At Wire 2014, Maguire Will Offer a Comprehensive Portfolio of Systems for Raw Material Management and Extrusion Control
Proven Systems Help Save Costs of Polymer Compounds and Additives, Increase Productivity, and Enhance Control and Documentation of Wire and Cable Quality
TAMWORTH, STAFFORDSHIRE, UK – At Wire Düsseldorf, Maguire Europe will introduce a wide-ranging portfolio of technologies that enable manufacturers to save costs while ensuring compliance with the stringent electrical and physical requirements for wire and cable insulation and jacketing, the company announced today.
The Maguire exhibit in Hall 10, Stand G46 will feature equipment for accurate conveying, loading, drying, blending, and dosing of polymer compounds and additives, along with systems that use real-time data on material consumption to regulate the extrusion process and ensure product consistency:
• Gravimetric blenders. The Maguire® Weigh Scale Blender controls the metering of materials into the extruder, including compound and costly colorants and additives. Automatically self-adjusting to compensate for variations in extrusion rate or bulk density, the blender maintains accuracy within 0.1%. This saves costs by rendering unnecessary such wasteful practices as “over-coloring” to compensate for process variations. It also enhances performance in downstream dielectric testing, where failure can result from too much colorant or erratic color dispersion. In addition, the formulation data generated for each batch by the blender controller is readily accessible for the documentation required in many high-specification markets.
• Gravimetric color feeders. For low-throughput lines or secondary “skin-layer” extruders, Maguire supplies the MGF Series of feeders, which install directly to the extruder throat. Because the feeder hopper is mounted on load cells that monitor the loss in weight of colorant as the material is fed into the extruder by an auger, the device prevents over-coloring, reduces color consumption, increases control over product quality, and documents color usage for each production run. This control enables manufacturers to run “faster and thinner” without compromising electrical properties. In addition, an “extrusion following” option ensures accurate dosing of color by automatically anticipating and adjusting for gross variations in extruder rate as the line goes up or down.
• Extrusion control systems. By compensating for the many process variations typically encountered in extrusion, Maguire’s LineMaster™ extrusion control system makes possible increased product uniformity, savings in raw material, faster startups, quicker job changes, less scrap, and more rapid accommodation to reel or bobbin changes. The heart of the LineMaster system is a loss-in-weight (LIW) hopper mounted on the throat of the extruder. The hopper is suspended on a pair of load cells that continually monitor the weight of the material in the hopper. Once each second, the LineMaster controller uses this data to calculate the amount of material being metered into the extruder. A special drive control serves as an interface between the LineMaster controller and the extruder drive, takeaway drive, or both. For installations where line speed needs to be determined, Maguire supplies a digital encoder that is mounted on the takeaway rollers downstream of the extruder. It monitors line speed so that the weight per length of product can be calculated.
• Dryers. For resins, additives, and crosslinking catalysts that must be dried before extrusion, Maguire offers every type of desiccant dryer as well as systems that use vacuum to remove moisture. Unavailable from other suppliers, vacuum dryers consume up to 60% less energy in comparison with desiccant dryers; eliminate the need to regenerate desiccant; and reduce startup time as a result of a drying cycle that is only one-sixth as long. Maguire’s new VBD™ dryers are simpler to operate and more reliable than previous vacuum systems .
• Conveying and loading systems. Technologies available from Maguire run a broad gamut. The Clear-Vu™ loader is a portable “mini-central” system that that allows flexible deployment and makes it possible to automate loading in smaller operations. The system automatically conveys raw materials to as many as eight stations while incorporating features that streamline material discharge, reduce maintenance requirements, and eliminate plant noise. The see-through receivers permit visual validation of material flow. At the same time, Maguire offers a range of centralized or plant-wide conveying systems. The FlexBus™ vacuum loading control system uses a single cable to connect a vacuum pump with one or many individually controlled receivers and readily accommodates the addition of more.
• The Sweeper™. Available only from Maguire, this device completely empties octobins or Gaylords of compound without wasting operator time or resorting to cumbersome box tilters. Every Sweeper continuously sweeps the length and breadth of the top level of pellets in a container, reaching into every corner, as it uses vacuum to transfer the material to an extruder or dryer. The device descends along with the level of pellets in the octobin until the container is empty. Because The Sweeper removes material without unwanted interruptions, there is no need for operators to stand by to ensure that the extruder does not run out of material.
MAGUIRE PRODUCTS, INC., headquartered in Aston, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the world’s largest supplier of gravimetric blenders, liquid color pumps, and vacuum dryers and also manufactures loading systems, auger feeders, granulators and related equipment and software. Its customers include injection, blow, and rotational molders, extrusion processors, and compounders. Founded in 1977, Maguire operates six manufacturing facilities in Aston. The company maintains a network of distributors in the Americas and overseas and has three sales and service subsidiaries that stock, sell, and service auxiliary equipment systems from Maguire and its affiliate, Novatec, Inc.: Maguire Canada, Maguire Europe, and Maguire Asia. Visit www.maguire.com
Maguire Products, Inc., 11 Crozerville Road, Aston, PA 19014 USA. Tel: 1-610-459-4300. pat@maguire.com. Maguire Canada, 299 Basaltic Road, Unit 1, Vaughan, Ontario L4K 4W8. Tel: 905-879-1100. info@maguirecanada.com. Maguire Europe, Vanguard, Tame Park, Tamworth, Staffordshire B77 5DY United Kingdom. Tel: 44-1827-265-850. paul@maguire-europe.com. Maguire Europe (Italy), Maguire Italia SRL, Padova, Italy. Tel: 39-049-970-5429. Italia@maguire-europe.com. Maguire Asia, Maguire Products Asia Pte Ltd., 15 Changi North Street 1, #01-15, I-Lofts, Singapore 498765. Tel: 65-6848-7117. magasia@maguire-products.com.sg. Maguire Asia (China), Maguire Products Asia Co. Ltd., 7C-02 Majesty Building, 138 Pu Dong Avenue, Shanghai 200120 China. Tel: 86-21-588-23410. mpa@maguirechina.com.
Robert J. Martino
Martino Communications Inc.
8 Main Street / P.O. Box 379
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706 U.S.A.
Tel: 1-914-478-0754
Email: bob@martinocommunications.com
www.martinocommunications.com
