Brazilian domestic appliance manufacturer Lorenzetti has won innovation and product design awards following a collaboration with gas-assisted moulding technology specialist Cinpres.

The 2009 awards for Product of the Year and Innovation of the Year were announced by ANAMCO (Associação Nacional dos Comerciantes de Material de Construção).

Lorenzetti’s Ducha Advanced electric shower was specifically designed to exploit Cinpres’s patented gas assist technology. The result, says Lorenzetti, is savings in cost, material usage and cycle times – and a surface finish without shrinkage marks or distortion.

“We have been able to achieve significant cost savings by being involved in this project from the outset,” said Cinpres Latin region sales manager Manuel Aros. “At the design stage we used digital 3D prototyping to ascertain the correct amount of material required, to improve gas penetration and to optimise injection speed, clamp force and injection pressure – all of which would traditionally require costly physical trials.”

Lorenzetti has purchased gas preparation systems, pressure controllers and the licensed plastic expulsion process for its plant in Saõ Paulo.

Equipment and process support were provided by Pamatech, Cinpres’s Brazilian representative, which is also based in Saõ Paulo.

Gas assisted moulding generates internal cavities in products and components, with a view to reducing weight, cost and material usage and speeding up cycle times. It is being applied to everything from furniture to automotive components, says Cinpres.