Hellweg Maschinenbau, a global manufacturer of digitally controlled shredding machines for effective, energy-saving plastics recycling, is now integrating smart flow, an online flow measurement system, into its products. This innovative option will be presented at K 2025 on stand C39 in hall 11. It will complement the information already available via Hellweg's Smart Control system regarding bearing temperatures, speed and power consumption. Together, they provide a solid basis for Hellweg's next step: the integration of self-learning AI modules. These will calculate the optimum ratio between material properties, feed, and required power at every moment during the operation of the granulators. The control system will
then independently regulate the machine parameters to maximise energy efficiency without human intervention.
Managing Director Mark Hellweg comments: "Unfortunately, the importance of the grinding process for successful recycling is still far too often underestimated. In fact, the energy consumption of the granulators used for this purpose is not specified on the type plate. It is a free variable that can be adjusted to the respective requirements of a specific material flow at any given time. The digitalisation of the relevant parameters, including mass flow, is an indispensable prerequisite for AI to be able to carry out the desired optimisation in order to reduce energy consumption and thus contribute to a reduced carbon footprint of the granulators."
Throughput and beyond
The core of smart flow is the innovative use of a sensor that measures the flow rate (bulk flow) without contact and is positioned in the riser pipe of the extraction piping. Its data is transmitted to the Smart Control system, where it is processed and displayed in the form of the (extrapolated) mass ground per hour as a measure of the machine's current performance. Statistical values such as the grinding performance per day, week or month can also be called up. On request, the data can be made available automatically for customer MES systems and planning tools.
The reliability, precision and repeatability of the data generated by smart flow is based on the sensor's operating mode, which uses microwave technology to measure bulk flow. The signal generated by the Doppler effect reflects changes in particle concentration and velocity, enabling an early response. Thanks to contactless measurement, the sensor requires no maintenance.
Hellweg continues: “Thanks to Smart Flow, we and our customers have access to a valuable additional option for planning maintenance work and avoiding unforeseen downtime, beyond the display of data. Ultimately, it is not the machine's grinding time that determines the service life of components such as knives, screens and V-belts, but the grinding work it performs.”
Smart granulators for every plastics application
Hellweg introduced its digital Smart Control system in 2019 and today offers it as an option on all its granulators – from small add-on mills for grinding sprues to high-performance systems for solid parts, films and sheets, with a throughput of five tonnes per hour and more. The control system records parameters such as power consumption, motor speed and bearing temperatures. The service life of knives, screens and V-belts is recorded and evaluated via operating hour counters. In addition, Smart Control is already capable of continuously optimising the ratio between motor load and throughput. The ability to regulate the mill speed in one-step increments gives users maximum flexibility in optimising their system with pinpoint accuracy. Hellweg granulators’ special cutting geometry enables low dust grinding with consistently high quality and perfect particle size distribution and
geometry for further processing. Edge strip shredders and servo-motor-driven edge trimming systems for film or sheet production complete the range.
Exhibits provide an overview
Hellweg is bringing a broad overview of its products to the exhibition stand. The MDSi 600/300, which is on display there, is a large central granulator for thick-walled moulded parts, sheets, sprue blocks, pipes and profiles. It is installed in a ready-to-run condition, as are the MDSi 410/200 side mill and the MDSi 230/150 sprue or laboratory mill. Hellweg will also be exhibiting an M 100/100 mini granulator, an RC 180 in-pipe cutter for edge strip applications and a 3D model of the MDSG 1500/600 W wet granulator. In all cases, the first number represents the working width and the second the rotor diameter.