Extrusion International 6-2017

21 Extrusion International 6/2017 Within the sector of automatic systems for pipe coil packaging, also Sica, a company known for its automatic downstream equipment for pipe extrusion lines, produces coilers soldworldwide. In this sector, Sica proposes twomain types: - Packaging with polypropylene strapping; - Packaging with stretch film. The use of stretch film, especially suitable for packaging corrugated pipe, has many positive aspects that often are preferred to the use of polypropylene strapping, especially because of the greater maintenance to which traditional strapping systems are intrinsically subject. Furthermore, from the productive point of view, the economic advantages deriving from the use of stretch film are immediately evident and SICA provides leading solutions to this: in fact, where it is usually necessary to have more than one machine in the pro- duction line (winder with strapping machine, shrink film wrapping machine and oven), SICA offers a single compact, flexible, reliable and secure machine, that alone allows you to switch from the tube to the packaging. In this regard, the technologies developed by SICA are used in the machines of the Flash family which includes Flash 700 and the latest Flash 450. Bothmachines are characterizedby the use of exclusive and innova- tive coil packaging techniques, covered by patents: - Flash 700 wraps the product with film in diametrical manner fully protecting the coil and, if necessary, also the core (Patent EP19990830514, EP1999830450); - Flash 450 wraps the product with film in a circumferential man- ner, by means of an innovative mutual handling system between the film and the coil; with this system, you can fully cover also the sides of the coils, contrary to similar conventional systems (Patent PCTIB2016052545). Compared to the traditional circumferential packaging techniques, with equal coil size, this method allows a considerable saving of film (up to 30%). Another relevant feature, much appreciated by users-installers, and common to the machines of the Flash family is that you can use the pipe up to the last turn without the packaging coming apart. This means that the pipe is protected and neat up at the end. Specifically, with regard to the FLASH 700model, it canwrap corru- gated pipes from 16mm diameter up to 63mm diameter and it can make coils with a minimum length of 25m. Productivity is 72 coils per hour. In themost advanced version, the diameter and thewind- ing width adjustments are automatic. As regards instead the FLASH 450 model, it can wrap corrugated pipes from 16mm diameter up to 32mm diameter, while the maxi- mum outer diameter of the coils is 450 mm. The machine can make coils with a minimum length of 10mwith a productivity of 120 coils per hour. The basic winding settings are automatic. Based on the success of these models and their versions, and of the strapping winders, SICA has sold hundreds of machines and has become an important reference point in the flexible pipes winding field. SICA SpA www.sica-italy.com Pipe coils wrapped with stretch film PIPE COIL PACKAGING