Project Overview
The Balloon Moulding machine was designed developed and manufactured by R&R Engineering Ballygowan to meet specifications agreed with the client.
It is designed to control the efficient manufacture of stent balloons used in angioplasty procedures.
The balloon mould is loaded by hand into a holder and the process of heating, blow moulding and cooling is carried out automatically as the machine lowers the mould into hot and cold-water baths.
The electrical cabinet operates at 230Vac from RCD (30mA) protected mains supply. The machine comprises a hot water bath (at 95°C), cold water bath, servo driven Z axis, pneumatically driven Y axis, plastic tube gripper assembly, high pressure (Nitrogen) and low-pressure air supply, and operator Human Machine Interface (HMI).
It is operated by a trained operator who loads a pre-loaded plastic tube assembly into the load point and presses the start button to begin the sequence.
Various sequences can be programmed and chosen as required. A bar code reader also acts as an input device and can specify the correct procedure for coded batches.
There is one emergency stop on the HMI and 5 coded non-contact safety switches on the opening doors which dump high and low-pressure air and deactivates the servo drive and PLC outputs.
The light curtain deactivates the servo drive and tube grip assembly to enable safe operation at the loading and unloading point.
Full Technical Construction files are available on enquiry.