Waste not, want not: Sica’s green machines save costs, material and energy

Hailed as a "green turning point," Sica S.p.A., a family-owned Italy-based manufacturer of tooling and downstream equipment for plastic pipe processing lines, launched three new machines at K 2013 that the company said deliver functionality, productivity and quality as well as offering an enhanced environmental performance.

According to Valeria Giacomoni, managing director at Sica, the innovative green machines generated quite some interest. "Visitors were particularly interested in our swarfless cutting machine which, to our knowledge, is unique and revolutionary and for which we have applied for two patents," said Giacomoni, referring to the company's newest planetary saw.

The new TRS 160 W cutting machine for PVC, PP and PE pipes finally provides a solution to the perennial problem of chips and dust, Sica said. Its design enables cutting and chamfering operations to be carried out without removing material. This saves considerably on raw material - which accounts for around 80% of the cost of a pipe - but also eliminates the need for scrap suctioning and recycling. In traditional cutting machines, chips and dust end up in the sawing mechanisms, despite suctioning, thus contributing to increased maintenance costs. With the new saw, dust and swarf contaminants are completely absent.

Sica also introduced two new "green" belling machines. The first, the Multibell 200M for PVC sewage lines is a compact-sized automatic belling machine offering a new system for multi- socketing pipes, featuring an ease of use and quick format change. The flagship version of this new model has been enhanced to reach an output of 900 sockets/hour. The machine is still completely pneumatic, but the hydraulic unit has been dispensed with, yielding a cleaner machine that is easy to run. Accessibility is much improved due to the introduction of a completely movable machine bench, which allows complete and safe access to the main areas required for set-up in order to facilitate and accelerate the format change phases. Also being shown was the completely redesigned Everbell socketing machine for processing PP pipes.

The second innovation was the Unibell 200 E&P belling machine, featuring electro mechanical movement of the forming carriage, thus eliminating n the hydraulic movements from the machine, saving energy and yielding both functional and environmental advantages. The kinematic chain, consisting of a brushless motor with resolver and a jackscrew with ball recirculation ensures the quick and silent mandrel positioning in a closed loop with high mechanical efficiency (up to 70%). No hydraulic units means there is no oil that needs to be cooled, which considerably reduces water consumption, and eliminates any possibility of oil leaking into the environment. Ordinary maintenance is also reduced.

 "The K show was successful for Sica. In general, we noticed a more optimistic crowd, even if the difficult time are not over yet, " noted Giacomoni, adding: "We had more or less the same number of visitors as at the previous show, but more enquires and greater interest thanks to our achievements to produce green machines, which enable pipe producers to save energy, materials and tools changing time."