By Karen Hanna
A design incorporating a new clamping unit and two diagonal tie bars is the highlight of a portfolio of rebranded and new machines Bekum is calling its Industrial line. The line joins an expanding stable of blow molding machines — including other new and rebranded lines — that all now boast new machine control features, along with an optional artificial intelligence health and condition monitoring program that can evaluate 1,500 data points per second.
The Industrial line’s machines can make large canisters, drums, technical parts, intermediate bulk containers and fuel tanks. They include the EBlow 38S and EBlow 38D, as well as the XBlow 50, XBlow 100, XBlow 200 and XBlow 300 — which all were formerly known by the same numbers preceded by a different prefix, BA. They have a patent-pending hybrid electric clamping system that significantly reduces energy consumption and machine noise, and are designed to be scalable and modular, according to the company.
Like all new blow molding machines offered by Bekum, the Industrial line models all come with Control 8.0, which also is available as a retrofit.
Control 8.0 offers an Industry 4.0 upgrade in collecting and analyzing data, and optimizing parameters. It provides access to remote service and augmented reality functions. Benefits include early detection of processing deviations or failures, greater machine uptime and faster setup times, the company states on its website.
A press release states, “The clamping force can be individually set on the display of the new Bekum Control 8.0, as can the size of the variable mould thickness. The mould itself can be quickly and easily removed from the side via quick-change plates.”
Control 8.0 provides real-time insights that allow operators to recognize and correct problems right away, so their machines don’t waste material and machine time, while producing scrap, according to the company.
“With our new AI platform, this problem can be easily circumvented. By fully automatically compiling all sensor data, evaluating and comparing with past data, changes in drives or heating elements, for example, can be identified in real time,” the company stated in response to questions submitted by Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing.
With Control 8.0, users can continuously measure energy requirements, monitor the flow and temperature of air and water, and keep tabs on plant temperature and humidity.
“At various levels of the data collection process, these machine health conditions are summarized and displayed as graphs by Industrial Health Scoring. The operator simply sets the required thresholds for key operating parameters; with an alarm being immediately triggered if the values exceed or fall below the thresholds. Displays of individual data streams can be shown in dashboards to suit customer requirements, and comparisons can be made between time periods, batches, the same machines or components,” according to the company.
The control features an intuitive user interface, navigable on a variety of devices, including a 24-inch high-definition display provided by Bekum. For fast setup and manual functions, an optional hand-held control unit also is available.
Control 8.0 users can set up their own dashboards and customize their layouts, as well as view data such as throughput and energy consumption.
Karen Hanna, senior staff reporter
Contact:
Bekum America Corp., Williamston, Mich., 517-655-4331, www.bekumamerica.com
Vital Statistics
EBlow 38S, EBlow38D | XBlow 50 | XBlow 100 | XBlow 200 | XBlow 300 | |
Clamping force | 50 tons | 56.2 tons | 112.4 tons | 224.8 tons | 337.2 tons |
Maximum mold width | 2.5 feet | 2.6 feet | 3.9 feet | 4.9 feet | 7.2 feet |
Daylight opening | 1.3 feet | 2.3 feet | 2.8 feet | 3.9 feet | 3.9 feet |
