Product Innovations

Rotary vane feeder offers leak-free performance

Rotary vane feeder: Kice Industries’ new rotary vane feeder bolts directly onto a Kice Multi-Aspirator air classifier and feeds material into the device, which is used to remove dust, fines, labels and other lightweight foreign materials from plastic regrind. The feeder also can be used to meter materials flowing out of storage tanks and provides a constant, volumetric rate of feed. It is built with heavy-duty mild steel and comes in widths ranging from 1 foot to 11.5 feet, with throughputs ranging from 3.5 to 29 cubic feet per minute.

What’s new? An offset-vane design.

Benefits: No leaks. The clearance between the offset vanes and the wall of the feeder is tight, preventing leaks when the feeder is turned off. The new design also allows Kice to manufacture the feeders more quickly than its previous models, resulting in shorter lead times and lower costs.

Kice Industries Inc., Wichita, Kansas, 316-744-7151, www.kice.com

Scraper facilitates cleanup

Air scraper: Exair’s Soft Grip Super Air Scraper is a safety air gun used to remove stubborn debris in plastics recycling facilities and manufacturing plants. It uses compressed air in conjunction with a scraper blade to remove melted plastic, adhesives, tape, paint, labels, grease, lubricant and other sticky materials. It also is good for clearing up chips and flakes that are difficult to sweep. The scraper is available with extensions from 2 inches to 6 feet long that make it easier to clean floors, the inside of machines and remote surfaces. Prices start at $158.

What’s new? The scraper, which combines an electroless-nickel-plated steel scraper blade with Exair’s 2-inch Flat Super Air Nozzle and its Soft Grip Safety Air Gun.

Benefits: Easy cleanup of tough messes. Also, the scraper is designed to minimize compressed air consumption.

Exair Corp., Cincinnati, 513-671-3322, www.exair.com

Eriez updates its RevX-E eddy current separator for nonferrous metals

RevX-E: Designed to separate nonferrous metals from mixed recycling streams, Eriez’s eddy current separator features an eccentrically mounted magnetic rotor and has a direct drive for both the rotor and the conveyor. It has a 7-foot-long belt and comes in widths of about 3.3 feet, 3.9 feet, 4.9 feet and 6.6 feet. Two models are available: The LT2 is designed to handle coarse material 1 inch or larger; the ST2 is for separation of finer material. Both models can be configured with a heavy-duty vibratory feeder, feeder support framework, separation shroud and splitter.

What’s new? An updated version featuring a cantilever frame design that makes possible 10-minute belt changes. The upgrade debuted earlier this year.

Benefits: Ease of use. The separator has been designed for easy maintenance. For instance, it has large side panels that provide open access to the conveyor.

Eriez Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pennsylvania, 814-835-6000, www.eriez.com

Cutter hubs promise longer life and higher throughput in pelletizers

BKG HiCut Cutter: Designed for use with angled and straight blades, these cutter hubs are compatible with all Nordson BKG underwater pelletizers. They are available as retrofits and on new underwater pelletizers.

What’s new? A redesign that accommodates twice as many angled blades per hub and as many as 54 percent more straight blades. The blades have round edges and smooth surfaces with countersunk screws.

Benefits: Advantages include longer blade life or better pellet cutting, resulting in higher throughputs. The cutter-hub design optimizes flow and reduces swirling so pellets don’t bunch up. As a result, they can achieve higher throughputs, which, in some cases, might allow users to employ smaller pelletizers. Also, compared with older Nordson designs, the new BKG HiCut Cutters can last two or three times longer.

Nordson Corp., Hickory, North Carolina, 404-764-0001, http://nordson.com

Fluke vibration sensors assist with predictive maintenance

3561 FC vibration sensor: Fluke’s newest vibration sensor makes predictive-maintenance capabilities practical for a broader range of machinery, including shredders and extruders. Sensors can be attached to almost any rotating machinery. They send alerts when changes signal problems, such as misalignment or bearing wear that could lead to equipment failure. Sensors are epoxied in place and can be replaced when batteries run out of power.

What’s new? An improved frequency range. The 3561 ranges from 10 to 1,000 hertz, an increase over earlier models. Also, the sensor has a longer battery life of up to three years.

Benefits: Low cost and ease of installation. Users can set notification thresholds for vibration changes that will be sent to smartphones or computers.

