ISSN 10683712, Russian Electrical Engineering, 2012, Vol. 83, No. 11, pp. 609612. Allerton Press, Inc.

., 2012.
Original Russian Text A.G. Shcherbinin, A.E. Terlych, E.V. Subbotin, 2012, published in Elektrotekhnika, 2012, No. 11, pp. 2831.

Extruder Power Consumption

A. G. Shcherbinin, A. E. Terlych, and E. V. Subbotin
Received October 22, 2012

AbstractA way to estimate the power characteristics of a plasticating extruder is proposed, and numerical
experiments are carried out to investigate them. The regularities of extruder power consumption are found.
Keywords: extruder, power consumption, extruder screw, numerical simulation
DOI: 10.3103/S1068371212110132

Singlescrew plasticating extruders enjoy wide

application in processing of polymers. (Fig. 1). The
extruders are meant to obtain products of unlimited
length by continuous extrusion the polymer melt
through the forming tool.
The basic working part of the extruder is the heated
(cooled) casing (cylinder), within which the screw
rotates. The polymer material comes to the plasticat
ing extruder from a special loading device in the form
of grains; then, it is grabbed by the screw thread and
moves along the screw channel. In the process of
advancing the material, it is compacted, melted, and
homogenized. Up to the output, the extruder creates
the pressure, which is necessary for extrusion of the
polymer melt through the forming instrument.
The power consumed by the extruder for the bulk
material motion, its melting and extrusion, is one of
the main operation parameters, as are the perfor

mance, pressure, and polymer temperature at the out

put. Power Q needs to be known on the shaft of the
extruder motor in addition to power Nm. This power is
conducted (disposed) through the inner surface of a
cylinder providing the given distribution of the casing
temperature. The value of these characteristics of the
extruder operation and their relationship mainly
depend on different initial parameters: the geometric
dimensions of the screw, polymer material, and tech
nological processing modes. Any change in the tech
nological process of extrusion leads to a change in
extruder power consumption.
The power on the motor shaft of the plasticating
extruder is calculated by the following formula [3, 4]:
L

Nm = Q + Q0 Pk =

0 S

Loading hopper

Heated (cooled) casing (cylinder)

Heaters

H2

x
D

H1

Solid polymers

Screw

Fig. 1. Scheme of a plasticating extruder

609

dS dz + Q P ,

Polymer melt

(1)

610

SHCHERBININ et al.

Rheological and thermal properties of the polyethylene

n

T0

Tm

Pa sn

1/C

kg/m3

W/(m C)

0.44 10825 160 0.018 110 919.0 779.0 0.335 0.182

where Q is the power of dissipative heat source; Q0Pk

is the power consumed to the polymer material
motion along the extruder channel and the pressure
injection, z is the longitudinal coordinate of the chan
nel, S is the current area of the transverse cross sec
tion of the channel (Fig. 1), is the specific dissipative
heat source defined by the work of the viscous forces of
the polymer, Pk is the pressure at the output from the
extruder, Q0 is the given volume flow of the polymer
material, and L is the length of the screw channel.
The polymer material moving along the extruder
screw channel is heated, turned from the solid state
into the plastic state, and reaches the temperature
needed for formation at the output. A change in the
internal energy of the polymer Qi during its advancing
along the channel is due to the heat injection (rejec
tion) though the walls of the channel Q and the work
of viscous forces in the polymer melt Q [5, 6]:
Qi = Q + Q .

(2)

Up to the output from extruder,

T out

Qi = G0

C ( T ) dT,

(3)

T in

where G0 is the given mass flow of the polymer mate

rial, T is the temperature, Tin is the temperature at the
input to the extruder, Tout is the temperature at the
output from the extruder, and C(T) is the specific heat
capacity of the polymer.
C, kJ/(kg C)

6.0

4.0

2.0
0

100

200 T, C

Fig. 2. Relationship between the specific heat capacity and

the temperature.

Numerical investigations of the energy characteris

tics of the plasticating extruder operation were carried
out by using a mathematical model [79].
Geometric parameters of a screw and a cylinder
Inner diameter of a cylinder (casing) D
is
Outer diameter of a screw is
Screw thread step is
Width of a channel W is
Width of a screw thread ridge s is
Lengths of the geometric areas of load
ing, compression, and dosing are
Total length of a screw is
Depth of a channel in the loading area
H1 is
Depth of a channel in the dosing area
H2 is
Lifting angle of a screw line is
Radial clearance between the screw
ridge and the casing is

160 mm
159.4 mm
160 mm
137.3 mm
15.3 mm
10/10/7 turns
27 turns
16 mm
4 mm
1739
0.3

Polyethylene was the object under investigation.

