Key points
Conveying Solutions
With an increasing focus on recycling, it is becoming increasingly common to optimise production and thereby minimise waste. This is also the case in the plastics, paper and packaging industries.
Each industry has unique material handling needs and with the trend toward increasingly customised conveying solutions, product development must continuously account for growing demands of efficiency, speed and accuracy.
Kongskilde Industries recognises the changes in and demands of the market, always seeking to offer the best conveyor system designs, from dedusting systems to pneumatic conveying systems.
The right pneumatic conveying solution will take pressure off the workforce and speed up production, as well as reduce maintenance and energy costs. Enclosed systems protect the workforce and the surrounding environment from potentially hazardous spills.
High-tech solutions for transferring materials can reduce or eliminate safety hazards, material loss, and production delays. Conveyor lines can increase productivity, profitability, functionality and safety in the workplace. These systems are also easier to work with in terms of scope than rudimentary mechanical systems; pieces of equipment can often be interchanged or added on, such as a diverter valve or new length of pipe in a pneumatic system.
Venturi system placed outside, freeing up floor space in the production
Industrial blowers – The Heart of Any Pneumatic System
A wide range of equipment – manual, semi-automated and automated – is used in bulk material handling, involving consideration of the storage, control and protection of conveyed material. Bulk handling systems focalise on equipment for handling dry materials, such as plastic granulates and recycle flakes.
The conveyor equipment facilitating the material handling can be composed of various equipment. Pneumatic conveying equipment, for one, is used to create cost-effective material handling systems. An industrial blower can behave as an air movement device for this type of conveying system. High-pressure blowers act as power sources in many of the reliable and effective solutions.
Historically, weaker fans were used to provide the air to the system, limiting conveying to light materials in low quantities. Modern industrial blowers are equipment which facilitate material transfer at much higher throughputs and over significantly longer distances. They also tend to have lower noise levels, weatherproofing, and it is possible for certain models to either be placed inside or outside the production area.
Industrial blowers can be implemented at the beginning of the bulk material handling equipment line, to deliver an overpressure, otherwise they are found at the end of the line generating a vacuum. Blowers can also be used in cleaning and exhaust processes.
Sales Director Peter Grathwohl next to Kongskilde’s MultiAir high pressure blower
Dedusting and Separation
Whether the case involves pellets or granulated regrind, dust and contamination can negatively affect the processing of materials and cause rejections in the manufacturing or recycling line.
What is dedusting and separation?
Dedusting is the industrial cleaning of granulates, generally using some form of pneumatic separation system. Separation may involve separating dust from re-processed materials, but it also encompasses the removal of light impurities.
Dedusting and separation systems are designed to remove or reduce dust, fine particles and other potential contaminants, or separate dissimilar materials. This is done to improve the overall material quality and value, as well as to maximise production efficiency. Dust is the most common fine impurity which attaches to pellets or granules: a functional dedusting and separation system will also minimise the potential of dust being expelled into the workplace.
What materials are handled by these systems?
In terms of the materials being handled, notable applications of dedusting and separation systems include granulated and virgin materials, such as rubber, PP, PET, PE, HDPE, Nylon, ABS, and carpet fibres. Recycled materials can become valuable reusable material after the separation process has taken place. Material can also be evacuated from granulators, mixers and other process equipment using particular solutions. The recycling process and work environment can therefore greatly benefit from dedusting and separation systems.
What are these systems composed of?
Common components of dedusting systems include aspirators, cyclones, and piping. Air flow allows for the evacuation of lightweight impurities to dust cyclones and filter socks, while the re-processed material makes its way to the bottom outlet of the aspirator. Dedusting and separation systems tend to be connected with material handling and processing systems and can be installed or retrofitted to existing production environments.
Sales Director Peter Grathwohl next to Kongskilde’s MultiAir high pressure blower
Thirty Different Systems for Testing
In Kongskilde Industries’ 480 square-meter Technology Centre, it is possible to put together more than 30 different systems on the basis of Kongskilde's many machines and components and thus also create solutions that are tailored to the individual customer's needs.
The technology centre itself contains pneumatic transport systems for both foils, plastic items and granules – as well as systems for separating and cleaning ground plastic with the aim of optimising both the production itself and the waste sorting. It should therefore not only be seen as a static place, but as a living laboratory, where plant managers can come and test their materials.
