BUILDING A POLYTHENE MANUFACTURING MACHINE

Kosala Lakmal Haputhanthri

1
Department of Engineering and Technology, School of Engineering and the Built
Environment, Telford Campus, Telford, Shropshire, TF2 9NT, United Kingdom

Abstract
Polythene extrusion machines usually cost over 1 million rupees and therefore it is out of
reach of local small scale industry. Therefore this project was initiated to develop a low
cost polythene manufacturing machine for local industry and within 6 months duration,
such machine developed, fabricated and used in actual production successfully. This
report presents development and fabrication stages of this polythene extrusion machine
and final results.

Keywords:
Polythene Drawing; Polythene Extrusion; Circular Die ; Polythene Film, Parison.

Contents
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Over view of the company ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Quality policy.................................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.3 Polythene manufacturing machine ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.4 Salient features .............................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.5 Specifications ................................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.6 Polythene manufacturing ............................................................................................................................................... 1
1.7 Types of polythene machines ........................................................................................................................................ 2
1.8 Polythene machine components .................................................................................................................................... 3
Main screw ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Extruder gear-box ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
3-phase Motor ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Heating elements .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Temperature controllers ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Air blowers ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Air ring................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Drawing rollers ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Stabilizing rollers ................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Winder................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
2 Literature review.................................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Existing Polythene machines and their specifications .................................................................................................... 5
Double film blowing machine ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Degradable PE Film Blowing Machine .................................................................................................................................. 6
High speed film blowing machine .......................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Value analysis ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
2.3 Functional analysis system technique (FAST) ............................................................................................................... 7
3 Method of solution ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.1 Die ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Extrusion speed adjuster mechanism ............................................................................................................................ 9
3.3 Drawing mechanism .................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.4 Winding mechanism..................................................................................................................................................... 10

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 Technique 1 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Technique 2 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Technique 3 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11
3.5 DC motor control unit ................................................................................................................................................... 12
4 Costs ................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
5 Implementation issues ........................................................................................................................................................ 13
6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.1 References .................................................................................................................................................................. 13

Table of figures
[1]
Figure 3: Corona Treatment setup. .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Figure 1: Cross section of die and air bubble. .............................................................................................................................. 2
Figure 2: Sketch of a Polythene machine. ................................................................................................................................... 2
[2]
Figure 4: PP Film blowing machine. ........................................................................................................................................ 3
[3]
Figure 6: Mixing section of a main screw. ................................................................................................................................. 3
[4]
Figure 7: Cross section of an extruder. .................................................................................................................................... 3
[3]
Figure 5: Stages of main screw. .............................................................................................................................................. 3
[5]
Figure 8 Thrust Bearings. ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
[6]
Figure 9: A Band heater. ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
[7]
Figure 10 Temperature controller. ........................................................................................................................................... 4
[8]
Figure 11 Air Blower. ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
[9]
Figure 12 Sketch of Air ring attachment. .................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 13 Double film Blowing machine. ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 15 High speed film blowing machine ................................................................................................................................. 6
Figure 14 Degradable PE Film Blowing machine ......................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 16 FAST diagram of the system ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Figure 17 Dimension drawing of Die ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 18 Attachment of the die to lathe turret ............................................................................................................................. 8
Figure 19 3D view of the Die ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 20: 3D view of Die and Air ring placement ........................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 21: Pulley ratio theory ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 22: Motor position adjustment ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 23: 3D view of the Drawing unit...................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 24 Bobbin and DC motor attachment .............................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 25: Potentiometer placement .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 26: Independent winding system ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 27: Winder roller setup .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 28: Winder attachment on the machine........................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 29: Prototype of motor control circuit............................................................................................................................... 12

List of tables
Table 1 Machine specifications .................................................................................................................................................... 1
Table 2 Specifications of film blowing machine ............................................................................................................................ 6
Table 3 Specification of high speed film blowing machine ........................................................................................................... 7
Table 4: Costs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 13

