Servo Drive System enables ultra-precise movement of swivel arms in injection molding machines

German automation specialist HEKUMA was looking for a servo drive system for a swivel arm that operates two side-by-side injection molding machines with high dynamics. Maximum torque density and excellent positioning accuracy were the decisive selection criteria. The firm’s design engineers favored our Galaxie® D Drive System. Thanks to its gearbox kinematics, which are superior on principle, Galaxie® D meets all of the customer’s requirements with ease.

HEKUMA: First in high performance automation systems in the environment of injection molding machines

HEKUMA GmbH of Hallbergmoos, near Munich in Germany, is a leading manufacturer of high performance automation systems for injection molding processes. The company’s core business areas comprise powerful take-out systems, injection molding machine and mold integration and complete, turnkey solutions for the take-out, processing, assembling, labeling, testing and packaging steps. Since HEKUMA was founded in1974, more than 5000 machines have been shipped to customers in the medical, automotive, packaging machinery and consumer goods industries. 

GALAXIE®: PERMANENTLY SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE-FREE

When installed in the swivel arm, the compact Galaxie® D is completely inaccessible. That’s why permanent freedom from servicing and maintenance was so important to HEKUMA. With its high backlash stability and innovative motor feedback system, which requires no battery buffer in spite of the multiturn functionality, our innovative drive system meets another of the end customer’s key requirements.

»We didn’t have to make a single technical compromise thanks to Galaxie®. «

GALAXIE®: THE IDEAL CHOICE FOR HIGH-AVAILABILITY AUTOMATION

The HEKUMA swivel unit serves as a connecting element in a two-stage injection molding process with thermoset and thermoplastic substrates. Each insertion and take-out element has 32 cavities. The cycle time is 20 seconds and the machine operates 340 days a year in three shifts. In a twelve-month period, in other words, the transfer unit with the Galaxie® D moves more than 47 million items.

Yet it wasn’t just the Galaxie® D’s dynamics that convinced HEKUMA: the swivel arm of the transfer unit turns 180° in the Y direction and has a mass of 270 kg in movement. In order to position the cavities exactly in front of the injection molding machines, therefore, the drive had to combine extremely high stiffness with minimal torsional backlash. In addition, only a defined, limited installation space was available for the mechanical integration of a new motor / gearbox unit – and with its compact dimensions, the Galaxie® D was once again clearly superior.