Intelligent assistance systems from WITTMANN support process optimization

Fluctuating material properties and changes in environmental conditions can quickly lead to quality losses and even rejected parts. This quality risk is exacerbated by a lack of expertise and limited experience among production staff due to the growing shortage of skilled workers. These are precisely the reasons why more and more injection molders are turning to digital assistance systems. WITTMANN’s adaptive assistance systems in the HiQ and Expert product lines ensure a repeatable, stable injection molding process, even when skilled personnel are not present during every shift. Even with a modest investment, significant success can be achieved by digitizing individual process steps on both the injection and clamping sides.

Expert is the name for software solutions that demonstrate their capabilities on the clamping side. The HiQ software packages support the optimization of the injection process. Whether used individually or in combination with other assistance systems, Expert and HiQ ensure

• transparency,
• simplified operation,
• greater efficiency 
• and consistently high quality.

During the injection phase, the software continuously analyzes the melt viscosity. If the measured value deviates from the target specification, HiQ Flow adjusts both the switch-over point and the holding pressure within the same cycle. The result: consistent part weight – cycle after cycle. This ensures consistently high part quality even when environmental conditions or raw material properties fluctuate – for example, when processing regrind or other recycled materials.

If the clamping force is too high or too low, part quality quickly suffers. Furthermore, an unnecessarily high clamping force accelerates wear in the mold and the injection molding machine. Expert ClampAdjust puts an end to this and automatically determines the exact optimal clamping force for the part and mold.

The software enables particularly precise control of screw movement at the switchover point and during the holding pressure phase – for balanced pressure distribution and uniform cavity filling. The potential for optimization is particularly high in applications with multi-cavity molds.