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1 INTRODUCTION  Most reliable maintenance free blowers
 Durable solenoids for air transfer
1.1 Over view of the company  Low service cost
 Low energy consumption
The company “Sakisanda” was established in  High accuracy
1990 and started the production of Gem-  Adjustable die
Cutting machines. While manufacturing gem-  Adjustable plastic flow
cutting machines they started to research in  Electrical equipment suitable for
plastic products. At that time a large market standard 3-phase, 415V,50/60Hz AC
demand was there for yoghurt cups and ice power supply
cream cups. After lot of researches and tests
they expanded their product range. They were
able to build a sheet manufacturing machine 1.5 Specifications
and a yoghurt cup manufacturing machine
successfully on their own tool room one year Table 1 Machine specifications
later. They also changed their company name Maximum film size 3.5”
into “Sakisanda Polycup”. While keeping the
Minimum film size 0.5”
good quality of their product they are planning
to expand their product range to manufacture Minimum film 0.1mm
polythene. thickness
Die cavity Dia.
Heating element (Die) 750w
1.2 Quality policy Heating element 1000w × 3
(screw barrel)
Sakisanda-Polycup’s is trying its level best to
Satisfy their customers in all the aspects, Machine height 6 feet
mainly by supplying quality products and things Machine width 4 feet
like:- Max winding capacity 2kg
Solenoid valve 12v
 Continuous improvement of technology
of product and processes Drawing motor 24v
 Innovation and creativity Winder motor 24v
 Effective implementation of quality Main motor 2.2kW
management system Type 3 phase A/C
 Monitoring the effective realization of
quality objectives and periodical review Blower 450W × 2
of job stability Total power 7kW

1.3 Polythene manufacturing machine 1.6 Polythene manufacturing

Polythene manufacturing machine is a Polythene manufacturing vastly spread around

combination of extrusion process, blowing
process and drawing process. When
considering the product range, it is possible to
manufacture LDPE (Low density poly ethylene)
film and HDPE (High density poly ethylene)
film in the same machine.
1.4 Salient features
 High production rate
 Film width range from 0.5” – 3”
 User friendly operating system
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the world because it makes day today life
easier. From shopping malls to houses,
polythene products become an essential thing
in human life.
Polythene bags and polythene tubes
are manufactured by using plastic extrusion
technique. After melting the plastic (LDPE)
granules in the extrusion cylinder it is
compressed and transferred through a circular
die to gain the tube shape. Then the incoming
plastic tube is sealed and air is blown into it
Page 1
through the die. Figure 1 shows how the air
inlet line is fixed inside the die.
Molten
polymer
Air
Figure 1: Cross section of die and air bubble.
While air is being collected in to the
polythene tube, it is directing to the drawing
rollers. In the drawing roller set, polythene line
air is tightened between metal and rubber
roller. Then the air inlet line should be closed
for a moment till the polythene film goes
through the stabilizing roller set and from there
to the winder. The air bubble is adjusted
according to the size of the polythene and
drawing speed is adjusting to get the required
thickness. After setting up the required
thickness and size, polythene film should be
cut and entered to the winder bobbin. Figure 2
below shows sketch of a large scale polythene
machine.
Figure 2: Sketch of a Polythene machine.
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Polythene should be pre-treated using a
corona treatment unit in order to remove the
static charge gained on the surface of the
polythene. This will cause to reduce bonding
property of the ink to the polythene in
polythene printing process. Figure 3 below
shows the how the polythene film is fed
through the corona treatment plant.
Figure 3: Corona Treatment setup. [1]
1.7 Types of polythene machines
In polythene manufacturing industry film
blowing technique is the most commonly used
and easiest to adopt. But when using PP (Poly
Propylene) as the manufacturing material of
making film, the manufacturing process is
somewhat complex and need a water cooling
system to cool the film because PP do not emit
the absorbed heat fast. The extruder is placed
on the top of the machine and a die is fixed to
pour molten material downwards. This method
is not used for manufacturing food grade
products because the water cooling system
always touches the surface of the film. It is
difficult to use purified water in a factory plant.
Therefore most suitable system to manufacture
film for food industry is blown film technique.
Figure 4 below shows a typical PP film blowing
machine.
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 Figure 5 shows a mixing section of a
nitride hardened screw and figure 6 shows a
cross section of an extruder. Between the main
screw and the screw barrel, pressure builds up
to more than 34MPa.

