Reduced energy consumptions with the new hydraulic ME presses

The new Mecolpress ME hydraulic presses grant reduced energy consumptions.

How did we get to achieve this goal?

Mecolpress has been working with its customers for more than 50 years   providing the best forging technologies that allow to maximize the quality of the products and the related productivity.

The forging process improvement needs do not always seem to proceed in the same direction:

• the energy consumption reduction requires the reduction of the installed power;
• the high productivity and the raw material reduction require increasing installed powers.

Our customers and partners are dealing with this conflict and are wondering how to come out as winners.

“Which is the most abundant existing source of energy? the least polluting, least expensive, most immediately available one: that is, energy saving …”

Piero Angela

 

What does Mecolpress propose to grant in the same page reduced energy consumptions and high productivity?

Mecolpress is not afraid of challenges, indeed it knows that these represent an opportunity to grow and improve.

Thanks to the continuous and accurate control system, Mecolpress presses determine and memorize the process parameters at every fraction of a second, i.e. the minimum force and speed requirements to obtain a certain product with the best characteristics. Under these values ​​it is not possible to obtain an acceptable product.

Our long experience has allowed us to evaluate numerous forging cases, from small connectors of ½” up to large valves/water meters of more than 2”, in standard and lead-free brass grades.

To reduce power when it is not needed and to maximize it when it is needed! This is the secret.

The forging process control system

The press control system learns (ADAPTIVE CYCLE) the trend of the forging cycle and regulates the pressure and the flow of the oil (REGENERATIVE CYCLE) in order to get as close as possible to the minimum forging force. A reasonable safety margin is maintained in order to compensate for eventual external parameters variation (billet temperature, material quality, dimensional tolerances, …).

During the forging cycle Mecolpress press will have three phases: power reduction, transition, maximum power.

We monitored the flash-free forging process of the body of a 1 1/4″ ball valve with a productivity of 12 pieces per minute, therefore 720 pieces per hour.

Thanks to the ADAPTIVE-REGENERATIVE cycle the energy consumption is reduced by 50%, reaching an average consumption of 45kWh.

But let’s not forget the other advantages acquired:

• production capacity more than doubled compared to the traditional cycle,
• high repeatability of the piece quality (cp>2),
• constant compliance (cpk>1.33) with very tight dimensional tolerances (± 0.1),
• minimized material consumption thanks to over 6% flash-free forging,
• improved workability thanks to a more uniform internal conformation,
• increased product quality thanks to the elimination of internal defects.