Miscellaneous special-purpose machinery

Tender description

Manchester Metropolitan University (referred to in this document as ‘the University’, ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘Us’) is seeking to appoint through a competitive tender process suitably qualified and experienced providers of polymer processing and related equipment under the ‘TRANSFORM-CE Project’. ‘TRANSFORM-CE’ is the title of the project, which is led by Manchester Metropolitan University, but includes 36 partners from across Europe. The project is supported by the Interreg North West Europe programme as part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The 3D printing filament extrusion line is designed for extrusion of materials ABS, PLA, PET-G and other materials (listed in the Material Capabilities section below) and for production of cylindrical, non-hollow, filaments of different normal diameters up to 3 mm diameter, suitable for 3D printing. The line can consist of either one device or a line of devices, provided the technical requirements, output rates, ovality and consistency listed below are met accordingly. The University requires an extrusion line to produce high-quality recycled filament for use in additive manufacturing in educational environments, industry and in the home. The air compressor is required to provide and store compressed air for the operation of specific tooling required for the operation of the extrusion line and any surrounding operations. The system can consist of either one device or a line of devices, provided the technical requirements such as noise limitations and capacity listed below are met accordingly. The plastic granulator is equipment required to granulate stock of waste plastic, from bottles, to car components into granules of size suitable for re-extrusion or compounding. The line can consist of either one device or a line of devices, provided the technical requirements, output rates, granule sizes output, bed knife and screen size are as listed in the technical requirements. The compounding and extrusion for filament line is required to compound more complicated composite materials. The device should consist of a twin-screw mechanism to increase the sheer force on the melt and provide improved particle/fiber dispersion into the composite. The system should have multiple heating sections, independently controlled, with integrated heating and cooling to prevent any unwanted degradation of the polymer melt. The output of the line should be in pellet form, suitable for extrusion into the required dimension filament. The line can consist of either one device or a line of devices, provided the technical requirements, output rates and consistency listed below are met accordingly. The dehumidifier and air purifier system is required to reduce the aerial moisture and contamination of the room to an acceptable level for the extrusion of moisture sensitive polymers such as nylon. The system should be easily operated, with automatic response to sudden changes of environment, such as the heat generated by the plastic melt equipment. Furthermore, to ensure that the facility is safe to work the system should be quiet and produce a minimal amount of noise based on the technical requirements below.