Tecnema Technology presents Square Dry 150-1600

Tecnema Technology is proud to present Square Dry 150-1600, the brand new version of the dry squaring system for porcelain which is already in operation at the Marazzi Group’s facilities.

Along with the advantages of the previous versions of Square Dry 4.0 (lower energy consumption and environment impact and less need for maintenance), the new solution also brings benefits in terms of total automation and greater safety for the operator. The fully automated calibrating and chamfering spindles feature tool adjustment for wear, size change with automatic tool positioning and calibre control with self-adjustment in real time. The tool is adjusted to compensate for wear directly from a convenient operator interface. The operator gives a command to call up the grinding instructions, after which the machine sends an order to the spindles to measure the tools and reposition them with the correct measurements. Performed just once per working shift, automatic tool adjustment ensures outstanding levels of performance (identical to that of new tools) and prevents tool wear from having any impact on the end result.

Square Dry 4.0 is covered by two patents. The first concerns electronic control of the correction and self-adjustment of the diagonals for correct positioning (EU patent no. 2853343), and the second is the system for the automatic detection and control of tool wear (EU patent no. 2542381), an operation that takes just 5 minutes at the start of a shift. During production, the automatic calibre measurement and control function keeps the dimensions of the tile constant and automatically adjusts the position of all the tools according to the error determined in real time on the machine.

Square Dry 4.0 is able to remove 60% more material for the same energy consumption thanks to the higher operating speed of the calibrating spindles compared to conventional solutions (SCT technology). A further contribution is made by the machine’s mechanical configuration which minimises vibrations on the tile.

Costs and maintenance are also reduced by the fact that there is little or no heating of the spindles, eliminating the need for auxiliary cooling devices. Square Dry 4.0 is a zero-maintenance solution that ensures a useful life of each diamond tool of at least 240,000 square metres thanks to automatic adjustment (it varies according to the machining parameters).

The solution also brings clear energy savings thanks to the inverter-powered spindle motors. Additionally, the high speed of the grinding wheel makes it possible to reduce the number of calibrating spindles and cut power consumption. Although the installed power is 240 kW, the actual power used is just 110 kW/h. By the end of the year Tecnema aims to introduce a new in-line score-and-snap system capable of performing integrated management of all cutting operations combined with bilateral grinding, especially for large ceramic panels.