Airforce Technology from Orenda Automation Revolutionises Grinding of Polyethylene
The new AirForce® technology enables the mill motor to be fully utilized at all times and the conditions that create meltdowns are eliminated.
Orenda Automation Technologies Inc. generated intense interest in their new "AirForce®" technology at the recent NPE 2015, International Plastics Showcase in Orlando, Florida USA.Â
Extensive Research and Development effort at Orenda has enabled "Airforce®" to offer a step-change improvement in throughput and machine efficiency for ambient polymer grinding. Trials on rotograde polyethylene have demonstrated a doubling of throughput compared to a conventional mill, together with a major reduction in the unit cost of electrical power to run the new system. Given that electrical power is the major cost item in ambient grinding, "Airforce®" offers the potential to significantly reduce the current premium between the price of material in pellet and powder form.
A unique system of plate cooling (patent pending) means that the process heat produced by grinding polymer pellets to powder is rapidly and efficiently removed from the grinding zone in the mill chamber. In a conventional system, this process heat is the main limiting factor to material throughput; once this limit is removed, the full potential of the system can be released. The cooling is so effective that the need for auxiliary water cooling of the stationary mill disc is completely eliminated, resulting in another big cost reduction.
A new design of mill cutting disc has been developed, that is an integral part of the cooling process. These discs are now offered as disposable items, which eliminates the need to ship plates away from plant at regular intervals, for re-sharpening.
One further major additional benefit is that, after mill start-up, an "Airforce®" system rapidly achieves a steady-state operation, whereas a conventional (temperature-limited) system will "hunt" up and down as material feed rate has to be increased and decreased so as to limit the build-up of heat in the mill chamber. As a result of the process fluctuations that this induces in a conventional system, it is very easy for the mill chamber to over-heat and cause a "melt-down", necessitating a complete system shutdown to remove melted material. In contrast, the new technology enables the mill motor to be fully utilised at all times and the conditions that create melt-downs will simply be eliminated.
"Airforce®" Technology is now available throughout Europe, using Orenda's European agent:
Michael Delidis
Sales Department/ Orenda Europe
Industrial Area of Thessaloniki
Block 44, DA 10 Street Sindos- 57022-
Greece
Tel: (+30) 231 079 5956
sales.europe@orenda-automation.com
or
C4 Polymers Limited
Farzan Ramezani
Managing Director
145-157 ST John Street
London, England EC1V 4PW
Mobile: 00447808225650
farzan.ramezani@c4polymers.com