Figure 4: PP Film blowing machine. [2]

Figure 6: Mixing section of a main screw. [3]

1.8 Polythene machine components

Main screw

In the extrusion processes, main screw

of the extruder plays a great role. Within the
extruder barrel the materials should be mixed,
melted and pressured. These tasks are done
by the main screw inside the extruder barrel.
Figure 7 shows common stages of an extrusion
screw. In the first section it takes material
inside the extruder and mixes it. Then the
mixed material is pushed forward thorough the
screw. On the screw there is a section that is
called the barrier section which holds the
pressure inside the screw barrel to avoid back Figure 7: Cross section of an extruder. [4]
pressure build up. This is done to prevent
molten material flowing backward in the
extrusion process.

Figure 5: Stages of main screw. [3]

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Extruder gear-box to heat and oxygen. Figure 9 shows a band
Extruder gear box is the driving sector heater with clamps.
of the main screw. It also holds the back
pressure developed inside the extruder barrel.
To hold this pressure there is a special thrust
bearing used inside the gearbox because
normal bearings cannot hold the thrust
developed within the compression range of the
screw. Gearbox is driven by a motor and the
main driven line connects to a gear train to
reduce speed and gain high torque. RPM of
the motor is 1500 and it is reduced to 120
RPM. The gear train is driven in an oil bath and Figure 9: A Band heater. [6]
the recommended oil for the gear train is
SEA90. Figure 8 shows typical thrust bearings.
Temperature controllers
Temperature controllers are used in
plastic extrusion machines to keep the user
defined temperature in the extruder barrel.
Temperature controlling is important because
temperature is directly proportional to the
output quality of the plastic product. Extrude on
low temperature will cause degrade strength of
the product and higher temperature will deform
the product after manufacturing. In most
temperature controllers PID (Proportional
integral derivative) algorithms are used in the
Figure 8 Thrust Bearings. [5] system to keep the precise temperature in the
extruder cylinder. The thermocouple is a J-type
(Iron constantan) and used as the sensor of
3-phase Motor the temperature controller. By the J-type
In Plastic extruders main motor is a 3-phase thermo couple it can measure temperature
AC motor because torque of the 3-phase motor range from -45 to +750 Celsius.
is higher. Single phase motors cannot be used
in the plastic extruders because of the
insufficient torque. When starting a plastic
extruder, main motor holds higher torque. In
most of the machines they are using a Star-
Delta motor starter unit.

Heating elements
Heating elements are used to heat the main
screw barrel to melt the material going through Figure 10 Temperature controller. [7]
it. Type of the heating element and power
consumption of the element varies from
machine to machine. In plastic extruders band
heaters are used in different types and shapes. Air blowers
Band heater reinforcement shield is made from
In film blowing process air blowers are
a stainless steel plate. Main use of stainless
important to keep the cooling rate around the
steel in here is to avoid taking place of rust.
film tube. If the cooling rate varies from the
Mild steel gets rust quickly when it is exposed
blown film, it will not get a precise thickness
to a higher temperature because reaction of
and width. Cooling rate should be adjusted
rust making on the surface is accelerating due
according to the temperature of the molten

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material. Air line from the blower is connected
to the air ring. A 3-phase air blower is shown in
figure 11. Blowers are used to transfer high air
volume without compressing.
Stabilizing rollers
Stabilizing rollers or guiding rollers are used to
keep the polythene line in a straight line when
winding. This will help winder to wind polythene
roll parallel and evenly. If the polythene line
sling side to side, winding polythene roll will fail
and it gets loosen.

Figure 11 Air Blower. [8]
Air ring
Air ring is the unit that deviate air input from the
blowers and spread it inside the unit and
released air equally from the circular outlet.
The circular air outlet is directed to the
polythene line and from there; the polythene
line starts to blow and keep continuous width
and thickness.
Winder
There are so many winding methods of
polythene and most common technique of
winder is using an adjustable clutch. Clutch
can be adjusted to the required tension. When
winding polythene film, it only needs small
tension, otherwise polythene will stretch and
deformed.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Existing Polythene machines and their
specifications

There so many polythene manufacturing

machines available in the market and some of
them are mention below with their
specifications.
Double film blowing machine

Figure 12 Sketch of Air ring attachment. [9]

