Innovation | materials handling With its acquisition of Colortronic back in 2006,
Motan considerably expanded its position in the plastics dosing and mixing marketplace. The merged Motan- Colortronic business can now provide handling and dosing solutions ranging from standalone units for use beside the processing machine to fully networked plant-wide solutions. The latest addition to the company’s dosing system control is the Gravinet GP Light system. Designed as a compact system for control of up to two dosing modules, the Light system uses the same operator interface as its more powerful predeces- sor but features a new 12.1 inch touch screen panel. It uses Ethernet network connections. The system allows the operator to monitor all functions in real time. Material protocols can be browsed from the main menu and changes applied in the system settings mode. All production relevant data is documented in real time, recorded and archived, says the company. Italian ancillary equipment maker Piovan has launched a new gravimetric blender range. The Quantum models are designed to provide high levels of performance with more simplified maintenance and operation. The company says all surfaces that
come into contact with the moulding material on the Quantum blenders are manufactured in stainless steel with a low surface roughness, preventing the risk of contamination and ensuring minimal risk of product flow variation. Each model can be configured with up to six dosing stations, all of which can be easily removed for emptying or cleaning with no need to dismantle the blender. The weighing pan is mounted on
two load-cells, with shock absorbers installed between the weighing pan and load-cells to ensure optimum precision. The weighed batch is released into a spherical mixing unit designed with integrated intelligent sensing to automatically adjust for changes in material blend and density. Piovan chief marketing officer Giorgio Santella says
the new patented mixer unit, which can also be used remotely from the weighing station, is one of the key innovations on the new blenders. “It is important to be accurate in preparing the batch, but the mix must also be homogenous,” he says. Quantum blenders cover throughputs from 10 – 800kg/h and use an 8-inch touch screen control system
www.injectionworld.com Left:
Movacolor’s MCTwin is designed to optimise
masterbatch usage when processing regrind
that shows real-time equipment activity. The control system is designed for integration with Piovan’s WinFactory industrial supervisory software, which allows sharing of recipes, management of material and production batches, and tracking of raw materials across the plant. Santella says integrated plant management systems are becoming an essential element in modern plastics manufacturing. “In the past, mass production had some spare room. Today, this is not the case. Margins are so small we have to reach the highest levels of production efficiency,” he says. The Quantum blenders can be
provided with a range of loader options, including Piovan’s new Pureflo loaders that use an energy dissipation device (licensed from Vactec of the US) at the end of the loader pipe to eliminate the need for a filter. In addition to reduced maintenance, the reduced pressure
drop allows the system to be run at lower pressure to save energy. Netherlands-baed Movacolor has developed its MCTwin gravimetric dosing system for
simutaneuous handling of masterbatch and
regrind. The MCTwin combines two of the company’s MCBalance dosing units - one functions as the master unit and doses the
regrind while the second unit follows the master and doses the masterbatch. This arrangement
means that regrind is used optimally and only sufficient masterbatch added to achieve the required coloration, says the company. The MCTwin has been developed to prevent overcon- sumption of costly masterbatch when feeding already coloured reject parts and sprues back into the moulding process. It uses Movacolor’s established dosing technology, which employs a cylinder that doses
March 2014 | INJECTION WORLD 39
Left: Koch Technik has added dual load cell technology to its Graviko line of blenders
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