Damage to the plastic extruder when power suddenly outages
Sudden power outages may cause damage to the plastic extruder, which is specifically reflected in the following aspects:
Mechanical parts:
Screw and barrel: When the extruder is running, the screw rotates at high speed in the barrel to push the material. Sudden power outages will cause the screw to stop rotating instantly, while the material in the barrel will still exert pressure on the screw due to inertia. If the pressure is uneven, the screw may bend and deform. For high-precision extruder screws, even a slight bend may affect the matching accuracy with the barrel, thereby affecting the extrusion quality.
Transmission parts: The screw of the extruder is usually driven by a motor through transmission parts such as belts, chains or reducers. When there is a sudden power outage, the transmission parts will instantly bear a large impact force. For example, for belt-driven extruders, the belt may be excessively worn, slipped or even broken; for chain-driven extruders, the chain links may be subjected to abnormal tension, resulting in chain elongation or damage to individual links; the gears inside the reducer may also suffer from problems such as increased tooth surface wear and broken teeth due to this sudden load change.
Electrical system:
Motor: A sudden power outage will cause the current in the motor winding to be suddenly interrupted, generating a reverse electromotive force, which may impact the insulation layer of the motor and reduce the insulation performance of the motor. If this happens multiple times, the insulation layer of the motor may be broken down, resulting in a short circuit failure of the motor. After the power outage, the motor stops suddenly, and the internal cooling fan will also stop working. The heat generated by the motor during operation cannot be dissipated in time, which will increase the internal temperature of the motor, further affecting the performance and life of the motor.
Electrical control components: The electrical control system of the extruder contains many electronic components, such as controllers, contactors, relays, etc. Voltage fluctuations during sudden power outages may damage these components. For example, the integrated circuit in the controller may have problems such as program confusion and data loss due to the instantaneous change of voltage; the contacts of the contactor and relay may generate arcs due to the sudden interruption of current, thereby burning the contacts and affecting their normal connection and disconnection functions.
Material handling: If the power outage is not handled in time, the material may undergo adverse changes in the extruder. Taking the extruder for processing thermoplastics as an example, during normal operation, the plastic is heated to a viscous flow state in the barrel for extrusion molding. Sudden power outages will interrupt heating. If a large amount of material remains in the barrel at this time, the material may be overheated under the effect of residual heat, causing chemical reactions such as degradation and cross-linking, changing the performance of the material, and even forming difficult-to-remove scale on the barrel or screw, affecting the subsequent use of the extruder.
