Go with the flomo for fluent mold temperature control

What's reported to be one of the smallest manually configurable temperature control and water distribution devices with electronic monitoring on the market has debuted from injection machine builder Engel ( Schwertberg/Austria).

Engel flomo can be mounted in close proximity to the mold, thus minimizing heat loss thanks to short hose runs. The system is suitable for permanent monitoring of all cooling and temperature control circuits on injection molding machines and molds. As it works electronically, it is an extremely economic alternative to legacy, maintenance-intensive cooling water batteries with inspection glasses.

Water is fed in from the water supply through a central inlet or from a temperature control device on the manifold, where the feed pressure and temperature are measured. The temperature measurement serves to check that the temperature control device and/or cooling system are working properly. The flow lines are equipped with shut-off valves to allow individual circuits to be deactivated as needed. The flow rate and temperature of the water exiting the mold directly are measured in the system's return channels. The flow rates on any circuit can be set manually using the fine-adjustment regulating valves.

The pressure, temperature and flow rate signals are transferred via an interface to the injection molding machine's control unit where they are displayed graphically and numerically, evaluated and stored for complete documentation. Engel flomo is integrated with the CC 200 control unit on the Engel injection molding machine. In other words, molders maintain their accustomed control environment rather than needing to learn how to operate the device. In addition to this, integration ensures a high level of process safety, as all quality-related parameters, including information directly from the mold, are visible at a glance.

The Engel flomo is currently available as a 4x and 6x module; if needed, multiple modules can be fitted in parallel. The modules are suitable for temperatures up to 95°C and flow rates of between 1 and 15 l/min or 2 to 40 l/min. Measuring just 280 x 240 x 134 mm or 380 x 240 x 134 mm, these distributors are among the most compact in their class, and they can be mounted directly on the mold mounting platen next to the mold. This reduces the piping overhead and thus the heat loss.-[email protected]