Blow Mold 10,000-Liter Tanks?
Mammoth machine has a 660-ton clamp and 726-lb accumulator head.
Rikutec, the German builder of large extrusion blow machines, revealed at NPE2015 last month that it is building what it calls “the world’s largest blow molder” for making above-ground water tanks of 7000 L and weighing 550 lb in the Middle East. The GBM S10.000 LD machine (photo) has a clamp force of 600 metric tons, 400 L accumulator head, and four extruders of 150-mm diam., providing a total throughput capacity of 5720 lb/hr. The max. shot capacity of the head is 726 lb. It can produce hollow bodies of up to 10,000 L. The water tanks will have a UV-stabilized outer layer, food-grade inner layer, and two middle layers pigmented black to prevent light transmission and algae growth. The middle layers will also contain calcium carbonate for stiffness at summer temperatures up to 131 F.
These tanks will be 10-12 mm thick and molded at about eight tanks/hr using a single operator. Rikutec compares this to rotomolding tanks 25-30 mm thick with a foamed core and requiring four people to produce one tank/hr.
Rikutec (U.S. office in Whitinsville, Mass.) exhibited together with Kautex Machines,
North Branch, N.J. The two companies have cooperated since 2010. Their product lines are complementary, since Kautex produces machines for up to about 1000 L, which is where the Rikutec line starts.
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