Preform production: revolutionary rotary injection-compression system

Within the PET packaging solutions, SIPA’s Xtreme is rotary platform for manufacturing preform at high productivity and efficiency.

All the advantages of Sipa's Xtreme technology

It is a revolutionary preform injection-compression technology that guarantees the lowest preform cost in the industry and offers, at the same time, the highest freedom to create new and unique designs of extremely light-weighted preforms for a wide range of applications.  

There is almost no limitation on wall thickness, and L/t ratio is very high, so it is possible to produce preforms that are up to 10% lighter than traditional injection molded ones.

The main advantages of using Xtreme

Further to the above, Xtreme has a very compact footprint, it is possible to produce two different preforms simultaneously, mold changeover time is very fast (of only 1 minute per cavity), injection pressure is over 5 times lower than traditional injection thus reducing material stress and energy consumption.

The system is very clean (there are no hydraulics, only electrical and pneumatic movements) and it can control the quality of every preform, in-line.

READ MORE:"From used to new 100% rPET bottles: SIPA Xtreme Renew"

Material plasticization phase

Main features of Xtreme extruder for the plasticization of PET granules are:

• Electrically-driven screw extruder motors and motion
• Pure extrusion process without shooting pot
• 120 mm extruder (L/D 25) up to 1000 Kg/h
• 140 mm extruder (L/D 25) up to 1,400 Kg/h
• Optimization of plasticizing screw with true continuous rotation to reduce consumptions and AA levels

Rotary injection-compression phase

Injection-compression rotary wheel with following features:

• Modular design of the wheel and of the press module
• Reduced cavity tonnage for reduced mold wear (max 2 ton)
• Mold safety: intrinsic protection; each mold can remain open
• Easy maintenance: each module can be fast removed (20 minutes per station)
• The use of single cavity dosimeter allows the simultaneous production of 2 different preforms
• Preforms exit aligned, so can be sorted in different bins.

Preforms post-mold cooling phase

Main features of preforms cooling phase:

• Cooling with cold air at high speed on external and internal preform surface
• No change over needed: self adapted grippers
• Cooling time = 6 cycle time 
• Spiral chain equipped with high efficiency bearing: no maintenance needed
• 4 possible releasing points 
• 100% preform quality control with rejection of non-compliant quality preforms.

Xtreme and the sustainability requirements

Xtreme is perfectly in line with the sustainability needs of companies all over the world.

The system can produce preforms with verging PET as well as recycled PET at very high content.

Moreover, XTREME technology is capable to produce the lightest preforms possible with the thinnest-ever walls, creating important savings in production costs and, most importantly, in the amount of PET used thus reducing the environmental burden.