Krauss-Maffei (KM), a German plastic extrusion machinery company, recently introduced a new extruder die technology that allows plastic pipe manufacturers to completely stop online adjustments to pipe diameters and wall thicknesses. The die system called QuickSwitch was jointly developed by KM and German pipe manufacturer Egeplast Werner Strumann for 18 months. Audreas Turk, product manager of pipe applications at KM, called this technology extrusion. The revolution in process technology, and pointed out that so far there is no other technology that has the same advantages as the QuickSwitch system.
The QuickSwitch system uses a tapered mandrel that moves in the axial direction to adjust the die spacing, and is equipped with a dedicated combination of sizing sleeves to adjust the diameter of the final tube. It is worth pointing out that the key to the full use of the system is to develop specifically for this purpose. Automatic control technology.
There are currently three available QuickSwitch systems with pipe diameters ranging from 32 to 63mm, 75 to 160mm, and 160 to 250mm. The system can be used for new pipe extrusion lines as well as for existing equipment. Egeplast already has several production lines using this technology. According to Turk, 160~250mm pipe production line equipped with this new technology can save a cost of 200,000 euros per year, which comes from reducing downtime (thus reducing labor costs), reducing scrap and reducing product inventories. According to the company's existing 13 extrusion pipe production lines, it can save 2.2 million euros each year. Turk thinks this is very obvious to improve the production efficiency of the pipe plant. KM will set the initial target of this revolutionary new technology as the production of high-cost plastic pipe in Europe and the United States.