Yongte Plastic Machinery engineers are fully debugging the PPR pipe production line to help solve production problems.
At a time when the global plastic pipe market is booming, PPR pipes occupy an important position with their excellent performance. According to statistics from authoritative organizations, the global PPR pipe market size will reach US$28 billion in 2023, with applications in building hot and cold water pipe systems accounting for more than 65%, and a penetration rate of 72% in the field of drinking water transportation. From the water supply and drainage systems of residential buildings, to the central air-conditioning pipes of large commercial complexes, to the chemical medium transportation pipes of chemical companies, PPR pipes have become an indispensable basic material for various industries with their eight core advantages such as energy saving, material saving, and environmental protection. However, the production process of seemingly common PPR pipes hides many technical barriers.
The unique physical properties of PPR raw materials set many barriers for production and manufacturing. The melt index of PPR material is usually only 0.2-0.5g/10min (230℃/2.16kg), which is much lower than that of ordinary polypropylene material. This low fluidity makes it very easy to adhere to the inner wall of the equipment in the processing temperature range of 180-220℃. Industry data shows that the average number of shutdown failures caused by material adhesion in traditional production lines is 35 times per year, and the average time for a single shutdown and maintenance is 4.2 hours, which seriously affects production efficiency. In the granulation process, PPR has poor thermal stability. When the temperature fluctuates by more than ±2℃, the degradation rate of the raw material will rise sharply from 0.8% to 3.5%, which directly leads to a decrease in the mechanical properties of the pipe, and the tensile strength may be reduced by 15-20MPa. In addition, when producing high-temperature resistant PPR pipes for floor heating systems (which must meet the long-term use standard of 110℃/50 years), the yield rate of domestic enterprises is generally less than 75%, and the technical bottleneck needs to be broken through.
Facing the pain points of the industry, Yongte Plastic Machinery's independently developed fourth-generation PPR pipe production line has achieved a technological breakthrough. The new double-taper screw equipped with the equipment has optimized the aspect ratio to 35:1 and adopted a special thread combination, which shortens the residence time of the material in the screw by 28%, improves the melting uniformity to 98.7%, and effectively reduces the risk of adhesion. The intelligent temperature control system is equipped with a temperature control accuracy of ±0.5℃. With the vacuum sizing technology, the roundness error of the pipe can be controlled within 0.3mm, and the wall thickness deviation rate is ≤1.2%, which is far higher than the industry standard. The automated production system collects data in real time through 128 sets of sensors to achieve millisecond-level response adjustment of production parameters, and the production efficiency is increased by 40% compared with traditional equipment, and the unit energy consumption is reduced by 22%.
At present, the technical team of Yongte Plastic Machinery is carrying out 72-hour continuous debugging operations. The task force, composed of 15 senior engineers, has completed three rounds of parameter optimization iterations and accurately adjusted 12 key indicators such as the smoothness of the inner and outer surfaces of the pipes and the ring stiffness. In recent tests, the production line has been running stably for more than 120 hours, and the performance indicators of the PPR pipes produced have reached the international advanced level: hydrostatic strength (20℃/50 years) ≥25MPa, longitudinal shrinkage rate <1.5%, and hygiene indicators fully comply with the GB/T 18742-2017 standard.
"We have established a database covering 136 sets of process parameters and combined AI algorithms to achieve intelligent prediction and optimization of the production process." The chief engineer who participated in the commissioning introduced, "For example, for the differences in the characteristics of different batches of raw materials, the system can automatically match the optimal screw speed and temperature curve to ensure stable product quality."
The technological breakthrough of Yongte Plastic Machinery not only demonstrates the company's profound technical accumulation in the field of high-end equipment manufacturing, but also injects new momentum into the development of the industry. With the in-depth advancement of the production line commissioning work, it is expected to promote the domestic high-temperature resistant, high-toughness PPR pipe yield rate to more than 90%, helping my country's plastic pipe industry to move towards high-end and intelligent development.
