AMB Shredding metal chips in a space-saving way

Related Vendors

Erdwich Zerkleinerungs-Systeme GmbH

HASCO Hasenclever GmbH + Co KG

AMPCO METAL Deutschland GbmH

Renishaw plc

Metalworking processes generate substantial waste in the form of sharp, spiral-shaped metal chips that require careful handling and storage. Erdwich Zerkleinerungs-Systeme offers a solution with their single and twin-shaft shredders, designed to efficiently reduce the volume of these metal chips while integrating seamlessly into automated production lines.

Turning, drilling, milling or grinding inevitably produces waste material in the form of metal chips. As these are usually relatively long, spiral-shaped and sharp-edged, they have to be collected outside the work areas before they can be reprocessed in-house or sent to recycling companies for further utilisation. Due to the often large volume of the resulting balls of chips from the production process, this interim storage requires a lot of space. Smaller companies with limited space and those who want to save on expensive storage space therefore rely on single and twin-shaft shredders from Erdwich Zerkleinerungs-systeme. These support common industrial interfaces and communication protocols so that they can be integrated into automated production lines. The systems use self-monitoring to monitor all operating states in real time and can react immediately to changing conditions. The diagnostic data also helps to increase the efficiency of the entire production line and reduce maintenance intervals. Visitors to this year's AMB can get a live impression of the M600/1-600 single-shaft shredder and find out about other Smart Factory-compatible single- and twin-shaft shredders for the demand-orientated handling of metal chips.

“In our experience, the volume and the coolant contained are the biggest problems when it comes to the storage and further processing of swarf,” explains Harald Erdwich, Managing Director of Erdwich Zerkleinerungs-Systeme. “The space required for the installation of a suitable shredding system, which must fulfil the local conditions in terms of dimensions, throughput and the material to be shredded, comes in a close second.” As both the operating area and the chips themselves with bound residual liquids in the form of lubricating oils or emulsion represent valuable resources, the conditions of the respective applications can vary greatly. The range of applications extends from small waste in laboratories, which must be shredded in intermittent operation, to 24/7 continuous use in the automotive industry with correspondingly high throughput volumes and special alloys.

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Seamless integration into existing production lines

“Our single-shaft shredders are suitable for processing the metal chips that are produced in everyday machining operations,” explains Erdwich. “The individually inserted, replaceable blade discs on the cutting rotor draw in the chips and metal waste and then shred them on the fixed stator. The chips are shredded until they fall through the screen installed underneath, thereby achieving the required volume density.” For special chip geometries or larger quantities, however, the power of a single-shaft shredder may not be sufficient to achieve the desired result. More powerful twin-shaft shredders are therefore suitable for continuous throughputs, larger feed volumes and more complex cross-sections. Both types of system have blades made from fully hardened steel that can be reground several times. Integrated PLC units and automatic reversing systems reliably protect the machines from damage in the event of a malfunction, such as a blockage or overload due to solid parts or overfilling.

All Erdwich shredders from the existing product portfolio can be seamlessly integrated into existing automation and control systems via common industrial interfaces and protocols such as OPC UA, Modbus and Ethernet/IP. In addition, the systems can collect various types of operating and diagnostic data, such as motor performance, reversing cycles, throughput, error messages and power consumption. This data can be used to identify bottlenecks at an early stage, optimise maintenance intervals and ultimately reduce the energy consumption of the entire production line. “Industry 4.0 principles will lead to ever greater networking and automation. With appropriate self-monitoring and control measures, we ensure that our systems also meet the requirements of future smart factories,” summarises Erdwich.

Erdwich will be exhibiting the M600/1-600 single-shaft shredder live at AMB 2024. Visitors can also find out about other shredding solutions from the Erdwich product range for other applications and material flows. The Erdwich team will be available for questions and discussions in hall 8 at stand 8C86.

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