IPF Show: Inverter drives slash dryer, mold chiller power consumption

Inverter drives applied to a dehumidifying dryer and a mold chiller system have enabled energy savings of up to 75% and 57%, respectively, according to supplier Matsui MFG., Co. (Osaka, Japan).

These savings were put into perspective at the Fanuc (At the Foot of Mt. Fuji, Japan) stand at the recent IPF show in Japan, where real-time monitoring of energy consumption at its stand revealed that peripheral machinery, including mold temperature controllers, dryers and robots, consumed close to double the energy of the servomotors on its all-electric injection molding machines.

The MCJ5-I dehumidifying dryer optimizes its operation without operator intervention in order to minimize energy consumption. The MCC-5-I mold chiller, meanwhile, also users inverter control, which not only reduces energy consumption by 57% at 50% load, but also enables water temperature control between 5°C and 35°C with 1°C precision.

Inverter drive is also employed by Harmo (Nagano, Japan) in its HMC-F743Ae and F756Ae mold temperature regulators that operate at a lower electricity frequency of 40 Hz and can save 70% in electricity consumption compared with a standard system operating at 60 Hz according to the vendor. At 40 Hz the pump still circulates enough water to ensure turbulent flow and thus maximum heat transfer, but as the water is flowing at a lower rate, it can remove more heat from the tool while still achieving significant power savings according to Harmo.-[email protected]