Sustainable Plastics - May/June 2020 - 12

what's new
continued from page 10
range of material sorting applications,
can be easily integrated into any existing
or new sorting processes, as a great number of initial pilot projects have confirmed.
It comes standard with Tomra's Sharp Eye
technology, which increases the light
efficiency while maintaining the same
energy consumption, enhances sorting
sharpness and improves the separation
of difficult to target fractions, as well as
the company's patented advanced Flying
Beam sensing technology, and optionally
available with Deep Laiser, one of the first
fully integrated Deep Learning systems
on the market.
Autosort Speedair is a highly customizable system, designed to stabilize light
materials such as plastic films or paper
on a high-speed conveyor, thus generating higher throughput and enhancing
sorting quality.
Tomra also announced the upcoming
launch of Tomra Sorting's Autosort Cybot,
the first robot on the market featuring Near
Infrared (NIR) and Visible Light (VIS) spectroscopy, Deep Laiser and if required, induction for ferrous and non-ferrous metals
recovery. Autosort Cybot's robotic arm is
capable of simultaneously sorting material
into four different streams or fractions depending on the infeed material size, colour
and criteria of the target fractions.

Fibre thermoforming for
cellulose-based packaging

Natureformer for
cellulose-based
packaging

A solution for
sustainable packaging
Kiefel GmbH has added a fibre thermoforming machine for cellulose-based
packaging to its extensive product lineup, which already includes systems able
to process recycled or bio-based materials such as rPET or PLA. With the Natureformer, Kiefel has become the first plastic
thermoforming machine manufacturer
move into highly-automated fibre thermoforming systems. The company is calling
the new process Kiefel-Fiber-Thermo-

May/June 2020

forming, or KFT for short.
A full scale pilot system is already running, producing Kiefel reference cups
with a cycle time of 15 seconds and according to Huber, there are already 'numerous systems in our order backlog'.
"We will deliver the first to a customer in
the middle of this year," he said.

or flowable powders in a processing plant.
Developed as an alternative to the use of
single-component batch blenders for resin inventory measurement, the True Rate
system utilizes highly accurate gravimetric
measurement. With two operating modes,
the system can be programmed and controlled in three ways: with an optional
4.3-inch touchscreen built into the system's electrical control panel, with a Windows-based PC running a virtual network
client viewer connected via Ethernet cable
to the panel, or with both. Mode selection
and programming is very simple. So too is
connecting the TrueRate system to SmartServices, Conair's cloud-based Industry 4.0
solution for auxiliary equipment monitoring,
management, and analysis. All that is needed is a SmartServices hub and an Ethernet
cable connected to the TrueRate system's
electrical control panel.

Universal water tank mould

Moulds

A universal mould solution

German mould maker BBG has developed a single universal mould for the PU
encapsulation of up to 15 different water
tanks with capacities ranging from 100
to 1,000 litres. By reducing the number of
moulds required to be kept in stock, the
flexible-to-use and partially automated
moulds increase the economic efficiency of water tank production, in particular
when producing small batches of differently-sized tanks. In just a few steps , the
mould can be adapted to different tank
sizes, model versions and connection
types. They can be operated manually
or, on the basis of a PLC control system,
semi-automatically, and then either hydraulically or pneumatically. The layer of
fine-cell polyurethane rigid foam with a
closed cell structure that is created when
the tanks are encapsulated ensures that
gas transport is delayed. This results in
particularly good insulating properties
so that the stored hot water maintains its
temperature for a long time.

Peripheral
equipment

Simple inventory tracking
and dispensing

Conair TrueRate system

The Conair TrueRate
System intelligent inventory tracking system from Conair automatically tracks changes in the inventories
of up to 500 different user-specified resins

New profile dryer uses vacuum technology

Profile
dryer
UK-based ACI has launched a profile dry-

ing solution for complex plastic and rubber
extrusions. The compact and efficient system, designed to draw out moisture from
unusually shaped profiles such as EPDM
rubber extrusions, asymmetric profiles and
silicone seals during manufacture. The
new dryer uses vacuum technology to remove water without damaging or distorting the extrusions rather than compressed
air - which often contains oil and water. In
addition to achieving high levels of drying
efficiency, ACI's profile dryer offers major
reductions in running costs through lower energy consumption - utilising a 1.5 Kw
or 3Kw motor - and the ability to capture
coolant on the extrusion.
The solution is capable of drying profiles
of up to 65 millimetres in diameter, and
is particularly suited to production lines
where water collection or spray containment is essential. Drying speed varies with
profile size, but smaller profiles of 0.2-6mm
can achieve a drying speed of up to 100 metres per minute.
Typical drying applications for the profile dryer include EPDM, nitrile rubber extrusions, PVC, plastic extrusions, silicone
seals, profiles, tubes, pipes and bars.

Sustainable Plastics - May/June 2020

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