Blown film extrusion lines

The Alpine extruder and Alpine die head are ideal for processing PCR materials

• Maximum bubble stability
• The supply of cool melt ensures an efficient and stable production process
• Low energy consumption due to efficient system design

Typical applications;

• Rubbish bags (100%)
• Bags
• Industrial packaging (stretch films, caps)
• Agricultural films
• Heavy-duty sacks

The proven MDO (Machine Direction Orientation) technology from Hosokawa Alpine is a key element in manufacturing high-performance single-material laminates based on polyethylene. It is only by monoaxial orientation that outstanding film characteristics can be achieved that allow PE film structures to substitute PET or BOPP films. These include:

• High stiffness
• Increased oxygen transmission rate
• Excellent optical properties
• Reduction of film thickness

These outstanding film properties are fundamental for the lamination and printing of Full PE packaging films. Economy of production is ensured by Hosokawa Alpine‘s unique TRIO technology “Trim Reduction for Inline Orientation” that significantly reduces the amount of edge trims.

Alpine’s unique vacuum technology optimizes the flatness of the films. This achieves outstanding roll quality and enables easy further processing of MDO PE.

Customized for the formulations and dimensions required to produce heavy duty shipping sacks. This dedicated concept combines

• very high output rates with
• excellent thickness tolerance and
• high reel quality.

The films are further processed on FFS lines designed to produce heavy duty shipping sacks. To this end, the film is fed from a reel as a side gusseted tube. The film tube can either be made directly on the blown film line or be produced by means of a longitudinal welding process from single sheet film made on the blown film line.

Technical Details

The perfect extruder for every application: Our extruder technology is available in three series:

• HX Flex – the all-rounder for the perfect balance between performance and melt quality
• HX Select – the specialist for applications with low shear and cooler melt

Thanks to the low melting point and low rate of shear, the HX Select high performance extruder is ideally suitable for processing bio plastics

• HX Tech – the smooth bore extruder for applications such as hot melt or TPU

Extruders are available in sizes with diameters of between 50 and 135 mm

Extruders can be combined for 1- to 11-layer lines depending on requirements

High-performance barrier screws with low-shear mixers achieve optimum homogeneity of the melt at low temperatures

Consequently, only relatively low cooling capacities are required in production for extremely high output rates

New:
Up to 20% energy savings combined with significantly reduced melt.

• Maximum melt pressure of 800 bar enables highest output
• The screw can be withdrawn through the screen changer to provide major savings in time during cleaning and refitting
• Designed according to the proven swivel plate principle
• Compact space-saving design with short melt lines

Features

• Modular adapter system for connection to Alpine extruders and die heads
• optimized melt channel geometries prevents contamination and extend the service life
• fast heat-up times
• integrated melt pressure measurement, as well as a melt temperature measurement

• The melt feeds in the spiral mandrel manifold are arranged and optimized such that an extremely high fluidic and thermal homogeneity of the melt is achieved. This eliminates so-called “portlines” when coextruding blown films.
• An outstanding appearance with optimum film thickness tolerances – even in the individual layers
• Short purging times – providing the quickest program change on the market!

Features

• Reduced raw material loss due to quickest material changes (extremely short flow paths and round channels)
• High system availability due to low tendency of deposits in the melt carrying channels (self-cleaning effect)
• High output rates at low pressure levels
• Good accessibility thanks to compact design
• All surfaces in contact with polymer are coated
• Large area for the use of internal cooling

Cooling systems are precisely matched to the system configuration. Each cooling system consists of internal and external cooling.

Cooling ring (external cooling)

• Base body fully thermally insulated for increased energy efficiency
• Insulation prevents condensation on the outer surface
• Optimised air distribution increases control accuracy for optimum film tolerances
• Easy integration into the system through only one cooling air supply line

Cooling tower (internal cooling)
The unique monomer collection system for paraffin retention prevents paraffin splashes on the film bubble.

• Considerable improvement of the film quality
• Significant extension of the cleaning intervals
• New nozzle geometry reduces the back pressure and thus ensures optimum use of the existing cooling capacity
• The high volume flow guarantees the highest system output

Design cooling ring

• Dual lip cooling ring insert for driving style short neck with medium flow rates
• Triple lip cooling ring insert for driving style short neck with: highest throughputs, best thickness profiles, improved mechanical properties and large layflat range
• Dual lip cooling ring insert specially designed for long neck operation with high density raw materials

The Hosokawa Alpine oscillating take-off systems can be designed for

• layflat widths of up to 3500 mm
• take-off speeds of up to 250 m/min

Standard Take-off units

• Cost-effective, optimized solution for standard film applications
• With torque support for turning bar pair
• Available in layflats from 800 – 2,600 mm

Hanging take-off unit

• Suspended by means of two internally toothed ball slewing rings
• For high-quality films and films with side folds
• Available in layflats from 800 – 3,200 mm

In order to optimally adapt the take-off to the respective application, the options S-Wrap 1, S-Warp 2 or S-Wrap 4 can be integrated.

For more than 70 years, the Alpine subsidiary HOSOKAWA KOLB has been developing solutions for perfect film rolls

• experience gained from more than 2,500 produced winding machines
• close cooperation with experts from blown film extrusion
• product portfolio that offers the optimum winder for every type of film

Features

• Designed for high speeds
• Face-to-face or back-to-back configuration possible
• effective avoidance of air inclusions
• optimal winding hardness adjustment
• perfect appearance and flatness
• all winders available as WS (single) or WD (double)
• Excellent further processing of the rolls
• Integration of pre take-off and take-off possible

• With over 25 years of experience in monoaxial stretching, we are the pioneers in MDO technology
• The one-of-a-kind TRIO technology “Trim Reduction for Inline Orientation” provides significant material savings in edge trimming
• Superior MDO film quality with outstanding processability, optimized flatness and no hanging edges thanks to our new vacuum technology

Improve film properties & save material costs

Monoaxial film orientation lines allow the improvement of selected film properties to suit specific application.

 Optical properties

• Haze and clarity
• Stiffness

 Machinability

• Barrier properties
• Shrink properties

The film orientation line MDO (machine direction orientation) makes possible the production of breathable blown film with high water vapour permeability.

Save material costs in the production of packaging films.

• Reduced thickness
• Reduced material requirement
• With properties similar to non-oriented film

MDO vacuum technology

Optimized flatness for excellent processability

• Neck-in reduction by up to 70%
• Significantly improved flatness
• Perfectly prepared for lamination or printing
• Outstanding roll quality

Technical details

ExVis Extrusion Visualization

Digital systems improve human-to-machine communication, communication among machines, enhanced visualisation, and improved process control. A blown film line can be completely controlled from a screen by the Alpine user interface called ExVis 5.0.

In addition to operating the machine, the control concept, including visualisation and line control, allows evaluation of processes, alarm messages and energy monitoring, etc.

ISA Intelligent Software Assistant

ISA is a platform to make your production even smarter. The application is used to collect process data from all machines involved in the manufacturing process.

• Simple visualization and analysis of process data
• Data access via freely configurable dashboard: easy to create with drag and drop
• Quality control based on historical process parameters
• Development of use cases for machine learning algorithms