The following companies will be exhibiting products at the K 2007 trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany, being held Oct. 24-31.
* Buss MX for cable boosts throughput
PRATTELN, SWITZERLAND - Buss AG will introduce a high-performance kneader, the MX series for making cable compounds and special masterbatch production, at K 2007.
The MX offers several advantages over the company's MKS kneader, Buss said. Throughput is 2½ times more, without any increase in size. The kneader runs quality cable compound, even with very high filler content up to 68 percent by weight, with improved mechanical strength and better flame resistance. The MX also uses 15 percent less energy.
The improvements are mainly because of a new four-flight screw and a redesigned kneading chamber with greater volume. As with all Buss kneaders, the screw oscillates axially each time it rotates, a combined motion that mixes the material intensively, but gently.
Other improvements mean the mass temperature rise, as a function of screw speed, is significantly lower then earlier models - allowing higher screw speeds without exceeding the maximum admissible temperature for cable compounds.
Buss also developed a better drive, using a compact combination of four water-cooled induction motors actuating the screw shaft, through epicyclic and linear gearing.
Pratteln-based Buss became independent last year, after a management group bought the business from Coperion Group.
Small-container line puts out high volume
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Wilmington Machinery Inc. will show its high-volume SB machine for blow molding small bottles, plus its large-platen Lumina structural foam molding press.
Last year, the company shifted its marketing focus to very high-output blow molders, able to produce at least 250,000 bottles a day, or 75 million a year.
Wilmington said it has developed the technique to blow 100 percent of the entire parison, so bottles and flash never stick together. The 24-station SB wheel can mold as many as 240 bottles per minute.
The SB molds single-serve dairy, food, juice and yogurt packaging. Wilmington Machinery created the SB series after working with makers of small-bottle packaging, who told the equipment maker they were looking for the best, simplest and most economical machinery to handle very high production rates.
Wilmington concentrated on applications that require 50 million to 200 million containers per year, in either monolayer or multilayer configurations.
The Lumina structural foam press has larger platens, so it molds pallets, collapsible storage bins, underground drainage and material-handling applications.
Improvements on the Lumina line include a simplified nozzle/manifold system, streamlined independent sequence nozzle control and electric extruder drives, Wilmington said.
The Versa-FillT sequential injection system gives fully independent nozzle control.
Fasti V-Jet comes in conveying types
Kufstein, Austria - Austrian auxiliary equipment maker Fasti GmbH will show its new V-Jet material conveying equipment.
The V-Jet uses a venturi vacuum system, creating enormous suction power while consuming only small quantities of air and energy, according to Kufstein-based Fasti.
The material is drawn into a conveying separator by a suction pipe, and then a filter separates the conveying air from the material.
The V-Jet is available in three categories: the Professional with a vacuum pump, the Economy for half the conveying distance, and the Micro for moving small quantities of material.
Brampton exhibiting AquaFrost, AquaRing
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO - At K, Brampton Engineering Inc. will feature its AquaFrost and conventional blown film lines.
Brampton has sold eight AquaFrost lines since introducing the technology at the K show in 2001.
AquaFrost blows the bubble downward, through the firm's AquaRing, unlike standard blown film equipment that blows the bubble upward.
The ring quickly cools the molten plastic and creates very clear, soft film, at outputs that compete with cast film lines and at a cost 15-20 percent lower than cast, according to the Brampton-based company.
Brampton Engineering has a production-scale nine-layer AquaFrost line and a conventional nine-layer line at its film technology center in Brampton.