Application
Plastics and injection moulding
Six temperature zones, a screw profile and a mould recipe that changes four times a shift.
The machine
Injection, extrusion and blow moulding
An injection moulding machine runs a temperature profile along the barrel, then a pressure and velocity profile through the screw, then a hold and a cool. Every mould has its own numbers, and a shop that runs four moulds a shift changes them four times.
The temperature control is where most complaints originate: a zone that overshoots on start-up scorches the first parts, and a zone that reads two degrees low produces short shots that look like a pressure problem.
The control
What has to happen, and fast enough
Four to eight PT100 or thermocouple channels at 16-bit, with PID in the controller and the profile stored in the panel recipe. Sixteen-bit resolution matters here: at 0.1 °C resolution a 16-bit channel resolves the whole barrel range without a gain change.
Screw speed, injection velocity and ejector position run on the 200 kHz pulse outputs or on an R8 axis. The mould recipe holds all of it — temperatures, pressures, timers, ejector stroke — so a mould change is one screen action and an operator does not retype forty numbers.
Recommended hardware
A typical bill of materials for this machine
These are the models the export desk quotes most often for this application — not the only valid combination.
| Function | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Operator panel | SK-102QS | 10.2-inch, mould recipes, alarm history, trend curves |
| Controller | FAs-66MT-AC-E | 34 DI / 32 DO, four pulse axes, Ethernet |
| Temperature | 2 × S-E4TC4T | Eight zones at 16-bit, four digital outputs each |
| Ejector axis | R8-2208P-N + HK-80 flange | 750 W, absolute encoder, pulse command |
I/O counts and axis counts assume a mid-range machine. Send the actual list and the quotation will be sized against it.
Engineering notes
What usually goes wrong
- Use separate PID loops per zone; a shared loop with a multiplexed input is cheaper and visibly worse on start-up.
- Store the ramp, not only the setpoint — start-up overshoot is the most common cause of first-part scrap.
- Alarm on heater-break as a distinct message from over-temperature; they need different responses.
- For extrusion, the same panel pattern works with the die-head zones added to the recipe.
Send the machine, not the model
Describe the axes, the I/O and the market it ships to. We answer with a model code, a cut-out check and a landed-cost quote — usually within one business day.
Next step
Tell us what the machine has to do.
Send the axis count, the I/O list or a photo of the existing panel. You get a model recommendation, a wiring note and a quote — usually within one business day.