Hydraulics Upgrade Provides Notable Benefits for Aluminum Extrusion Press

摘要

Superior Extrusion in Gwinn, Ml, found itself confronted with the challenge of having an outdated extrusion press, with inefficient and unreliable hydraulic pumps. Purchased in 1996, the company's 1,650-ton, 7 inch Farrel press had been in use since 1971. In the time since it was installed, the press has produced over 200 million lbs of aluminum profiles for the extruder. Decades of production of light truck accessories, roof racks, commercial building products, and military materials had taken its toll on the variable-displacement legacy pumps driving the press. Maintenance of the hydraulic elements was becoming increasingly expensive. In order to improve the efficiency of the press, Superior Extrusion decided to initiate a project to upgrade the hydraulics on their existing press (Figure 1). This would also allow the company to change its current schedule from a single 1 0 hour shift per day, increasing operation of the press to two shifts per day in the near future.