Drawing rollers
Drawing roller set is also called nip rollers or
pinch rollers. These are used to draw the
polythene line in a constant speed to keep the
thickness evenly on the film. In drawing roller
set, there is an adjustable rubber roll and a
static metal roll. The rubber roller tightens the Figure 13 Double film Blowing machine.
blown film into the metal roller to keep it air
tight. If the rollers are loosen, air will be
released and it will cause to reduce the width
of polythene.
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Specification SJ45-50-55 series film blowing machine can
work with polythene raw material. These are
mainly used to make sleeve films to plastic
Model No. SJ55- SJ552FMS60 bag.
2FMS50
Layer No. 1 1
MAX FILM mm 2×400 2×600 Features:
WIDTH  Flat width of film: 100-800mm
FILM MM 0.08-0.15 0.08-0.15
THICKNESS  Film thickness: 10-100 micron
OUTPUT Kg/h 40 50  Production capacity: 20 - 60kg/h
RAW MATERIAL LDPE LDPE/HDPE  Power supply: 380V / 50Hz / 3 phases
EXTRUDER
SCREW DIA. mm 55 65 or as per customer's requirements
HEATER kw 10.7 16.5  Machine dimensions (L x W x H): (Can
CAPACITY
DRIVING kw 18.5 30
vary according to the version)
MOTOR SJ45: 4.5 x 1 x 3m
DIE DIAMETER mm 100×2 150×2 SJ50: 5 x 1.3 x 3.6m
WEIGHT t 3.2 4 SJ55: 5.5 x 1.8 x 4m
Table 2 Specifications of film blowing machine

In the market this machine costs 3 million

High speed film blowing machine
rupees without freight charges and when this is
bought to Srilanka, it will cost around 4 million.

Degradable PE Film Blowing Machine

Figure 15 High speed film blowing machine

The film blowing machine shown in figure 15 is

used for blowing, high-low pressure
Figure 14 Degradable PE Film Blowing polyethylene, which has been widely used for
machine producing laminating film, packing film,
agricultural covering film, bag or film for textile
The machine mentioned in the figure 14 will and clothing and other packing material. The
cost 1.7 million without freight charges. main motor adopts frequency control of motor
speed to improve the speed regulating stability
Place of Origin : China of main motor and save electricity by 30%. The
Brand Name : Jinda screw and material barrel adopt 38 chrome-
molybdenum aluminum which has been
Model Number : SJ45-50-55 nitrogen treated and the traction frame adopts
Plastic Processed : PE lifting type. No matter what size the film is, big
Application : Film or small, it can achieve the best effect of
Certification : CQC, ISO9001 cooling.
Specifications

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Characteristics performance and reliability at an acceptable
price and to remove non value-added aspects
 Main motor and take-up motor are where value is defined as worth for cost.
controlled by frequency inverter
adjustment.
2.3 Functional analysis system technique
 Material of screw and barrel: (FAST)
38CrMoAlA Polished with Nitride
Treatment hardness of heat treatment Function analysis system technique is an
 Screw: HV≥740, evolution of the value analysis process created
 Barrel: HV≥900 by Charles Bytheway. FAST permits people
 Depth of hardening: 0.6-0.7mm with different technical backgrounds to
effectively communicate and resolve issues
 Brittleness grade: ≤2 grade that require multi disciplined considerations.
 Gear box: 250 Involutes cylinder Bevel FAST builds upon VA by linking the simply
wheel, cast alloy steel piston, fine expressed, verb-noun functions to describe
grinding hard gear surface complex systems. FAST is not an end product
 Die material: steel 45# or result, but rather a beginning. It describes
the item or system under study and causes the
 Surface treatment of flow channel: hard team to think through the functions that the
chrome- plating item or system performs, forming the basis for
 Double digital display temperature a wide variety of subsequent approaches and
controller analysis techniques. Fast contributes
significantly to perhaps the most important
phase of value engineering: function analysis.
Specifications Fast is a creative stimulus to explore innovative
avenues for performing functions. Figure 16
below shows the FAST diagram of the system.

