Out with old, in with the new – IWC supplies new cooling tower for injection moulding plant.
Thermal solutions provider IWC, was contacted by HIWALT (Pty) Ltd to supply a new cooling tower to replace 3 existing units.
HIWALT specialises in plastic injection moulding and prides itself on its European heritage, bringing with it, a high standard of craftsmanship and precision. The new cooling tower is required to maintain the standards set by HIWALT to ensure the continued supply of components to their clients in the automotive, pharmaceutical and mining industries.
Lucy Hawthorne, our Industrial Division Manager conducted a site assessment at the factory and was surprised to find 3 of our very old cooling towers operating and supplying cooling to this plant. The oldest cooling tower dated back to 1988, a testament to the quality of the cooling towers.
Together, the 3 cooling towers, the Searle Bush FGS-7, the Sulzer EWK064 and the Tektower EWK064, symbolise the progression and history of the package cooling tower in South Africa. Only two of these towers were supplying the plant with cooling. The new EWK225 cooling tower will provide the required cooling and some extra duty for future expansion.
Incredibly, the cooling towers were still in working condition due to the regular services and the fabulous product, that fibreglass is. The towers were not as efficient as they could be due to fouling, causing the fill and drift eliminators to clog, and wear and tear of the aging mechanical assemblies.
The new EWK225 cooling tower not only looks great but will also provide the temperatures required for the plastic injection moulding.
One of the most important steps in the injection moulding process is maintaining a consistent cooling cycle. This is due to the fact that cooling has a significant influence on the production rate and the overall quality of the finished item.
A little about injection moulding ..
Plastic injection moulding is the process of heating plastic resin to the point of melting, where the material is pressed into a mould and cooled into its final shape. Raw material granules (resin) are placed in a hopper and plunged through a heated channel to be melted to liquid prior to reaching a mould and subsequently cooled to become a solid final piece.
The cooling process within plastic injection moulding is critical to the quality of the product, and may require about 50-75% of the total cycle time. From a production standpoint, this process must be a fixed variable in order to produce quantities on time and keep rejection rates to a minimum.
Therefore, it is imperative to maintain a clean, efficient cooling channel, capable of removing heat at the required rates and this is where the EWK cooling tower’s efficiency becomes essential.
Where do our cooling towers fit into the process?
The IWC produced range of EWK package cooling towers are an integral part of the cooling process as the cooling tower affects the cooling of the recirculated water used in the moulding process.
What is a cooling tower and why is it used?
In simple terms, a cooling tower is a device designed to reject unwanted heat into the atmosphere. Water is a highly effective heat transfer medium and as such is used extensively for rejecting heat generated in the moulding process.
Why choose our towers?
Our iconic EWK cooling tower range are manufactured in a robust, durable and compact glass reinforced polyester casing which means they can withstand the harsh African sun.
They also have a very high cooling capacity accommodating flows of up to 350m3 of water per hour in a single tower.
Further advantages
- Non-corrosive and light weight
- Long maintenance intervals and service life
- Easy to maintain due to direct drive mechanical set up
- Plug and play design results in a simple installation.
