MATERIALS HANDLING | MACHINERY
Latest developments in materials handling
A dryer that saves up to 70% in energy, retrofit options to raise productivity and blenders with microdosing were all seen at K2025
Materials handling developments – ranging from feeders and dryers to blenders and dosers – were well represented at K2025, with a variety of new and upgraded technologies.
Bird Machinery unveiled its latest advances in heating and drying at K2025. The company makes compact infrared rotary drum (IRD) devices to treat bulk materials, including pellets, regrind, flakes, and powders. This makes the technology accessible for smaller throughputs. The technology claims to offer advantages over conventional hot-air drying methods for bulk materials, including: 90% time savings; up to 70% in energy savings; and fast changeover times, for high flexibility. “We have adapted IRD technology from large- scale plants for smaller throughputs, allowing injection moulding to benefit from the advantages of infrared heating,” said Urban Stricker, the company’s founder. For common materials such as PA, PC, PMMA and
ABS, the company provides standardised Bird 5 series machines. Throughput capacity is 4-100 kg/h for deep drying to specifications below 200-1,000
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ppm. The drying time for this continuous process is 3-30 minutes, depending on the material and task. This saves over 90% of time and uses up to 70% less energy compared to previous drying methods, says the company. Switching to different materials is done in minutes by changing the rotary drum. The device can also be used to dry TPU – which
it says is TPU difficult to process due to its high sensitivity to moisture and narrow processing window. IRD can simplify this. In ongoing trials, Bird Machinery is testing a polyether-based TPU with Shore 85A, which is commonly used in injection moulding. �
www.birdmachinery.de
Blue Air Systems says its BBX, launched at K2025, offers energy savings of 50–70% compared to conventional hot-air pellet dryers. It uses dry process air to convert conventional pellet dryers, which it says can help plastics proces- sors improve profitability. It is available with new systems, or can be retrofitted. Conversion is simple as existing pellet hoppers remain in use. Only the drying unit is replaced with the compact BBX dryer module. Blue Air Systems has filed a patent for it.
Main image: Bird 5 series IRD machines can be used to dry TPU before moulding
� Winter 2025 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 23
IMAGE: BIRD MACHINERY
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