processing feature | Melt filtration
time. When a pre-set pressure level is detected upstream of the filter, the indexing wheel automatically advances to move a clean disc into place. Filter media can be purged or, when necessary, easily replaced owing to the modularity of the screens. The RSFgenius M is a variant of the RSFgenius line.
Gneuss reports increased demand for its established KSF for short runs and frequent changeovers
continuous screen-changers. Product manager John Whaley reports that the screen encoder mechanism, which regulates lateral movement of the filter, has been upgraded for improved accuracy. The encoder is now capable of maintaining screen motion in increments of 0.001 inch (0.025 mm), “far finer than anyone will ever need,” he acknowledges, but a good example of what the company can do with its controls. Key Filters has also developed an optional bolt-on
screen shear that hydraulically cuts spent screen into manageable lengths, eliminating the need for an operator to do this by hand using a saw, and thereby doing away with a potential safety hazard. The KCH line is built to order, although there are
seven standard versions, as measured by the width of the screen that’s exposed to melt. These include 3.5, 4.5, 6 and 8 inch versions for single-screw lines, and 3, 4.5 and 6 inch models for twin-screw machines. Key’s most recent development is a design for a 10
inch KCH screen-changer. The company already supplies a 10 inch screen-changer for an older line, the KCN, which is still in production.
Something old, something new Gneuss has seen a jump in sales for a screen-changing system it debuted in the 1990s, the KSF, and growing interest in a version it unveiled last October at K 2013, the RSFgenius M.
The benefit of the KSF, according to Monika Gneuss, is
its flexibility in dealing with frequent material change- overs, one hallmark of many low-volume operations. “The KSF is for small runs and quick changeovers, whether in material or colour,” she says. “It also works well with specialty materials such as thermoplastic elastomers and urethane elastomers. More specialty compounders want this system now. We’ve sold a number of units in the US in the past 12 months, and are also seeing surprising demand in Asia and Europe.” The KSF uses a circular, indexing component with multiple filter discs. Melt flows through one disc at a
54 COMPOUNDING WORLD | July 2014
The M version is for highly contaminated melt such as recyclate. The rotary filtration system synchronizes the hydraulic drive and automatic back-flushing operation to maintain optimum screen exposure to the melt, while continuously purging contaminants from sections of the screen with an integrated piston system. The rotary design is modular, which facilitates the changing of screen sections within it. Another supplier of filtration systems for highly
contaminated melt is ADG Solutions. The company is the exclusive US importer of the APR Series of five automatic self-cleaning filtration systems from Fimic Officine Meccaniche of Italy. Sandy Guthrie, president of ADG, says compounders
that use low-cost recyclate in commodity formulations can wind up with heavily contaminated melt. The Fimic APR Series of filtration systems (sold in the US as ADGS Fimic) catch contaminants up to 1 inch (25 mm) in diameter, and work effectively against unmelted plastics, dirt, metal, wood and textile fibres among other materials. In operation, the system uses an upstream plenum
that moves melt towards and through a circular filter plate. As contamination builds up, the inlet pressure reaches a set point on a sensor. When this happens, the sensor activates a rotating arm mounted at the centre of the filter. This arm has two interchangeable scrapers, one on either end. A motorized reducer rotates the arm so that the scrapers clean away the contaminants, which are forced to a discharge valve and expelled. Models range in diameter from 12.5 to 27.5 inches,
and can process melt flows of 1,000 to 7,500 kg/hour (453 to 3,400 lb/hour). A backflow system can also be installed with customer-supplied screen packs. Guthrie says that the cost-effective APR systems
handle most materials except PVC and polyethylene terephthalate. Later this year, however, ADG may offer filtration systems for these resins.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.adgs.net ❙
www.coperion.com ❙
www.fimic.it ❙
www.gneuss.de ❙
www.psgdover.com/maag ❙
www.nordson-k.com ❙
www.parkinsontechnologies.com ❙
www.trendelkamp.com
www.compoundingworld.com
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