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UTILITIES:
Irrespective of the discipline of operations, “Utilities” or “service equipments”
form the back bone of a manufacturing system as these equipments contribute
to the proper functioning of the main machinery.
Similarly, the service line equipments that support the system of operation are:
• Cooling towers as to supply cooling water recycled.
• Softeners as to maintain the quality of the cooling medium
• Chillers for supply of chilled water to molds and Mold sweat preventor
• Air compressors for supply of air
• Hoists for handling of molds, machine assembly etc.,
Similarly, if the hopper throat is kept hot, the plastic granules enter into the
barrel begins to soften at this stage itself. They stick to each other, prevent free
flow of granules. This will increase doze time, lead to material bridging.
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ROLE OF UTILITIES IN A MOLDING SHOP
COOLING TOWERS:
Principle of Operation:
In an induced draught type cooling towers, the principle of adiabatic
expansion is adapted to cool the water.
The cooling tower houses multiple nozzles that have small orifices as
openings, PVC fills or wooden logs stacked in zigzag manner as to create a
turbulent flow and a fan to blow air outside. When the water (that carries the
heat from the system) is sprinkled through the small nozzle openings, the
temperature reduces. As the air is thrown out of the tower by the fan, the water
evaporates. This evaporation removes the heat from the remaining water. This
results in the cooling of water. The cooled water is again taken to sump for
another cycle.
However, in this process, one cannot reduce the water temperature less than
the wet-bulb temperature. The wet bulb temperature is read when a wet wick
is covered over the bulb dipped in a distilled water container whereas the dry
bulb temperature is read as it is.
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ROLE OF UTILITIES IN A MOLDING SHOP
CHILLERS:
We have seen that with cooling towers, we cannot reduce the water
temperature lesser than the wet bulb temperature. However, our process
requires more cooling and perforce we use chillers. Chillers are of two types
namely Water-cooled and Air-cooled. In our facility, the impac chillers and
Flying tiger chillers are water cooled ones and the Nova-Frigo are air-cooled
ones.
How it works:
The chilling medium or refrigerant is compressed and the gas is transformed
into vapor with high pressure. This is passed through condensers (water or air)
where the vapor is transformed into liquid. This liquid at high pressure is
passed through an expansion valve. Due to Joule-Kelvin effect, the
temperature drops drastically and this chilled liquid is passed into exchangers
and this takes away the heat from the water. In the process, the liquid is heated
and transforms into gas that is compressed again for further cycles.
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ROLE OF UTILITIES IN A MOLDING SHOP
Optimum heat transfer would take place if the flow were turbulent. To ensure
turbulent flow the flow rate should be of 150 liters /min. Cumulative flow
requirement of heat exchangers, hopper throats and molds are to be calculated.
To overcome the resistance in the pipe lines, the water pressure at the
generating point should be at least 5kg/cm². If the pressure requirement at the
end point is more, we can use booster pumps.
WATER QUALITY:
Despite having all the equipments working in good order, one may not get the
desired results if the quality of the water is not good. Water can classified into
two categories namely Scaling and Corrosive. More the water is harder, more
the potential for scaling and more the water is softer heavier the corrosion in
the lines. One has to strike a balance between the two by monitoring the key
parameters.
Those key parameters are pH value, Hardness (total Magnesium and calcium
carbonate content, total alkaline content), Total dissolved salts (TDS) and iron
content. The hardness and TDS is measured in PPM (parts per million).
The pH value of the water can be maintained by dozing acids. The ideal range
is 7.5 to 8.5. The hardness of the water can be maintained by operating the
softeners. By adding sodium chloride (common salt), the magnesium and
Calcium ions are replaced with sodium ions thus turning the water softer.
However, in this process the TDS remains unaltered. The ideal range of
hardness would be 50 to 100ppm. The TDS can be reduced only by changing
the basic nature of the water. Water harvesting and re-charging ground water
table is the permanent solution for this. However, TDS ranging less than
1000ppm is normal.
As we have read earlier, we have to strike a balance between harness and TDS
levels. On ideal conditions, one would maintain the ranges of pH 7.5 -8.5;
Hardness <50ppm; TDS<1900ppm.
AIR COMPRESSORS:
Compressors are required for raw material handling equipment, part handling
equipment, pneumatic ejection in molds, movement of safety gates,
maintenance of molds and machine and though not advised cleaning.
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ROLE OF UTILITIES IN A MOLDING SHOP
The atmospheric air is a mixture of various gases and water vapor. The
presence of water vapor in the air is termed as Humidity. The amount of vapor
contained in the air depends upon the temperature and pressure.
In an oven, there will be number of trays with tiny holes on the bottom to
facilitate hot air to be blown. The blower will be mounted on the rear side with
heaters in the sideward. The requisite temperature can be set on the
temperature controller. As the blower pumps air that is heated by the heaters,
the plastics is dried.
Hopper dryers are nothing but a hopper with passage for the hot air to be
blown inside. The principle of operation is similar to oven. Heater with a
temperature controller and the air-duct is provided on the side of the dryer.
Higher air temperature means lesser relative humidity. However, the dew point
would not change with higher air temperature. Thus the moisture cannot be
removed from the air. As the moisture equilibrium content of the plastic pellets
is limited, the degree of dryness is also limited. Thus smaller pellets dry faster
than the larger ones.
WHY DEHUMIDIFIER?
The air surrounding the pellets should have lesser dryness as to pull out the
moisture from the pellet to atmosphere. A dryer only blows hot air onto the
pellets and the moisture is not effectively removed.
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ROLE OF UTILITIES IN A MOLDING SHOP
The desiccant can get saturated beyond which it cannot absorb moisture.
However, by regenerating the same, it can be re-used. If the desiccant is
exposed to a flow of air stream at very high temperature, the moisture from the
desiccant is driven out and it is ready for another cycle of adsorption.
Based on the circuit and feedback the card will drive the triac to energize the
heater. A fast acting glass fuse (faster than HRC fuses and MCBs) are used in
this circuit as to prevent damage to heater or triacs.
The heating medium in MTCs can be Oil or Water. Oil is preferred the
temperature is to be maintained more than 60°C. We use MTC with water
circulation.
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