Cranberry Township, Pa. — Auxiliary equipment maker Conair Group redesigned its dust removal system for pellets and regrind used by molders and extruders in medical and other markets.
The improvements to the DeDuster brand C-50 separator simplifies operations, eliminates wear-prone moving parts and improves the processing of regrind, which generates dust.
The next-generation product will be featured during a virtual event called The Conair Summit, which is scheduled for May 18 in lieu of the canceled NPE2021 trade show.
Conair's new system can remove lightweight dust, angel hair and streamers from otherwise high-quality pelletized feedstock and regrind at the rate of 50 pounds an hour.
Company officials say the DeDuster is ideal for processors of medical products and finished parts that could be prone to cosmetic imperfections, such as haziness, gels and black spots.
To upgrade the system, Conair equipped it with an adjustable pneumatically driven vibratory feeder, which replaces a paddle-style metering device that was prone to wear and had occasional problems feeding regrind.
The vibratory feeder enables the regrind to flow smoothly and since there are no moving parts in contact with the material, there's no chance of wear, according to a company press release.
The new DeDuster also has a larger opening that can process regrinds up to 3/8 inch (9.5 milllimeters) and a built-in level sensor that shuts off the feeder when the hopper below is nearly full. No one needs to manually adjust the feed rates to prevent over filling.
The DeDuster mounts on the processing machine and uses a single-phase AC power connection and tubing connected to plant compressed air. An on-off switch starts the unit and the feed rate is set with a rotary knob. Another knob adjusts the level of dust removal.
Raw material enters the unit from a standard hopper loader. The vibratory tray regulates the flow into the de-dusting chamber. The compressed air is introduced directly from the plant's air system and split into three streams.
The first air stream drives the vibrating table. The second stream passes through an ionizer and enters the DeDuster to creates turbulence and break the electrostatic bond between pellets and the dust/angel hair. The heavier clean pellets continue into the processing machine while the third air stream passes through a venturi and draws the lighter contaminants into a mini-cyclone so that they fall into a clear catch bin. The air is then exhausted through a filtered outlet.
The system is lightweight, weighing about 40 pounds (18.2 kilograms), and requires 13.25 inches (337 mm) of additional headroom above the feed throat of the molding machine or extruder and loading or drying hoppers.
Payback can be expected in about a month based on reduced scrap levels and reduced processing-machine maintenance, according to a Conair news release.