Chemical Processing - November 2007 - (Page 38)

>> MAKING IT WORK Portable conveyor speeds paint production mixer loading step also benefits from consistency and dust-free operation By Michel Podevyn, Spiroflow Systems, Inc. A portAble mechAnicAl conveyor hAs been instrumental in helping soliant llc, lancaster, s.c., improve the production of Fluorex thermoplastic paint. the Aero mechanical conveyor from spiroflow systems, charlotte, n.c., ensures a consistent flow of soft acrylic powder, without lumps or sticking, into a large cylindrical mixing vessel used at the start of the paint-making process. soliant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ernie Green industries, a Dayton, ohio-based automotive supplier, offers Fluorex as a more durable, cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional paint and plating systems. the material currently comes in a palette of more than 140 colors, and is used by a variety of industries including automotive, marine, signage and electronics. before purchasing the conveyor, soliant employees manually pushed 275-lb. drums filled with acrylic resin powder onto a scale for weighing and adding to the mix. two operators then manually scooped 1.5 lb. at a time from the drums to the mixing vessel until the amount called for in the particular recipe was reached. in the vessel, the powder was stirred into a mixture about the thickness of mayonnaise. before scooping material into the mixing vessel, operators first had to hand inspect the contents of each drum and physically break up any lumps or sticky powder. speed and consistency varied from batch to batch. each required an average of 25 minutes per employee or almost one man-hour. “the manual system was time consuming and didn’t provide the quality control we needed,” notes mark beard, staff product development engineer for soliant. “We needed a dependable, hands-off system that ensured batch-tobatch consistency and automatically provided a consistent speed and material flow.” A better way beard did some research and saw an ad for the portable Aero mechanical conveyor. “We had no knowledge of spiroflow’s capabilities, even though they were in our backyard,” he says. “After visiting their facility, we were convinced that spiroflow had the know-how and expertise we were looking for. A demonstration using our powder convinced us that their equipment was right for the job.” 38 • november 2007 the system designed and custom built by spiroflow consists of a stainless steel conveyor and a distribution system comprised of an inclined 90-in.-long straight-line conveyor with a sack tip hopper at the inlet. the system is mounted on a mobile frame complete with two fixed and two swivel casters. the casters ensure easy positioning and have locking brakes for maximum safety. When material must be added to the mixer, the mobile conveyor is positioned onto a 4 ft. × 4 ft. weight platform whose top is flush with the factory floor. then the weight of the conveyor is tared so that the precise amount of acrylic powder can be loaded into the conveyor feed hopper. the powder is tipped into the hopper through a plastic strip curtain located at the front of the dust hood above it. the hood is connected to a dust extraction system that ensures environmentally safe dust-free operation. A grid across the top of the hopper breaks up any agglomerates, a main concern with the previous procedure. A rotary valve controls the rate of flow from the hopper to the conveyor. six air-operated vibratory pads strategically placed around the hopper ensure a consistent flow of powder into the rotary valve at the hopper outlet without bridging. www.chemicalprocessing.com http://www.chemicalprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chemical Processing - November 2007

Chemical Processing - November 2007 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor PAT isn't Standing Pat Pursue the Perfect Plant Eliminate Exchanger Tubing Troubles Portable Conveyor Speeds Paint Production Process Puzzler Plant InSites Equipment & Services Product Spotlight/Classifieds Ad Index End Point

Chemical Processing - November 2007

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