In the ENK project - energy-efficient and sustainable production of plastic components, IKK employees have been researching the reduction of electrical energy consumption in injection moulding processes since 2024. They are the key to both an economical and therefore competitive and sustainable plastics industry.
With the new small load carrier (KLT) component, the research team now has an optimally designed tool for a 2-component (2K), 500-tonne clamping force hydraulic injection moulding machine. At the IKK, this is a type 920 S system from Arburg, on which a wide variety of material combinations and mixtures of recycled and virgin materials can be processed. This enables material-specific, process parameter-based energy efficiency optimisation based on a series component. Based on the recorded system data and energy consumption parameters, the individual cycle phases are adapted in the best possible way in order to utilise any potential savings - without compromising on component quality. In the future, the data obtained will enable an AI to monitor and control component production independently. A neural network is already being trained at the IKK for this purpose.
The tool was developed by Konstruktionsbüro Hein GmbH in successful cooperation with the IKK and manufactured by TPK-Kunststofftechnik GmbH and complies with the test process management of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) 4504 (6th edition) variant KLT 3115.
The tool was financed by the ENK project, which is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy for the period from January 2024 to December 2026 via Project Management Organization Jülich.
