In extrusion, thermoplastic material first arrives with a doughy consistency, before being compressed, formed, cooled by means of a heat exchange process, and then cut into pellets once it has solidified.
Simulating this process has been a real challenge. CORYS’ North American team has successfully done so for a petrochemicals company building a new polyethylene plant.
A six-month ‘agile mode’ project has produced a library covering every aspect of the process, and a training simulator delivered one and a half months ahead of schedule.
The simulator has also allowed the I&C’s validation to begin ahead of time, thereby enabling a large number of bugs to be detected and corrected.
