Conair presents R-PRO conveying system with variable speed
Conair, the leading producer of auxiliary equipment for plastics processing in the world, debuted its patent-pending R-PRO dense-phase vacuumconveying system with variablespeed capabilities at the K 2016, world’s premier fair for the plastics and rubber industry, in Dusseldorf, Germany, in October.
This system minimises pellet fracturing, ‘angel hair’ and equipment wear caused by conventional dilutephase conveying. It can be `tuned’ to match material speed to application requirements and the characteristics of the material being conveyed.
When the Conair R-PRO (ResinPROtection) conveying system was first introduced a year ago, the focus was on slow-speed densephase conveying, which eliminates pellet fracturing, dust, `angel hair’ equipment wear and other problems caused by conventional high-speed vacuum conveying.
Doug Brewster, Conveying Product Manager, and the inventor of the system, said, “R-PRO is capable of running at low speeds, and it can also operate in the more conventional dilute phase, with individual pellets fully suspended in the high-speed air or at any speed in between. As material speed increases, there is a gradual transition from dense phase to dilute phase, and we have found we can control that transition very effectively and run right on the edge in a sort of mixed pulse phase. We think we can use this for higher-volume unloading where more airflow may be desirable but truly highspeed operation is not necessary or desirable.”
“The variable-speed capabilities of R-PRO give processors the flexibility to tune the system to their exact needs. For the highly abrasive glass and mineral-filled materials, the slowest material speeds are the best. We are finding that we can run at higher speeds with some materials and still avoid a lot of the usual problems. This can be a big advantage for unloading bulk trucks and railcars where more airflow is helpful,” he said.
Brewster said, “this mid-range speed would be good with materials like PET and acrylic, which are only mildly abrasive, or with light-bulkdensity materials (e.g.: 15 lb/cu ft), like PE sheet flake. It is really easy to raise or lower material speed and airflow and we can do it with great precision and control. The great news is the flexibility that the R-Pro system provides. The customer can set up and store programmes (up to 10 per receiver station) and convey different materials at different speeds.”
Response to this innovation has been very positive, especially since conveying throughput and distances are comparable to high-speed systems. In addition, since R-PRO uses standard deep-vacuum pumps, conveying tubes and material receivers, the system costs only a little more than conventional systems and can be easily retrofitted to existing systems.
Other innovations
The other Conair innovations on display were a new FLX-128 Plus conveying control, which now can be set up to operate the R-PRO system, a new Mobile Drying/ Conveying (MDC) system with standard colour touch screen control interface, and several examples of equipment from Conair’s new MedLine range of clean-room-ready auxiliaries. The exhibits at K 2016 also included the new, patent-pending Conair Invisible Line Proofing (ILP) system, a new dual-spindle automatic cutand-transfer coiler (ATC), designed for high-speed winding of smalldiameter extruded tubing and flexible profiles, the compact and quiet NCF-814 Granulator, which has a super-tangential cutting chamber to turn containers and other bulky scrap into clean, uniform regrind for better product quality.
The new FLX-128 Plus system, is scalable and has all the same features that made the previous web-enabled FLX-128 Conair’s most popular conveying system control obsolete. The new system is now smarter, faster, and more powerful. It not only controls R-PRO systems, but also integrates Conair’s new line-proofing systems, including the Invisible Line Proofing (ILP) system.