Increased production led to problems

A Belgian customer were using seven 12-zone aluminium manifolds on a Stork injection moulding machine and their Mouldflo system kept showing an error on the flow in several zones.

At first, they believed that the Mouldflo sensors were defect. Therefore, they checked the specific circuits (that the Mouldflo system proposed) with a single-zone flow measuring device.

It turned out the system showed an error because the flow was only approximately 1 liter/minute, which was way below the minimal of 2 liters/minute. This surprised them, because the actual flow was supposed to be even higher than 2 liters/minute.

The costumer was using a frequency-controlled pump, which automatically adjusted the pressure to maintain 3 bar. An inspection of the pump showed that it was working properly, but it did not reach the 3 bar, as it should.

The conclusion was this: As they had increased their production with more injection moulding machines, the demanded flow also increased, but the pump for the cooling water had remained the same (and this caused problems). So, Mouldflo showed them that they needed to upgrade their cooling system.