MATERIALS PREPARATION | TECHNOLOGY
over 250°F (121°C), manual adjustment of material levels in dryer hoppers, excess moisture above dryer feed throats, manual adjustment when optimum temperature is exceeded, and burned out dryer motors. All of these issues are eliminated with Dri-Air Dryer 4.0, using connectivity and internet capabilities to monitor, control and eliminate these traditional problems. “Virtually all manufacturers report a reduction in the availability of maintenance personnel, as well as a lack of trouble shooting skills among maintenance staff. Lack of maintenance capability can result in a number of problems. Significant amounts of rejects being produced before a dryer problem is detected can occur. Dri-Air Dryer 4.0 controls its own maintenance and virtually eliminates this risk.” The company says that Dri-Air Dryer 4.0 is the first of a line of dryers designed to achieve Industry 4.0 goals. In order to contribute to the customer’s ability to manage a plant with utmost efficiency, Dir-Air 4.0 dryers are capable of communi- cating with other devices through Ethernet or other protocols. Using Dri-Air Dryer 4.0 wireless technol- ogy, it is possible to connect and compare issues such as cycle times among dryers, moulding machines and robots to determine the optimum settings for the equipment. Dri-Air Dryer 4.0 is designed for ease of care through modular construction. Modules include power supply, input module, output module, tower module and air control module. These modules all use connectors, couplings or other devices that make it simple to quickly replace several individual components. “While developments such as Bluetooth wireless technologies and internet connectivity have been available in consumer products for more than a decade, their integration to the production facilities that manufacture advanced products has been much more recent,” Sears adds. “Industry 4.0 is changing that. We intend to engineer Industry 4.0 technologies into all of our products, including our traditional small dryers and an expanding line of large throughput dryers.” Maguire Products is launching an intermedi-
ate-range model in its VBD line of vacuum resin dryers at NPE 2018, expanding the throughput capacity of these systems and introducing an energy-monitoring capability that will be available
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with all VBD models. The company says that the new Maguire VBD-600 dryer achieves throughputs up to 600 lbs/h (275 kg/h) – suitable for the manufacture of large automotive parts and many other moulding applications. With the new model, Maguire now offers vacuum drying systems with throughput capabilities ranging from 30-1,000 lbs/h (15-450 kg/h). The VBD-600 dryer will include a new controller display that monitors energy consumption and enables processors to track consumption over time. This is the latest addition to an intuitive control system which enables opera- tors to manage all drying parameters simply by means of a touch screen. “The new energy consumption display makes the radical energy efficiency of vacuum drying immediately measurable,” says Frank Kavanagh, Vice President of sales and marketing. “Since drying polymer can account for as much as 15% of total process energy cost for a moulding operation, the substan- tial reduction in energy consump- tion made possible by the vacuum dryer can yield a rapid return on investment for the equipment.” The company adds that in comparison with desiccant dryers, the VBD vacuum dryer consumes up to 80% less energy,
dries resin in one-sixth the time, and substantially reduces the heat history to which polymer is exposed. The speed with which the VBD system removes moisture makes properly dried polymer available for production only 35 minutes after a cold start.
VBD vacuum dryers use gravity to move material
through three vertically arranged stages of the drying process, with the discharge of material from one stage to the next controlled by high-speed slide-gate valves with an accuracy per dispense of ±4g. The vessels for the three stages are, from top to bottom: a heating hopper that brings resin to a target temperature; a vacuum vessel in which vacuum reduces the boiling point of water, causing moisture within the pellets to volatilise and be forced out of the pellet into the low-pressure environment surrounding it; and a heavy insulated material retention hopper with transparent shroud to protect dry material. For hygroscopic materials, a membrane purge option is available. The vacuum vessel and retention hopper are mounted on load
March 2018 | INJECTION WORLD 45
Left: The Maguire
VBD-600 dryer
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