Fluke Corp., Everett, Washington, 425-347-6100, http://en-us.fluke.com

Munson cutter tackles large items

Magnum 72-AR: With its 72-inch-by-22.5-inch infeed, Munson’s newest screen classifying cutter can chop up items big and small, including thermoplastic sheet, plastic scrap, PET bottles and composites. It has an overall rotor diameter of 18 inches and features a progressively stacked array of 72 interconnected cutter tip holders, each of which holds four 1-inch-wide cutter tips that continuously shear waste against twin, stationary bed knives. The cutter is offered in carbon steel, abrasion-resistant steel and stainless steel.

What’s new? The model, which came out in September.

Benefits: Resilience and the ability to handle large items. With its tungsten-carbide cutter tips and wear plates, the cutter is abrasion-resistant and capable of chopping oversized waste and especially tough objects, such as those made with fiberglass reinforcement. While it generates little heat, it’s able to size-reduce rapidly.

Munson Machinery Co. Inc., Utica, New York, 315-797-0090, www.munsonmachinery.com

SpydIR combines optical sorting with artificial intelligence

SpydIR with Max-AI: National Recovery Technologies LLC has married two of its technologies into this sorting unit that combines near-infrared-light detection with artificial intelligence. SpydIR identifies materials based on their molecular makeup, while Max-AI discriminates among similar materials to determine, for example, which HDPE containers are made from food-grade resins. With sorting speeds of 600 feet per minute, units can accommodate conveyor belts measuring up to 10 feet across.

What’s new? The integration of the two technologies. A unit featuring the two recently was installed at Penn Waste Inc., a waste-management and recycling facility in York, Pennsylvania.

Benefits: More advanced sorting with fewer false rejects. Using the two systems in tandem, recyclers can salvage more items. For example, while SpydIR alone might reject a container with a label on it, Max-AI can discern that the container underneath is recyclable, ensuring that the object is not sorted incorrectly.

National Recovery Technologies LLC, Nashville, Tennessee, 615-734-6400, www.nrtsorters.com

Dewiring machines remove wire ties from bales of various sizes

CW Dewiring: These machines from Cross Wrap automatically cut and remove metallic wires from plastic bales, then coil them into tight bundles, keeping them out of the recycling stream. Designed for throughputs of more than 60 bales per hour, the machines can be customized to fit existing recycling lines. At a minimum, the machines usually take up about 16.4 feet in each direction.

What’s new? A new frame structure that allows the machines to handle more bale sizes, including channel bales, wide-box two-ram bales and narrow-box two-ram bales. So far, a few such machines have been promised for delivery to the U.S.

Benefits: Safe, reliable removal of baling wires. Now capable of handling all bale sizes, the machines prevent wire contamination from reaching—and potentially damaging—downstream equipment, such as shredders. With the machines, workers no longer have to remove wires from heavy, tightly pressed bales—a task that has led to serious injuries.

Cross Wrap Oy Ltd., Siilinjärvi, Finland, 358-17-287-0270, www.crosswrap.com

Coperion pelletizer features a new type of knife rotor for gentle cutting

EGR: This pelletizer from Coperion can be used with recycled resin, as well as with virgin plastics. It’s designed for temperature- and shear-sensitive resins. The number, size and geometry of the pelletizer’s die plate holes can be customized; knife-blade speed determines pellet length.

What’s new? A new type of knife rotor that permits particularly smooth and gentle cutting of pellets. The knife rotor and blades make use of a special alloy and design.

Benefits: Dust reduction, thanks to the new knife rotor.

Coperion K-Tron Pitman Inc., Sewell, New Jersey, 856-256-3035, www.coperion.com

Relays detect current leakage

DEA71 and DEB71: These Carlo Gavazzi earth leakage-monitoring relays provide protection against leaking current that could cause a fire. They can be installed by users of machines, including recycling equipment, to ensure safe operations in processes that involve high temperatures or flammable materials. The DEA71 features fixed trip levels, while the DEB71 allows users to set their own levels.

What’s new? The monitors, which Carlo Gavazzi announced in August.

Benefits: Safer operations and longer machine life.

Carlo Gavazzi Inc., Buffalo Grove, Illinois, 847-465-6100, www.gavazzionline.com