The Extruder-Gear Pump Combination by rubicon: Your Competitive Advantage in Tightest Tolerances

Quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction—successful production can be assessed from various aspects. One crucial factor within an extrusion line significantly impacts it: ensuring appropriate tolerances.
 

Innovative Solution for Ensuring Minimal Tolerances

Ensuring tight tolerances is a critical aspect for manufacturers to produce products with precise fit and accuracy, which, in turn, guarantees functionality and end-product quality. By defining such tolerances, companies can not only enhance the efficiency of their manufacturing processes but also reduce costs by minimizing unnecessary rework or waste.

An outstanding solution that meets these requirements in the rubber and silicone processing industry is the combination of an extruder and a gear pump. This innovative pairing not only enables efficient and precise material mixture conveyance but also plays a crucial role in maintaining the necessary tolerances.

Functionality of the Extruder-Gear Pump Combination

Traditional rubber extruders combine various functions, including feeding, plasticizing the mixture, conveying, and pressure buildup, all within a single device. In contrast, the extruder-gear pump combination separates and optimizes these functions from a process engineering perspective.

While the extruder focuses on feeding, plasticization, and potential degassing of the mixture, the gear pump handles volumetrically consistent material conveyance to the tool and the necessary pressure buildup. This design prevents the unfavorable backflow movement of the plasticized mixture in the screw channel, particularly prevalent in conventional extruders during high-pressure operations.

As a result, this configuration leads to high pressure buildup (up to 500-600 bar) while maintaining a minimal increase in temperature. Consequently, significantly higher throughput capacities are achievable for the system.

Advantages of Gear Pump-Supported Rubber Extrusion:

• Reduced pressure on the rubber extruder lead to more efficient extruder operation and higher throughput.
• Independent control of extruder head pressure: The extruder head pressure can be set as an independent process parameter using a control system.
• Higher discharge pressure with minimal temperature rise for stretching and high-pressure applications.
• Precise dosing of rubber mixture to downstream equipment enhancing end-product control.
• Increased productivity for existing systems.

Gear pumps provide a reliable way to enhance existing capacity, improve the dimensional stability of extruded profiles, enable efficient pressure build-up for screen applications and achieve excellent return on investment.
 

Gear Pumps - Applications in Manufacturing Processes

Rubber gear pumps are specifically designed to gently convey elastomers and rubber, finding applications in various fields.
 

Typical areas where gear pumps are used include:
 

• Seal Profile Manufacturing: Precise and gentle material conveyance is crucial when shaping rubber seals. Especially when using vacuum extruders, gear pumps prevent flooding of the vacuum chamber due to high tool backpressure.
• Production of Small Profiles and Silicone Strips: When manufacturing small silicone cross-sections with high tool backpressure, gear pumps ensure a consistent output without overfeeding the extruder or subjecting the processed silicone material to excessive temperature.
• Mat and Profile Production: Rubber gear pumps are ideal for gently conveying materials during the production of rubber mats or profiles.
• Processing Various Rubber Types: These pumps are suitable for processing different rubber types, including EPDM, CR, NBR, SBR, NR, FPM, and BR.
   

rubicon gear pumps

The utilization of rubicon’s “Smart Gear Pumps” for constant volume delivery in rubber extruders represents a significant milestone in the development and stability of the rubber extrusion process. The key to successful installation lies in proper pump design and selecting the appropriate pump size.
 

Key Features of rubicon’s Gear Pumps:

• External Bearing Arrangement: These pumps feature an externally positioned bearing, ensuring efficient operation and longevity.
• Arrow-toothed Gear Combination: The gear design optimizes material conveyance while minimizing wear.
• Guidance and Shaft Temperature Control: The pump design includes effective guidance and temperature management for the gear shaft.
• Minimal Discharge Volume: The exit volume is only about 0.2 to 0.3% of the pump throughput.
• Enhanced Extrusion Tolerances: Compared to conventional extrusion, these pumps can reduce extrudate tolerances by approximately one-tenth.
• Preventing Vacuum Chamber Overflow: The risk of vacuum chamber overflow in degassing extruders is nearly eliminated.
• Integrated Extrusion, Straining, and Forming: The entire process of extrusion, straining, and shaping occurs in a single step.

rubicon introduces its newly developed gear pumps to the market, expanding their range of extruders with screw diameters ranging from 32 to 150 mm.

These gear pumps find applications in single extrusion, co-extrusion, double gear pump extrusion, and multi-output processes for rubber, butyl, and silicone products.

Whether combined with vacuum, pin barrel, or standard extruders or retrofitted into existing customer systems, rubicon’s gear pumps are customized to meet specific operational requirements.

Are you interested in the Extruder-Gear Pump Combination?

The combination of an extruder with a gear pump offers several advantages. However, the decision regarding its necessity and economic viability should always be made based on the specific case. We would be happy to provide you with further guidance. Please fill out the form on the right side, and we’ll assist you accordingly.