PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2015

TRADE SHOW PREVIEW 48 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 03/15 www.petpla.net NPE Orlando, Florida, March 23-27, 2015 For the second time, after 40 years in Chicago, IL, the NPE will take place from 23-27 March, 2015 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL USA. The trien- nial international plastics exposition is organised by The Plastics Industry Trade Association (SPI). Covering an area of about 1 million m 2 , the exhibition will be showcasing the market leaders in the industry. In addition to about 600 items of equipment, 400 exhibits will be showing off their paces. With 60,000 industry professionals expected, the exhibition is something of a barometer for the recovery in the US econ- omy. NPE can be seen as the largest plastics industry event in 2015 and target plastics applica- tions in building and construction, automotive, medical and consumer and packaging. As readers of the PETplanet Insider you will be particulary interested in PET, so our preview will give you a brief idea of what awaits you on the 1 million m 2 exhibition space in field of PET. We will be delighted to welcome you to the Editourmobil at our booth South Hall – S21189 ! www.npe.org West Hall Level 2, Booth: W618 Light weighting and quality control Agr International will display its latest developments aimed at achieving aggressive lightweighting goals while maintaining high quality. The Pilot Profiler with Process Pilot auto- mated blowmoulder management system interfaces with the blowmoulder to provide precise material thick- ness distribution man- agement and defect detection for PET bottles, while offering hands-off blowmoulder control. The company says that the system offers bottle producers the ability to aggressively reduce bottle weight while ensuring that the material is distributed appropriately. Agr claims that the Process Pilot system enables the consistent production of high-quality bottles regardless of operator skills, environ- mental changes and preform variations. Pilot Vision, Agr’s vision-based inspection system that mounts inside the blowmoulder, is designed to offer manu- facturers a means to critically evaluate even the lightest preforms and blown bottles for defects that may compro- mise the quality of the finished product. OptiCheck, a compact and powerful vision system that is designed to manage quality on HDPE and similar con- tainers, features a new level of vision-based quality man- agement for rigid plastic containers transported on a table- top conveyor. The system can be configured with up to 12 cameras and can provide comprehensive inspection for the entire container, including seal surface, sidewall, base and label defect detection as well as laboratory-precision finish gauging. OptiCheck is designed for manufacturers that produce bottles in a wide range of shapes, sizes, materials and colours. www.agrintl.com West Hall Level 2, Booth: W2143 “Next-generation” material handling, processing and proofing Conair will unveil several brand-new products at NPE 2015, including a “next generation” system that uses machine vision to help prevent material contamination due to operator error. Material Vision Proofing (MVP) includes a motorized camera that automatically confirms that the connection between material sources and destinations has been made correctly and conveying can begin. Users of the new modular ESE Series EarthSmart central chillers can install a single chiller initially and then add up to a total of six modules, for cooling capacity of up to 960 tons. All units – up to a total of 12 refrigeration circuits – can be connected to a single control interface. Systems can be water or air-cooled. Process fluid for EarthSmart Adiabatic Cooling Towers circulates in a closed loop through tubing in the tower and is thus isolated from contamination and evaporation. Eleven models are available to handle nominal flow rates, from 45 gal/min (170 l/min) up to 510 gal/min (1930 l/min) of process fluid (35% ethylene glycol). Conair says that its MicroWheel Desiccant Dryers are the smallest desiccant-wheel dryers available and offer an alternative to compressed-air dryers and small twin- tower units. The company asserts that they are particu- larly suitable for medical processors and others running small quantities of expensive engineering resins. They are available in two basic models: MW1 and MW2. They make use of brushless blowers with speed control built in in porder to facilitate the right process air flow for differ- ent resin volumes. Each model is available with several different hopper capacities. The MW1 units can support hoppers of 0.2-cu-ft (5.7-l), 0.5-cu-ft (14.2-l) and 1.0-cu- ft (28.5-l) capacity. Including the hopper, they range in height from 19.5 in (495mm) to 27.7 in (704mm); the larg- est weighs 106lb (48kg). www.conairgroup.com