Table 3: Specification of high speed film Figure 16 FAST diagram of the

blowing machine system

2.2 Value analysis 3 METHOD OF SOLUTION

Value engineering was developed for, and is
used to improve, the value and reduce the total 3.1 Die
cost of a product in the manufacturing process.
When existing dies and systems are
It is very much a product re-engineering tool.
researched, most of them are fixed to a certain
Here the value engineering is used for design
diameter and their parison is not adjustable.
process, not the product.
When designing the die major concern is taken
The aim of value engineering is to measure the
to adjust the parison. By adjusting the parison
value of a product in terms of quality,

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it is possible to manufacture polythene
thickness of 0.002mm and above and accuracy
of the thickness will lie on ±0.0006mm. In
polythene manufacturing process keeping the
film thickness is important because most of the
time quality is checked by measuring the
thickness and also there are government rules
and regulations about the allowed polythene
thickness for food packaging. Figure 17 shows
the dimension drawing of the die. Die lid can
adjusted by turning for open and close by. The
main advantage of this design is that parison
can be adjusted while running the machine.
When manufacturing different widths of
polythene, die lid should be adjusted
accordingly. As an example, if the requirement
is to manufacture 12mm width polythene with
0.08 thicknesses, then after the die gets
heated up on to the required temperature, the
die lid should be adjusted by turning it
clockwise to reduce the opening. Fine
adjustment should be carried out while the
manufacturing process is done.
pressure because if the air pressure is too
high, flown film will explode and air will be
released. Operator should have good care of
operating the pressure regulator when starting
the machine. Figure 19 shows the 3D view of
the die and figure 20 shows the die and air ring
placement. Die is machined in centre lathe and
inner parts are polished to make the surface
smooth. Smoother surface allows molten
material to flow easily. If the surface is rough
then there will be more friction force.
Sometimes the die can get cracked because of
the pressure build up in the die due to frictional
force. Adjustable die lid is manufactured
separately using a 50mm solid shaft. Inside
taper angle is 450 .it is machined by turning
compound slide of the lathe in to 450 position.
Figure 18 below shows the attachment of the
die to the lathe turret on polishing sequence.

