By Bruce Geiselman
GERMAN EQUIPMENT manufacturer Windmöller & Hölscher has reached an exclusive agreement with Addex to incorporate the New York-based company’s patented Intensive Cooling technology into the cooling systems of some of W&H’s blown film extrusion lines. According to Addex, the Intensive Cooling air-ring technology is responsible for dramatic increases in output.
“The technology is part of our solution, but it’s been, let’s say, enriched and extended with our own technology,” said Falco Paepenmüller, CTO at Windmöller & Hölscher.
W&H will not purchase air rings or any equipment from Addex. Instead, it’s licensed the technology and is now offering its own version as an option for demanding applications. It will be available with W&H’s Arctis air-ring family of products on its Varex II and Optimex II lines.
The technology increases stability, so it’s suited for applications that are particularly challenging to run, the company said.
“We analyzed all elements of the cooling system, reworked and optimized it, including the new development of some individual components,” said Martin Backmann, division manager for R&D for W&H’s extrusion business unit.
The company demonstrated the new cooling system at K 2019 on a Varex II blown film line.
“The Varex II has been designed even down to the smallest detail as a high-output line,” said Torsten Schmitz, head of the extrusion unit at W&H. “With this new cooling system, we reached a new output record — and this is with a real product.”
During the demonstration, the system could achieve a throughput of more than 3,400 pounds per hour on a 400mm die.
Addex introduced its Intensive Cooling technology about three years ago. The latest Intensive Cooling air-ring design replaces a standard lower lip on an air ring with a single Intensive Cooling element that produces a high-velocity airstream. The design delivers a guaranteed 10 percent to 15 percent increase in output and better bubble stability, according to Addex.
The company had been looking to license its technology to an OEM or OEMs before reaching the exclusive agreement with W&H.
“We’re very pleased with the relationship,” Addex President Bob Cree said. “We’re very excited by what we’ve seen, and we also are very excited by where we see things going with Intensive Cooling with W&H.”
While W&H has an exclusive agreement to use Addex’s Intensive Cooling technology in producing new equipment, Addex will continue selling retrofit air rings. The company has the right to market its retrofit business across the world, but plans on limiting it to North America, “because we can service that market very readily,” Cree said.
Cree also recently announced that Addex is launching what he calls Phase 2 of its Intensive Cooling technology. Addex is taking a fresh look at the design of other components within the blown film cooling process with an eye toward optimizing total system performance in combination with Intensive Cooling, he said.
“Intensive Cooling allows us to push output so far that we start to see where other parts of the cooling system begin to break down, such as the main air-ring lip designs, air collars and IBC (internal bubble control) — so that’s where R&D is focused now,” Cree said.
Bruce Geiselman, senior staff reporter
bgeiselman@plasticsmachinerymagazine.com