Coolmation - the market leader in cooling systems for the plastics industry - has completed a prestigious turnkey installation for Corby-based DVD packaging specialist, Dubois Limited, part of AGI Media Packaging. Designed, supplied and installed by Coolmation, this high efficiency cooling system will maintain production efficiency for a huge new injection moulding complex while also providing enough output to meet projected future growth in plant capacity.
As part of its determination to remain a global leader in DVD packaging, Dubois expanded into a new, purpose-built manufacturing facility at its Northamptonshire base earlier this year. The plant currently features 40 CNC controlled, fast-cycle injection moulding machines, each with a polypropylene throughput capacity of 144kg/hr. The cooling system for the project needed to meet specific plant requirements for high flow rates and high system pressure as well as meeting the customer’s demands for a reliable yet extremely flexible 24/7 operation.
Dubois specified Coolmation based on the company’s proven track record for delivering high quality, value for money cooling solutions. Following a detailed site survey and close consultation with project consultants Gelder & Kitchen and the customer, Coolmation recommended a system based on high quality water-cooled chillers and dry air coolers for condenser cooling as a cost-effective and “health and safety secure” alternative to cooling tower installation. This system will ensure that each injection-moulding machine operates at its optimum level, maintaining high standards of product quality, machinery utilisation and maximising plant profitability.
Phase one of the project involved the de-commissioning and re-installation of an existing Coolmation cooling system from an interim Dubois manufacturing site into the first of two plant rooms at the new factory. Once this was completed, Coolmation equipped the new facility with additional chillers, dry air coolers, weir tanks, process and circulating pumps, control cabinets, cabling and over 2½km of stainless steel pipework to complete an impressive, integrated installation. The system is divided into four interconnected zones, with one plant room primarily dedicated to serving two zones but also allowing the customer the flexibility and control to use chillers from one or other plant room to meet demand from other zones as and when required. As the factory expands, so Coolmation has extra capacity built into the new cooling system, with each set of chillers and dry air coolers able to supply an additional 4 injection moulders, if required.
Each plant room features five Blue Box Omega 601 chillers, supplying water at a temperature of 10oC to meet the mould tool cooling load on the 40 injection moulders. Water is fed at a flow rate of 13 litres per minute per line and pressure of 6-8 bar to provide optimum heat transfer and ensure peak machine productivity and output quality. Coolmation has also supplied and installed six dry air coolers at the site to feed the chiller condensers and the hydraulic motors on the moulding machines. The condensers each have a cooling load of 400 kW while each motor requires 45kW of cooling. Based on an ambient temperature of 27oC, the dry air coolers, located outside the factory, ensure that water is supplied to these motors at a temperature of 30oC. Fully complying with all HSE and environmental regulations, the new installation at Dubois was completed in late 2001.
Blue Box Omega 601 chillers from Coolmation are built to deliver impressive energy efficient performance, providing excellent thermal exchange and low noise characteristics. The chillers are also very compact in relation to their individual output size of 166kW, ensuring that units take up the minimum amount of floor space in the two Dubois plant rooms.
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