Figure 17 Dimension drawing of Die

Figure 18 Attachment of the die to lathe turret

The air ring is on top of the die. The

molten material should be cooled to make it
hard. Improper cooling will result in un-even
film width. When the cooling rate is low, the
frost line will get higher. Sometimes it
fluctuates. This fluctuation also results in un-
even film width. Blowers are directly connected
to the air ring. The air inlet is placed under the
die. To blow the film, compressed air is being
used in low pressure. An air compressor is
used to supply air for the system. A pressure
regulator also needed to control the air
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Adjustable die lid
Figure 19 3D view of the Die
Die
Air ring
Figure 20: 3D view of Die and Air ring
placement
Fully detailed dimensioned drawings were
shown in appendix A.
3.2 Extrusion speed adjuster mechanism
In polythene manufacturing machines extrusion
speed determines the rate of polythene coming
out from the extruder. To increase the
production rate extrusion speed should be
increased. This can be done by adjusting the
main screw RPM. It is not worthy and complex
to use 3-phase motor control unit in this
machine. In order to achieve speed
adjustments of the main screw can be done by
using spring loaded adjustable pulley. The
adjustable pulley is fixed in to the gearbox
driving shaft. Main motor is fixed on a carriage
to move on one axis by the use of a threaded
bar. When motor is moved away from the
gearbox, it will cause some tension and that
tension force is pulling the belt towards the
motor. Then the adjustable pulley will expand
and belt goes inside the pulley. This will result
in reducing the diameter of the belt travelling
around the adjustable pulley. The difference
pulley ratio will result in increase of speed of
the gear box. Then the extrusion speed also
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increases according to the change of pulley
ratio.
Small pulley
Large pulley
Without adjusting
Small pulley (Driven)
Large pulley (Driver)
After full adjust
Figure 21: Pulley ratio theory
In figure 21 it is clearly shown that what is
technically happens when adjusting the motor
position. When the driving pulley diameter is
greater than the driven pulley diameter, speed
of the driven pulley speed can be calculated by
following formula.
( ) ( )
N1 = RPM of the driving pulley
N2 = RPM of the driven pulley
D1 = Diameter of the driving pulley
D2 = Diameter of the driven pulley
t = Thickness of the belt
Simplification of the above formula:
The main motor RPM is 1500, and the pulley
size is 140mm. Driven pulley diameter is
160mm and RPM of the driven pulley is 1312
RPM. In gear box, input to output ratio is 1:14.
Then the main screw speed is 93 RPM.
According to the calculations main screw RPM
can be vary from 93 RPM to 214 RPM because
Page 9
minimum diameter of the driven pulley gets
70mm when motor is adjusted to the maximum
position of the carriage. Figure 22 shows how
the motor mounted to the carriage. Carriage
can be travelled in one axis with the aid of the
handle that shown in red colour in the figure.
Rotatable handle
Figure 22: Motor position adjustment
Fully detailed dimension drawing of the
extrusion speed adjuster mechanism is
mentioned in appendix C.
3.3 Drawing mechanism
The drawing unit is a major part in polythene
manufacturing machines. The blown film
should draw in a constant speed. The rate of
the drawing speed will determine the thickness
of the polythene film. In drawing roller there are
two types of rollers in the unit. One is a metal
roller and other one is a rubber roller. The
rubber roller is pushed to the metal roller to
pinch the polythene line. This technique is
used to keep the air constantly in the blown air
film while drawing. The metal roller is made out
of 100mm solid mild steel shaft and it is
polished. The rubber roller also have 100mm
diameter. Both rollers are machined and
grinded on the lathe using two centres. The
frame of the drawing mechanism is made out
of 20mm thickness mild steel plates. Those are
machined on a vertical milling machine to
obtain required dimensions accurately. Four
lipped End-mills are mostly used to machine
the pockets and rough end-mills are used to
remove excess material from the plates. NHK
bearings are used to the end of the rollers. Two
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springs are used to push the movable roller
away from the static roller. This is used to get a
backward force when adjusting the rollers.
Figure 23 shows the 3D view of the drawing
mechanism. There is a DC gear motor used to
drive the drawing rollers.
Adjuster bolts Motor
Metal roll
Rubber roll
Figure 23: 3D view of the Drawing unit
The detailed dimension drawing of the drawing
unit is mentioned in appendix D.
3.4 Winding mechanism
There are so many winding techniques to wind
the polythene and most of them are not
showed magnificent performance on research.
Below shows some techniques observed to
use in winder mechanism.
Technique 1
It is about to use a DC motor to drive the
winding roller that is directly connected to the
motor driving shaft and mentioned in figure 24.
Bobbin
DC Motor
Figure 24 Bobbin and DC motor attachment
In this technique, the speed of the motor
should be decreased when the winded
Page 10
 polythene roller becomes large. Because in
small radius motor needs more rotations to
windup the polythene film and less speed when
radius getting higher because polythene comes
out in a constant speed. If the motor runs at the
same speed all the time, polythene film can be
stretched or maybe it can cause to break. Thus
this system cannot use in the machine.
Technique 2
In here an idea came upon to place a variable
resistor (Linear potentiometer) to adjust the
motor speed according to the potentiometer
reading. Potentiometer is attached to a lever
and a small roller is attached to the lever end.
That roller is placing on the winding polythene
roller. When polythene roller becomes large,
lever will rise up and potentiometer is fixed to
the lever end to get the instantaneous reading.
Following figure 25 shows how to attach the
potentiometer to the system.
Bobbin
Polythene Motor
film Lever
Potentiometer
Figure 25: Potentiometer placement
The driving motor should be an AC motor. In
this system potentiometer can be connected to
a SSR (Solid State relay) to control the speed
of the motor. When the polythene roller gets
bigger, speed of the motor will reduce
