CHICAGO — Through two recent licensing deals, Comet Automation Systems Inc. (Booth S1583) has enhanced its product line and opened new doors in various corners of the world.
Comet recently signed deals with Lanco of Hanau, Germany, and Liad of Haifa, Israel, to manufacture, distribute and service several of those companies' product lines in the United States, Mexico, Canada and in some parts of Asia.
Through these deals, Comet has introduced a new line of resin dryers and a gravimetric blender.
Known mainly for its blenders, weigh hoppers and mold monitors, Comet now can offer new processing services and tackle a whole new area: extruders.
The Liad gravimetric blender is Comet's first continual-feed blender that will cater mainly to the extrusion industry, said Comet President Thomas Rajkovich.
Comet, based in Dayton, Ohio, always has focused on the injection molding sector of the plastics industry. But the new equipment is ideal for manufacturers of multilayer film and sheet, pipe, profiles and cable coatings.
One aspect of the blender that cannot be ignored is the ability to regulate the flow rate online.
"On multilayer, it's real critical when you're working with three to four extruders to get them to work in conjuction with each other," Rajkovich said.
The gravimetric blender is a new product for Liad as well, which concentrates its business in Europe and the Middle East, Rajkovich said.
The license agreement allows Comet to manufacture and distribute the blender from its plants in the United States and Taiwan, Rajkovich said.
Also, the Lanco LTA and LTX dryers will be manufactured in the United States and Taiwan for distribution in those areas as well as Canada, Mexico, China and Southeast Asia.
Though they will be the brainchild of Lanco, the dryers will take on the Comet name for distribution in those countries, Rajkovich said.
Both dryers boast energy efficiency.
The LTA dryer is a triple-bed unit that is more powerful than past Comet dryers.
"It's half the size for the workload it'll handle," Rajkovich said.
The desiccant beds have a large surface area, which allows better air flow. In turn, the dryer requires smaller blowers, which minimizes energy consumption, he said.
"We do a lot of exporting. Electricity in foreign countries is a lot more expensive than in the [United States]," he said.
The main selling point of the LTX-40 dryer perhaps is its compact size and protection from dust particles, perfect for compact-disc manufacturing, Rajko-vich said.
"Anytime you're making a compact disc or a [digital versatile disc], you have to have completely clean material," he said.
The dryer is in an enclosed cabinet that includes a hopper and loader yet needs only 5 square feet of floor space. The control system on the outside allows the molder to feed four machines simultaneously with dry polycarbonate at less than 0.005 percent final humidity, Rajkovich said.
Last but not least, Comet introduced its updated version of the injection mold monitor, which is one-quarter the size of its previous monitors, he said.