GÜNTHER blueMaster compact – The easy-to-use app

The app was developed so that even by machine operators with no training in injection moulding can use it. The user-oriented intro with useful explanations makes operation so simple that printed instructions are virtually a thing of the past. “We already have modern interfaces in our pockets. We're able to use smartphones or tablets with ease. So why not simply use your phone to operate the controller?” asks Christoph Münch, Project Manager for Control Technology at GÜNTHER Hot Runner Technology. “We asked ourselves as the manufacturer: What are our controller’s most important functions? What functions are so elementary that users must be able to use them correctly at first go?” The result is state-of-the art menu navigation with graphic temperature displays that are easier for users to interpret. “Users have all key parameters at their fingertips," adds Münch. “Furthermore, all measurement data can be uploaded securely to a cloud and used for documentation or more detailed evaluation.” The app can be installed on any smart device, thus allowing users to operate the controller from anywhere without requiring precious space on the operator's side of a machine. Communication takes place via Bluetooth, one smart device can be used to operateseveral controllers to be operated at the same time. Once the smart device's battery is depleted, it can be charged using the controller's integrated wireless charging module.

"Efficiency is paramount,” sums up Münch. “You save time on setting the parameters and reduce the error rate. While other controllers are becoming increasingly more complex and difficult to operate, we are going in the other direction without sacrificing any performance features. blueMaster compact provides everything users need for their applications, clearly arranged on their smartphone screen in portrait or landscape format. Our hope is for the user interface to be intuitive, allowing operators to learn how to use it in no time. If, however, help is required to understand what a certain setting or parameter might do, the interactive manual is only one touch away.

The new blueMaster compact temperature control units are designed for smaller applications, for use in service workshops or laboratories. They feature adaptive control optimization, i.e. they adjust their control behaviour to the connected load without user intervention. Control remains stable, even when operating tiny loads. Four operating modes are available per zone – adjust, control, master and monitor. “The newly developed control algorithm is even more precise. Automatic control parameter adaptation ensures excellent control quality with no overshooting,” summarizes Münch. blueMaster compact units are attractively priced and available with either three or six control circuits. They have incorporated many performance features of a large control unit but are centered on the application area concerned. “For example, the heating function combines a ramp-up and soft start and the PID parameters are self-optimizing,” concludes Münch.

The plastic housing for blueMaster compact series units have been kept extremely small in size and can thus be placed on the machine or in the surrounding area to save space. Load and thermal connections are wired to a 24-pin industrial plug and all fuses are accessible from the outside.