Mecelec Design Ltd has manufactured two identical machines for a customer in the pharmaceutical industry. These were supplied via a repeat order from the customer, following the successful fulfilment of an initial order.
The machines perform the task of clamping and heating between heater blocks, a number of aluminium collars at a pre-set temperature and duration, to bond them to a flexible hose passing through each of them.
The machines had been designed some time ago in the US by a third party. Mecelec Design Ltd offer a flexible approach and in this case were able to assist the customer by producing to machines essentially via a “make to print” route. Some of the electrical items were re-specified by Mecelec Design Ltd to suit UK electrical supply.
During a review of the existing design, some of the geometrical tolerances of the heater block designs were optimised following a detailed tolerance stack-up analysis, for improved heat transfer to the collars.
Fine control of the bonding temperature is crucial for product quality; the heater blocks of the machines are therefore heated by embedded, PID-controlled heaters with adjacent thermocouples.
Heat-resistant PTFE coating on the heater blocks ensures the collars are released from the heater blocks once bonded.
The machine may be worktop-mounted, making it a straightforward task to achieve a correct working height for the Operator, and a two-handed start arrangement ensures Operator safety.
The machine is stand-alone, requiring connections only to electrical and compressed air supplies.