controlled valve position, the stroke, and the speed and acceleration of valve movements. The settings are configured through a native controller, with which, currently, up to 16 hot runner nozzles can be individually controlled.