As far as the production of molded rubber products is concerned, approximately 30% of the energy is supplied to the drive. Although the cost of energy is only a small percentage compared to the cost of completing the entire product, especially for the drive, the application of intelligent systems will enable energy savings.

The fast-running, fully automated rubber injection machine can run up to 6,000 hours per year, resulting in a production cycle of approximately 100,000 units. A complete cycle time is between 30 seconds and a few minutes. This is mainly due to the certain machine rest time when the drive in the rubber machine is idling during the machining process.

At present, the motor of this mainstream drive is connected to an electric/hydraulic regulating pump, and its energy consumption is mainly in the form of heat. Moreover, dry running and cleaning activities reduce the efficiency of the drive system and also greatly affect machine operating time.

The pressure present on the drive requires the corresponding energy to run dry. In contrast, the concept of electric drive, in which electric energy is converted by the translational movement of direct machine parts, achieves higher efficiency and processing speed. In the field of natural rubber processing, process requirements such as transfer processes, like various energy-intensive operations, limit the technical efficiency of pure power systems.

Mapland's cold drive technology links the system drive benefits of hydraulic drives to the energy efficiency of electric drives. Modern slave system technology is coupled to a variable speed motor pump that reduces the main area power consumption on the drive by as much as 70%. In addition, the use of cold drive technology results in a significant reduction in cost, which is primarily achieved by draining the oil and greatly reducing the idle connection of the power supply. Another advantage is that the noise of the system can be significantly reduced by 50%.

In the machine cycle, a newly designed software and hardware unit takes over the flow control in the hydraulic system. Energy distribution is done by hydraulic components. If there is no motion in the machine, the drive will automatically stop moving, and there will be no energy requirements in the system.

Due to the distribution of hydraulic power, additional movements related to machining technology and hydraulic drive are no longer limited. In this way, it can be understood that, for example, a low-cost hydraulic demolding apparatus is realized in a usual manner.

Typical applications for cold drive systems in rubber injection molding machines result in positive gravitation of up to 3000 kN. Compared to the hydraulic drives currently in use, the design of the cold drive system allows the speed of a single machine to operate significantly. The resulting reduction in cycle times also brings additional benefits.

An obvious option to provide effective amortization time for the system is based on energy cost calculations for the current year:

Machine: MHF400/300E2
Time period: 73 seconds.
Tool: Gasket, 6000 hours of hot runner system per hour, automatic demoulding
Energy cost: 0.12 EUR / kWh

Reduced cost by cold drive by €1,480

Note: By reducing oil cooling, it is ensured that 300m3 of cooling water and 5400 kWh of cooling capacity are saved. And the added benefit of reducing idle current consumption is not included.

The new drive concept already exists for C-type machines as well as horizontal machines.

Productivity, including precision silicone rubber and thermoplastic elastomers, has been further enhanced by effective drives, drive speeds and machine applications.

In the C-type test machine, a large number of new programs were run. This selective logic movement allows Maplan customers to build additional functions themselves. This Mapland control system allows for functional control and direction measurement without additional programming effort, regardless of the type of drive.

Since then, in addition to speed, energy consumption has also been optimized, and the most cost-effective way to achieve cost reduction is to achieve fast processing. Because of this, the new drive will also be used in horizontal machines where it is used to produce thin-walled gasket originals due to its short cycle time.

The optimum cure time is obtained by the Maplan Cure2 operation. Machines equipped with such systems with constant rubber vulcanization rates and consistent quality are able to optimize production cycles without operator intervention.