according to the potentiometer reading. The
lever connected to the potentiometer moving
upward when the roller getting bigger.
There is a disadvantage in this
technique too. That is the speed on each
radius that cannot be calculated accurately
because polythene thickness ranges from 0.01
to 0.5mm. So when the winder wound one
round, radius of the wounded polythene roller
will differ with the thickness of the polythene.
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So this technique is also hard to implement
practically.
Technique 3
After looking at all winding techniques, a better
option came to mind. The winding roller is not
directly connected to the driving source. Only
the surfaces of driving roller and bobbin are
touching. The bobbin is turning in to inverse
direction of the driving roller. The polythene
film can wound up on the driven roller (bobbin)
and attachment of these rollers is mentioned
on the figure 26.
Polythene film
Driving
roller
Figure 26: Independent winding system
This attachment can perform efficiently
because of its functionality. The polythene film
winding roller will drive by a separate rubber
roller. Winding roller is placed on an inclined
support bars so winding roller will always make
contact with the driving roller. Due to frictional
force on the surfaces of rubber and polythene,
winding roller will rotate according to the speed
of driving roller. In this system no need to
adjust the motor speed when polythene
becomes bigger. Only needs to fix the speed
once when machine starts.
After testing of this technique, it seems it needs
to implement further. The frictional force
among those two surfaces is not enough to pull
and wind polythene film. After looking further
implementation techniques, another rubber
roller is attached to the system. The second
rubber roller will keep the polythene line
pressed to the driving rubber roller. Then the
frictional force is only used to wind the
polythene. Pulling polythene line will result in
the pressure force between two rubber rollers.
Page 11
Figure 27 shows the 3D view of the winder unit
and it is clearly mentioned on the figure 28 how
the winder unit is fixed near the inclined
support bars.
Figure 27: Winder roller setup
Bobbin Adjuster bolts
Figure 28: Winder attachment on the machine
Detailed dimension drawing of the winder unit
is mentioned on appendix E.
The bobbin will travel upwards on inclined bars
when polythene volume rises. From this
method it is possible to wind 2kg of polythene
on the bobbin. Maximum winding capacity is
2.4kg and when exceeding 2.4kg wounded
polythene roll gets loosen. After wounded the
polythene roll, it should wrap using waste
polythene or paper board to avoid damaging
the film while transporting and handling
because it gets damage so easily. If small
holes appear on the film it is no longer usable
for food packaging.
©University of Wolverhampton
School of Technology
3.5 DC motor control unit
For drawing unit and winder unit two DC
motors are used. To control their speed, a
programmable I.C has been programmed and
implemented. The microprocessor is 18F4520
and the reason for using this PIC is it has C-
Compiler optimised architecture. There is
another reason that used a PIC instead of
OTP-PIC (One time programmable PIC)
because for future plan to automate the
polythene machine using the same PIC. The
DC motors used for this machine is 24V, 1.5A
and 24V, 4A transformer used to power the
motors and circuit. Circuit was designed using
a bread-board and the component assembly is
mentioned on figure 29.
Figure 29: Prototype of motor control circuit
Micro-chip MPLAB is used to generate and
compile the program for motor control.
Program was based on C-language and C-
code for the motor control circuit is mentioned
on appendix E. Reason for choosing C-
language as the programming language
because it is user friendly and also it is a high
level programming language.
4 COSTS
In order to manufacture full machine it cost
around 2laks with labour charges and
electricity. All the costs for development of
machine are mentioned on table 4.
Page 12
 to be used and those are not available in local
market in Sri Lanka and because of that all the
parts have to be imported. After evaluating the
Component/Part Qty. Cost (Rs)
component cost and freight charges,
completion cost will take around Rs.85000.
L-iron bar 5 5000 Then the total cost for the machine will around
Welding rod packets 3 1350 3laks. This is a large amount for a small scale
Hacksaw blade 8 1000
industry. Die can be made more accurately if
CNC (Computer Numerical Control) lathe and
Grinder wheel 6 660
milling machines are used.
Cutting wheel 5 525
End-Mill 3 4500
Drill-bit 5 1000
Tap set 3 3000
6 CONCLUSION
Mild steel shaft (50mm) 1ft 875
Mild steel shaft (25.4mm) 8ft 4000 After looking at the available machines and
Mild steel shaft (63mm) 1ft 1200 their techniques, it seemed that there are so
Nut 80 3000
many parts that do not add value to the final
product of polythene. After analysing the
Bolt 120 450
mechanisms and technology of the polythene
Grub screw 16 750
manufacturing process, designing of the
Racer (6203) 4 2400 polythene manufacturing machine is started. In
Racer (6003) 4 2100 the market most machines are classified on the
Stainless steel sheet (0.5mm) 1 10200 diameter of the die. After some brainstorming
Mika sheet 3 8500 sessions an idea came up to make an
Heating element wire 120ft 38000 adjustable die. When die is adjusted, parison
Temperature controllers 4 12000 coming out from the die is also adjusted
Thermo couples 4 4800 according to that. This feature makes the
Air blower 1 9000
machine unique. Extrusion speed is also made
adjustable by controlling the RPM of the gear
2.2kW 3-phase motor (3hp) 1 30000
box using a spring loaded adjustable pulley. In
24v DC gear motor 2 6000
this machine it is possible to manufacture
Air Solenoid valve 2 4000 polythene in width of 12mm to 100mm in 0.002
Pressure regulator 2 2000 to 0.3 thicknesses. Power consumption of the
Rubber roll 6 4000 machine is very low when compared to other
V-Belt 1 1500 machines in the market. Simplicity of the
machine provides user friendly operation and
only one person is needed to operate the
Total cost 161810 whole machine. Company saved around
15laks by manufacturing the machine without
Table 4: Costs buying a machine from the market. Efficient
winding technique helps to wind polythene roll
nicely. Servicing of machine parts also easy
because of simplicity of the machine.

