CHICAGO — Pelletizer equipment suppliers offer a range of approaches to fit different jobs. They also continue to make their machines quieter and easier to clean to improve pellet quality.
Accrapak Inc., which exhibited at NPE 1997, held June 16-20 in Chicago, upgraded its lab-scale pelletizer, the Accrapak BM 15. The Houston-based firm said it simplified maintenance and servicing for the unit by making the cutter and feed rolls easily removable. The firm also displayed its new 900-4 strand pelletizer with an integral sieve facility. Designed for color masterbatches, it can pelletize 15 strands. The 900-4's upper and lower rolls are powered for consistent quality and the sieve can separate oversize pellets and fines at 800 pounds an hour.
Conair Group said its Waterslide Pelletizing System is available worldwide. The system has capacity of 500-34,000 pounds an hour. The Pittsburgh-based firm said the water slide avoids the sometimes difficult stranding process and automatically restarts any strands that might drop.
The water slide is an inclined sluiceway down which water flows to carry strands from the die to the pelletizer at the bottom of the incline. Water jets above the strands create turbulence to improve heat transfer and cooling. A dry-cut version for glass-filled resins removes water before the strands enter the pelletizer cutting chamber.
Cumberland Engineering unveiled in the U.S. market an 8-inch version of its Super Quietizer pelletizer. Features include a multitooth helical cutter, in-feed muffler, high-performance AC motor and inverter drive, metal/plastic/metal inner cover and discharge chute and an anti-vibration mount between cutter and base frame. Cumberland is based in South Attleboro, Mass.
Dicer Corp. introduced four new Dicer pelletizers and upgraded previous systems for computer control, safety, low-durometer cutting capabilities and longer wear by hardening with its IonLast ion nitriding method. The Dicer makes cubes and octahedral pellets from a two-roll mill, extruder or compounder. It pelletizes a web from 21/4-18 inches wide.
The Haverhill, Mass., firm claims the Dicer is simpler to operate than a strand pelletizer and, unlike an underwater pelletizer, can be moved from one line to another.
