A Colorado maker of injection molding machines is adding a new model to its lineup and has received five U.S. patents for its economical low-pressure technology. Extrude To Fill also has shifted from selling the machines to a lease-only strategy.
The company offers two models, the E30V vertical clamp machine and the E120H horizontal clamp machine. In May, it will add a third model — the E50H horizontal clamp machine. The E30V is equivalent to a machine with 30 tons of clamping force, the E50H is equivalent to a 50-ton press, and the E120H is equivalent to a 120-ton press.
“This means the platen sizes are in the same size as those conventional machines we compete against, so tools that can fit the conventional machine bolt directly into ours with no changes,” said Rick Fitzpatrick, company CTO and co-founder. “The E30V weighs 850 pounds, the E120H weighs 5,000 pounds, and the E50H is estimated to weigh in at 3,500 pounds.”
The company was awarded its most recent patent in October, Fitzpatrick said.
“We are seeking patent coverage in the European Union, Asia and South America,” he said. “Taiwan and Vietnam already have approved some of the patents.”
The patent process took about three years and five patents were needed to cover the entire machine, he said. The patents cover a mold; an extruder with a barrel, screw and nozzle; a torque sensor that provides real-time feedback for pressure in the mold cavity; and a controller that monitors and controls the extruder to rotate the screw in two directions.
“The control system is the most important piece of the patent,” said Fitzpatrick, who invented the technology. “The machine’s control system is intelligent, and it interprets what’s going on with the plastic. We can understand the process and make machine setting changes to alter the process through the control system. It is very difficult to get patents on control algorithms. It’s not like a straightforward mechanical design patent.”
He said it would be difficult for another company to replicate the machine without violating the patents.
“The five patents are interrelated. You can’t use one patent without the other to create the molding machine,” Fitzpatrick said. “How to use all the patented parts together to create the machine is the key. The patent examiner with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office said that as saturated as the plastics molding field is in patent protection, nothing comes close to what we are doing.”
To protect its patented technology, the company, which used to sell its machines, now only will lease them.
“We have leased four of the E30V models and one E120H model. We have other machines in the field that are earlier versions that we sold,” Fitzpatrick said. “When developments continued to advance the technology’s capabilities and it became apparent that X2F technology was going to have more of an impact, it was decided that we would no longer sell machines.
“It is clear to us that the technology will continue to improve and take some leaps in capabilities, and that is our focus internally. Leasing machines allows us to continue working closely with users to harvest data from machines during their lifecycle to drive improvements and new developments that come as the result of long-term use in the field.
“If someone purchases the machine, it is difficult to control where it is used, and it would be impossible to prevent a reverse-engineering attempt. We cannot say that we’d never sell a machine, but, at this time, our focus is on defining what the plastics industry will look like in the future with a technology that removes current constraints of injection molding use, changes how injection molding is done, what it costs, what tooling looks like and costs, and what materials can be injection molded,” Fitzpatrick said.
“The most unique feature is static heat conduction,” Fitzpatrick said. “We use static heat conduction and inject into the mold without high shear. The plastic does not get as hot, so our cool times are less. We also need less water to cool the machine.
“It’s easy to heat plastics to a melt temperature, but how do you move it under control? With traditional molding machines, the material sticks to the screw, making it difficult to move the plastic melt. One key to our process is how we manage, manipulate and move plastic melt with control and accuracy using static heat conduction with a unique extruder.”
The system can handle low- and high-volume product runs. Its screw can process any commercially available resin, including highly-filled resins and recycled materials. The process is especially attractive to certain customers.
“We are looking for partners that want to mold fragile products, or products that need to be put back in a mold for a second molding,” he said. “Our fill times range up to 3 seconds on larger parts. But we get the material in at a cooler temp, so the parts cool quicker. When you inject plastic into a mold, on parts with 2mm and 3mm part sections, we can maintain an active load against the mold cavity to continue pushing material into that part. It forces the plastic out against the core walls. We get more heat transfer because of that and have less warp.”
Bruce Adams, senior staff reporter
Contact: Extrude To Fill LLC Loveland, Colo., 877-572-2662,
www.x2f.com
