Blender features corner valve for dispensing pellets.
Press Release Summary:
MaxiBatch HT gravimetric blender doses pelletized materials into processes running at rates of 10,000 lb/hr. It dispenses up to 12 batch ingredients, and each ingredient hopper has dispensing device designed for material in specific form. Corner valve dispenses up to 11,000 g/sec. Automatic corrections are made by blender controller, and accuracy offered is ±0.1%. It suits compounders, blown film processors, and manufacturers of packaging and big-volume products.
Original Press Release:
World's Largest Batch Gravimetric Blender Meters Pelletized Materials in High-Throughput Compounding and Processing
MaxiBatch HT Blender to Be Introduced at NPE 2006 Brings Advantages of Gain-in-Weight Systems to Blown Film, Packaging, and Other Big-Volume Operations
ASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., February 00, 2006: A new gravimetric blender that doses pelletized materials into processes running at rates as high as 10,000 lb. (4,500 kg) per hour makes the economic and product-quality advantages of the Maguire ® Weigh Scale Blender (TM) available to compounders and resin processors with big-volume operations, it was announced today by Maguire Products, Inc.
Tradenamed MaxiBatch HT (for High-Throughput), the new blender will be introduced at NPE 2006 (Booth 5507) as a companion to the original MaxiBatch system, which Maguire developed for wood flour and other bulk powder materials. Like the earlier MaxiBatch, the HT model can dispense as many as twelve batch ingredients, and each ingredient hopper has a dispensing device designed for a material in a specific form. To accommodate pellets while still achieving high throughputs, Maguire has incorporated into the major-ingredient hoppers a "corner valve" (see photo) that provides a large opening for dispensing pellets into a weigh chamber. The valve achieves dispense rates as high as 11,000 grams per second, according to Peter Skulski, sales manager.
The throughput rating of the MaxiBatch HT blender is double that of the next-largest series of Maguire blenders (the 1800 series), and its batch size of 66 lb. (30 kg) is 67% greater.
"As the world's largest gravimetric or gain-in-weight blender, the MaxiBatch provides many compounders, blown film processors, and manufacturers of packaging and other big-volume products with the first alternative to loss-in-weight systems, which are invariably larger, more complex, and more costly," said Skulski.
In Maguire's gain-in-weight blender, the ingredients for each batch are sequentially dispensed from separate hoppers into a weigh chamber. From there, the batch falls into a mixing chamber, then is metered into the processing machine. In subsequent batches, small corrections are made automatically by the blender controller. Overall batch accuracy is held to within +/- 0.1%, according to Skulski.
"Since the share of operating cost accounted for by raw materials increases with the throughput volume of a processing operation, the high accuracy provided by the MaxiBatch HT blender translates into big savings in raw materials, including expensive additives and colorants," Skulski said.
MAGUIRE PRODUCTS, INC., headquartered in Aston, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the world's largest supplier of gravimetric blenders and liquid color pumps and also manufactures loading systems, granulators, dryers, auger feeders, and related equipment and software. Its customers include injection, blow, and rotational molders, extrusion processors, and compounders. Founded in 1977, Maguire operates five manufacturing facilities in Aston and Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S.A. The company maintains a network of distributors in the Americas and overseas and has two sales and service subsidiaries: Maguire Europe, which supports customers throughout Europe and operates a distribution center in Tamworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom; and Singapore-based Maguire Asia, serves customers throughout South Asia and the Pacific Rim. Visit the Maguire Products web site: www.maguire.com
