American Maplan's new heater is like money in the bank for extruders

Small changes to machine design can yield big savings for processors. This point was underscored recently when extruder manufacturer American Maplan Corp., McPherson, Kansas, made a seemingly minor design change to the screw oil heating element installed on most of its profile machines. The new design reduces the amount of electrical power needed for each heating unit by 20%, to 7.6 watts from 9.5 watts, with no trade-off in process performance. The result, says VP Sales Kurt Waldhauer, is potentially reduced energy consumption, a 50 to 60% increase in heater life, and a decrease in machine maintenance.

The screw oil heater is an industry standard. It consists of cal rod heaters cast into an aluminum core that attaches to the extruder screw oil system. Most suppliers use the design. The heater has for years been powered by 9.4 watts of electricity. In reviewing figures from American Maplan's parts sales, however, the company noted that "sales were brisk in this item," Waldhauer says, an indication that "part failure was higher than we wanted." Engineers at American Maplan huddled with the heater supplier and determined that a reduction to 7.6 watts could be achieved without compromising performance. "Capacity of 7.6 watts is more than enough for good extrusion," he adds.

The lower-wattage heater is commercial on all new extruders from American Maplan designed for the original model, and is available for retrofit. The heater is identical in appearance to the old model and connects the same way. No modifications to the extruder are necessary.

Waldauer says that this change is overdue in the industry. Years ago engineers thought that 9.5-watt heaters were necessary for optimum processing. "Nobody challenged the number," he says. "But with advances in compounding technology and additive formulations, most extruders don't need that much wattage in their heaters." The large bore extruders, which used 14.1-watt heaters have also been scaled down without affecting performance

to 11.2 watts.

Waldhauer doesn't know if other extruder builders are planning to reduce the wattage of their heaters, or if American Maplan is the only one to have done so. He does say, however, that the change demonstrates how diligently American Maplan monitors all aspects of its business for data that can improve customer service. "None of our customers vociferously complained to us about the replacement rate of these heaters," Waldhauer says. "The change to lower-wattage units was driven by our conviction that we can give customers a better performing and more economical heater."

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