5 IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 6.1 References

Machine will perform more efficiently if it is
automated. But manufacturing and automation
of the machine is not possible in such a short
period like 6 months. Also when automating
the machine, good quality electronic parts have
[1]
http://www.google.lk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=
1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnzic.org.nz%2
FChemProcesses%2Fpolymers%2F10J.pdf&rct=j&q=poly
thene%20manufacturing&ei=6AvZTc7HGILmsQO58KSO
DA&usg=AFQjCNF7_zQugxQNwIlY1YoFiCy0K4eXxw&c
ad=rja

©University of Wolverhampton
School of Technology Page 13
[2]
http://www.supplierlist.com/b2b/products/gtpacki
ng/p-0/showroom.htm

[3]
http://www.dsbrookes.com/Extrusion%20Screws
.htm

[4]
http://ookaboo.com/o/pictures/picture/13279282/
Crosssection_of_a_plastic_extruder_to_sh

[5]
http://www.easybizchina.com/FreeMember/prod
ucts/9485/Modest__Shanghai__Power_Transmission_Fitt
ings_Co___Ltd_/Roller_Bearings-1.html

[6] http://www.omega.com/pptst/MBH.html

[7] http://www.allproducts.com/ee/arico/03-
temperature_controller.html

[8] http://www.shopping.com/comair-rotron-
cl2t2/products

[9] http://www.buypolythenebags.co.uk/

©University of Wolverhampton
School of Technology Page 14
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A A

B B

23
60

45 80
2
6
C C
64

25.40
50

D D

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D

APPV'D

F MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Die A3

1 2 3 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:2 SHEET 1 OF 1

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A A

400.07

67.92
67.92

50.31
B B

69.43 160
40

200
140

266.70
.4 3
C R 79 C

249.06
63.50
25.40

168.34
224.11
249.06
160

63.50
25.40

D D
546.10
50.80
132.48

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D

APPV'D

F MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Gear box and screw barre

A3

1 2 3 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:10 SHEET 1 OF 1

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A A

18
26

20
B B
24.40

200 Racer Inner R15

R5
80

C 6 C
112

100

20 Racer Outer R42

30

142.58
84
10

6
R3
0

100

26
160

72

160
70
50

D D

274
119.47
428 120

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D

APPV'D

F MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Drawing unit A3

1 2 3 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:5 SHEET 1 OF 1

 1 2 3 4 5 6
89.05

120
A A

42.06
50
135
58

20 R8 34.38
56 51.24

40

34
90

20
141.76

149.06
20
B B
20
44

51
62. 50
140
89.05
308.50
20

16
44

C C

328.50
438
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND
DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D
D
APPV'D

MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Winder A4

1 2 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:1 SHEET 1 OF 1

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A A

B B

8
4.0
47 8
40

R8
88
.7

C C
1

138
184

200

D D

205

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D

APPV'D

F MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Die with air ring A3

1 2 3 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:5 SHEET 1 OF 1

 1 2 3 4 5 6

2137.59
A 428 A

554.26
20
41

322

911.70
.93

1799.40

899
134
623.10

.8 1 °

B B
300

300
666.10

521.59
112.70

R79.43
479.7
886.30

R1
508 14
83.54

.30

C 326.76 1016 C

23
5 .1
4
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND
DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D
D
APPV'D

MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Machine assembly A4
1 2 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:1 SHEET 1 OF 1
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

40
A A

6
0.7
30

B B

468.36

428.36
521.59 138.66
41
130.21 .6
1
C C

623.10

0
368.36

11
50.80
191.79
1948.80

59.55
D 600 D
886.30

61
112.70

.50

326.76
°

50.80

E 530.16
1016
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND
DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:

NAME SIGNATURE DATE TITLE:

DRAWN

CHK'D

APPV'D

F MFG

Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.

Machine Frame A3

1 2 3 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:20 SHEET 1 OF 1