The ECS SP 80 single-stage injection-stretch-blow molding machine from SIPA is an excellent choice for companies wanting to produce wide-mouthed PET jars with the best performance, economically.
Mix of servo and hydraulic drives
The machine features a hybrid drive system that uses the most appropriate technology for each set of movements. So melt injection, blow mold opening and closing, indexing and preform stretching are all carried out using servo drives, making a single hydraulic pump sufficient for other movements (three pumps are the norm on rival machines). An accumulator system provides smooth and fast hydraulic operations.
Fine-tuned features
The ECS SP 80 can produce containers with neck finishes up to 130 mm in diameter. It has a dedicated injection design to optimize material distribution and reduce cycle time. The conditioning system design is also dedicated to provide a preform thermal profile based on the bottle specification measured in terms of overall performance and material distribution. And in the stretch-blow station, special designs for the blow seals reduce the high pressure air requirement during the blowing phase, cutting consumption of compressed air.
Many molds, one hot runner system
SIPA has developed a special preform injection mold technology for its ECS SP machines that makes it possible to use the same hot runner system for all molds with the same number of cavities, whatever the container design. This has the obvious advantage that any future investment in new molds can be contained. Valve gating is standard for the hot runner nozzles, to ensure the fastest cycle times.
More is more
An ISBM system, with so many movements, needs to be robust. There is a lot of talk about lightweighting in PET packaging – hence the expression “less is more” – but when it comes to equipment, heavy can be good. The ECS SP 80 hits the scales at 15 tonnes.
The ECS SP 80 is large in other ways too: cavity pitch is greater than the norm, sufficient for example to produce two 10-liter bottles at a time. Shot weights are also high: up to 530g.
Energy use is less though
Despite its size, the machine uses a minimal amount of energy: around 500W/kg, which is very low.