The table gives the values of the following thermal
characteristics: density , heat capacity factor , and
melting temperature Tm. Subscript s in the table corre
sponds to the solid state of the polymer, while m corre
sponds to the melting one. Figure 2 shows the rela
tionship between the specific heat capacity and the
temperature.
The effective viscosity of the polyethylene melt was
calculated by the following formula:
I
E = 0 exp ( ( T T 0 ) ) 2
2

n
1
2

(4)

where is the temperature viscosity coefficient, n is

the index of viscosity anomaly, I2 is the second invari
ant of the strain rate tensor, and 0 is the consistency
coefficient at temperature T0.
The values of the rheological properties of the poly
ethylene melt are given in the table below.
The change in the extruder cylinder temperature
with length is shown in Fig. 3. A dotted line denotes
polyethylene melting temperature Tm. The tempera
ture in the screw was estimated by the model of [8] tak
ing the dissipative heat source defined by the model of
[7] into account.
Initial temperature of the granulated material Tin is
20C.
During conducting numerical experiments, the
number of screw turns was changed from 40 to 80 rpm,
while the mass performance of the extruder was
changed within the range of 0.020.12 kg/s.

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EXTRUDER POWER CONSUMPTION

T, C

Q 104, W
6.0

200

611

Q
Qi

4.0
2

2.0

100

2.0
4.0
0

10

z, turns

20

18

z, turns

Fig. 4. A change in the internal energy of the polyethylene

Qi, as well as the dissipative Q and injected (rejected)
through the channel walls Q heat components, per time
unit along the channel length.

Fig. 3. A change in the temperature of the extruder cylin

der: (1) is Tch and (2) is Tp.

T, C

Q, kW
Tmax

Q
80

240

40

Q0 P k

Qi

0
220
40

Tav
200
0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

80
0.02

0.10 G0, kg/s

Q
0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10 G0, kg/s

Fig. 5. Dependences of average temperature Tav at the

output from extruder and peak temperature Tmax on mass
flow G0 and number of screw turns Nscr: () is 40 rpm,
() is 60 rpm, and ( ) is 80 rpm.

Fig. 6. Relationships between the power components

of the extruder and its performance G0 at different num
bers of screw turns Nscr: () is 40 rpm, () is 60 rpm,
and () is 80 rpm.

Figure 4 presents a change in polymer internal

energy Qi, as well as the heat components that are dis
sipative and injected (rejected) through the channel
walls, which are Q and Q, respectively, per time unit
along the channel length at number of screw turns
Nscr = 60 rpm and mass performance of the extruder
G0 = 0.06 kg/s. It is evident from Fig. 4 that the heat
injection through the casing is implemented at the first
four turns, namely, in the very area where the polymer
is in a solid state. After the appearance of melt, the
material is heated in the channel only due to the dissi
pative energy, whereas the casing operates in the mode
of heat rejection. For the above technological mode,
the power consumed by the electric motor Nm was
70 kW. Here, 5.6 kW passed on to the transport of
material Q0P, which is 8% of the power on the shaft,
and 64.4 kW (92%) was consumed to overcome the
viscous forces, i.e., the mechanical energy dissipation
Q, from which 40 kW was for heating the material
from 20 to 226C and 24.4 kW was rejected through
the extruder casing.

Figure 5 shows the dependence of melt average

temperature Tav at the output from the extruder and
peak temperature Tmax on the extruder performance
and the number of screw turns. It is seen from Fig. 5
that Tav and Tmax rise with an increasing number of
turns and fall with increasing performance.
Figure 6 portrays the relationships between power
components of the plasticating extruder and its perfor
mance G0 and number of screw turns Nscr. It should be
noted that the power on the electric motor shaft Nm is
determined by (1). Figure 6 shows that power Q0Pk
consumed for the mass transition and pressure injec
tion is no more than 10% of the electric motor power,
while the rest of the energy is converted into heat as a
result of acting viscous forces. The value of Q signifi
cantly depends on the number of screw turns. The heat
excess extracted due to mechanical energy dissipation
is rejected through the extruder cylinder wall, where
temperature Tc remains constant.
With a number of screw turns of 40 rpm and a mass
flow of more than 0.065 kg/s, Q is a positive magni

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SHCHERBININ et al.

tude; i.e., heating of the polymer material under these

conditions is partly implemented at the expense of the
heat energy of casing walls. In other instances, the
extruder casing operates in the mode of heat rejection.
The change of internal energy Qi, which is esti
mated by (3), is practically in linear dependence on
change in mass flow G0. The difference between the
values of Qi for various screw turns and at fixed flow G0
is determined by the difference between average tem
peratures of the polymer at the output (Fig. 5).
Thus, the results of numerical investigations show
that no more than 90% of the electric power consumed
by the extruder motor is consumed to overcome the
viscous forces of the polyethylene melt, while the
motion of the polymer material and pressure injection
use under 10%. The casing of the extrusion machine
operates in the mode of heat rejection practically
throughout the whole length, apart from the initial
portions at the loading area. During design of plasti
cating extruders, it is necessary to account for the
obtained regularities of power consumption to provide
the extruder casing with an effective system of heat
rejection.
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2012