June 23, 2004

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (President: Yoshiro Hinoh) will add two new compact models to its hybrid injection molding machine series.

The company has already released the SE350HY with a clamping force of 3,430 kN (350 tons) and the SE450HY with a clamping force of 4,410 kN (450 tons) as hybrid injection molding machines. The smaller SE230HY with a clamping force of 2,250 kN (230 tons) and the SE260HY with a clamping force of 2,540 kN (260 tons) will be added to the existing lineup to fill out the SE-HY Series so that users can select the optimum model best suited to their production volume needs and investment plans.

The SE-HY Series consists of hybrid injection molding machines that make the most of the features of electric and hydraulic technologies. These machines are not only most effective in producing products that are thinner and more precise, highly demanded in the vessel container and many other markets, but they also shorten the molding cycle which results in a substantial energy saving effect that contributes to improving productivity and reducing operational costs for users.
(Example of products: Thin-walled beverage cups, take-out food trays, and MD shells, amongst numerous others.)

Features of SE-HY Series
1. High speed-and high-response injection performance
The hydraulic servo valve and accumulator achieve maximum injection speeds of 800 mm/sec (*1) and a quick start response of 30 msec (*2).
*1: The injection speed is 300-500 mm/sec in electric type machines.
*2: The starting response is the time from the start of injection to the achievement of the maximum injection speed. It is approximately 100 msec (1 msec = 1/1000 sec) in hydraulic machines without accumulators and belt type electric machines.

The faster the speed, the easier the molding with multiple cavities and high-viscosity resin molding.

2. High plasticization capacity
In the same way as the highly reputed fully automatic SE-D Series, both the mold-clamping unit and the plasticization unit are provided with a direct-drive mechanism (*1) to permit application to a wider-range of products.
*1: Compared with general belt-drive mechanisms, the direct-drive mechanism has a servomotor that serves as a driving force incorporated directly in the machine itself, which dispenses with the need for a drive belt. This structure is an original Sumitomo design.

3. High-speed mold clamping-unclamping motion
A large-capacity servomotor is adopted for mold clamping-unclamping control to achieve the fastest mold clamping-unclamping speed for this class machine in the industry, thereby contributing to shorter operation cycles. Furthermore, the low-vibration smooth clamping-unclamping motion is effective in extending the service life of molds.

4. Reduction in maintenance cost
Newly developed long-life type ball screws are provided for the mold-clamping unit as standard equipment to permit molding operation under high-load conditions. In addition, the amount of lubrication consumed has been reduced by about 50% compared with conventional fully automated machines in order to improve maintainability, as well.