Project Description
Black heaters
Part 3 Machine FC 780
HTS black infrared ceramic heating element
During the thermoforming process, heating material and related power consumption are unavoidable but can be rationalized and reduced.
The suppliers of industrial heating elements have different ceramic elements but gradually the most efficient ones are becoming standard on high speed vacuum and pressure forming machines.
The leading supplier for ceramic heating elements for thermoforming application is without any doubt Elstein from Germany.
The new HTS black heaters from Elstein are produced using the hollow casting ceramic process, and the elements are filled with thermal insulation material.
At working temperature, over 75% of the electrical energy supplied is transferred to the material.
During in-house testing in WM Thermoforming Machines plant in Switzerland, we tested different material types and thicknesses in order to check the effective energy saving granted by the latest generation ceramic elements.
WM FC 780 E steel rule cutting machine is equipped with the sheet heating section with both upper and lower heater banks with HTS black infrared ceramic elements with independently controlled zones, and during the test with PP material with sheet thickness of 700 microns the machine showed 15% of heating energy saving.