This first in a range of INTEGREX presses was designed and manufactured by INTOCO for ALCAN INTERNATIONAL for installation in their research and development centre at Kingston, Ontario and demonstrates the future trend of customising presses to satisfy the definitive requirement of the commercial extruder.

The advanced specification and build criteria of this example satisfied ALCAN’S requirement to simulate all possible extrusion process conditions and problems that extruders may encounter with their own presses during the course of production.

KELLY CONTROL SYSTEMS were selected to supply carefully developed software to provide closed loop speed and pressure control accurate to within 0.1mm/sec and 0.1 bar. The extrusion speed can be maintained exactly constant or can follow a programmable algorithm for extruding isothermally.

All press movements during dead cycle are ramped up and ramped down to provide fast yet smooth movement and hydraulic shock is non-existent. Closed loop position control on all movements is made possible by integral position and velocity transducers within the cylinders.

ALCAN process engineers further requested the ability to simulate the very best and the very worst extrusion speed conditions and therefore an open loop speed system was provided as a selectable option.

The press is fully automatic and includes a comprehensive fault diagnostics and alarm system. Operation of the press is performed through an interactive touch sensitive screen which dynamically displays the process in real-time. All extrusion parameters including temperatures, main ram speeds, pressures, profile exit temperatures and timed events are automatically logged to a computer network for future analysis.

The pumps provide the main source of power for the press and each is capable of delivering 450 litres/min at 210 bar. The pumps are fitted with the latest controls, which give extremely rapid electronic control of pump displacement and system pressure, allowing very accurate PLC control of pump tilt position, enabling pre-programmed pressure profiles to be followed closely during the extrusion process.

Generally the pump/motor sets, control valves and auxiliary components are mounted on a fabricated bedplate located in a power house adjacent to the press frame. A feature of the power unit is the use of cartridge valves and manifold blocks reducing the amount of pipework to a minimum and making the unit and all components compact and easily accessible for maintenance purposes.