New twin-screw extruder boasts 25% higher output

PVC profile processors, take note: the K 2010 tradeshow will be the official market launch of a new range of parallel twin-screw extruders, said to offer throughput increases of 25% above current machines, while also offering an improvement in energy efficiency.

The new machines are the first joint product development of the new Construction Division that was created by the merger of two extruder manufacturers Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik and Cincinnati Extrusion.  

The two formed battenfeld-cincinnati, with headquarters in both Bad Oeynhausen, Germany and in Vienna, Austria. For the K 2010 tradeshow, the company is presenting a model from this new, parallel twin-screw extruder series. Specially optimized mainly for PVC processing, company officials say it offers users a significant boost in output with a simultaneous increase in energy efficiency. Those battenfeld-cincinnati officials spoke this week during a pre-K 2010 event held in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The new machines, with a 34 L:D processing length, are fitted with screws sized from 78-135 mm in diameter. The four models of this series, which still awaits its own brand name, cover an output range from 100-1000 kg/hr in PVC profile extrusion, an increase in output by about 25% over the models previously offered by both companies.

This boost in performance was realized with the use of a four-shaft drive and by lengthening the processing unit. This drive unit, which the officials say is currently the most powerful on offer in combination with an AC motor, yields a high torque and consequently a high output. The machine's U configuration allows the drive block to be kept compact, so that the extruder requires no extra space in spite of its longer processing unit.

Thanks to the longer processing unit, a longer pre-heating zone helps ensure gentle material processing. As standard, the twin-screw extruders come with a metering device that is thermally separated from the filler, so that no additional water-cooling system is required. The screws are coated with molybdenum and the barrels are nitrided. A 19-inch touchscreen operating panel also is standard.

Walter Hader, who heads the manufacturer's Infrastructure division, said that eventually this twin-screw PVC extruder also would be adapted for pipe extrusion. —Matt Defosse