Engel has expanded its technical centre in St. Valentin, Austria, to include the largest injection moulding machine in its standard portfolio: the duo 5500 combi M - a servo-hydraulic machine with electric screw drive.
The machine manufacturer opened the customer technical centre two years ago, at the location of its large machine plant in St. Valentin. At the time, Engel invested more than €14 million to open the 3,400 square metres centre with machinery on offering focusing on efficiency, digitalisation and the circular economy.
The centre is divided into four sections: one dedicated to applications for the dual-platen large duo series machines produced on-site; lightweight composites; packaging; and development.
Now, Engel has expanded the first section of the centre by including the duo 5500 combi M for use in automotive applications.
With a clamping force of 55,000 kN, it is by far the largest technical centre machine in the world, Engel said. The machine is 32 metres long, 13 meters wide, 6.8 meters high, and weighs 545 tons. The extra-large mould space accommodates moulds weighing up to 150 tons, with possible shot weights up to 42 kg.
The manufacturer said the machine was developed to meet the demands of the automotive industry, as it increasingly uses larger plastic parts to reduce vehicle weight, improve fuel efficiency, and lower production costs.
Engel’s clients can trial the machine at the centre, with the first trials having already been scheduled. The machine allows performing tool and material tests as well as the development of new manufacturing technologies.
It supports coating visible parts with polyurethane; foam injection moulding for lightweight construction and warpage reduction; processes with long glass fibre or tape reinforcement; compression injection moulding; high-quality optical parts made from transparent plastics; multi-colour injection moulding; and back-injection of decorative/functional films.
For polyurethane applications, popular in automotive industry, two Cannon systems are available, one for small-volume applications and one for high-volume applications. Additionally, a corresponding dosing unit allows for colouring the polyurethanes to create exciting designs, Engel said in a statement.
St. Valentine, as well as the company’s headquarters in Schwertberg, were the stage of Engel’s Digital Days on June 19 and 20. Over 400 visitors attended the event, where Engel shared how digitalisation is advancing the field of injection moulding.