MATERIALS HANDLING | FEEDING AND DOSING
Right:
Movacolor’s MCS unit offers an off-line dosing alternative to its popular MDS Balance gravimetric dosers
successful MDS Balance series of gravimetric dosing units, developed following customer feed- back which stated the height of the production machine onto which the unit is mounted made accessing the dosing unit difficult for material changes or maintenance, and that the vibration produced by the production machine could impact the dosing process. The new MCS unit is an off-line dosing add-on to the MDS Balance line of units. It is mounted on a trolley, which allows an operator to place the unit next to the production machine rather than it being installed on top of it. Machine vibrations no longer impact the dosing unit in this setup, increasing the accuracy of the unit. The floor-level design of the off-line dosing configura- tion simplifies access for material changes and maintenance, increasing productivity. The off-line dosing add-on is designed to
transport up to 32 kg/hr of material up to a height of five metres and distance up to 10 metres. Like the MDS Balance, it incorporates loss-in-weight software that ensures dosing accuracy of 0.02%. The precise measurement and consistent material output enhances efficiency and reduces scrap. Liad Weighing and Control Systems, a subsidi-
ary of masterbatch supplier Ampacet, developed the ColorSave SpectroMetric unit as a fully auto- mated device that combines in-line colour meas- urement and colour correction for monitoring and control of masterbatch dosing rates. The unit uses optical probes and Liad’s Spectro 4.0 in-line colour measurement software to detect reflected or translucent colors, opacity, or haze with accuracy comparable to high-end benchtop equipment, the company stated. The in-line continuous measurement device provides a real-time pass/fail signal and is accurate to a Delta E of +/- 0.05.
Blending batches The company has also developed the BlendSave system, which comprises up to fourteen weighing chambers fed directly from silos or containers. It can simultaneously, accurately, and consistently weigh raw materials and combine them as a batch according to a pre-determined recipe for a pre-determined processing machine. The Blendsave system was selected by Polish
packaging film producer Polipak when it decided to build a new plant to consolidate production of its TriplePak three-layer films. Previously, the company used largely manual weighing proce- dures to prepare blends of virgin LDPE, MDPE and LLDPE and PCR resins, employing a turn head
52 COMPOUNDING WORLD | July 2023
distributor to deliver weighed resins to several mixers to supply its 60 extruders, according to Polipak General Manager Tomasz Trams. The new 24,000 m2
production plant, which
started up in 2022, includes two automated Liad resin management, blending and distribution systems. Each consists of four basic BlendSave units, with each unit consisting of ten weighing channels. Each BlendSave system accommodates forty individual weighing chambers. Polipak’s 40 grades of resin, regrind and PCR are fed directly to each of the dedicated 40 BlendSave intermediate hoppers, which then feed to each dedicated weigh hopper. The BlendSave systems are each equipped with an Octobatch distributor that channels each individual blend to one of fifty material buffers, each of which is dedicated to an individual extruder. Liad’s smart management software connects to
Polipak’s MES software to transfer the material recipes to the appropriate BlendSave PLC, allowing a single employee to digitally manage the two BlendSave systems, where one hundred dedicated blending channels serve one hundred extruders.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.schenckprocess.com �
www.coperion.com �
www.moretto.com �
www.kubota-bt.com �
www.maguire.com �
www.movacolor.com �
www.ampacet.com
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: MOVACOLOR
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