PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2016

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 23 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 06/16 www.petpla.net The perfect image Precision within seconds. Closure cap decoration with rotary pad printing machines. www.tampoprint.de Visit us at the exhibitions in Germany: K-2016, Düsseldorf, Hall 4, Stand 4C46 BrauBeviale 2016, Nuremberg, Hall 4, Stand 4-617 Optimisation engineering Most of the Cyklop production plants are configured by Causemann himself and are constantly being opti- mised. The most recent measure was the reconstruction of a production line to be able to process both granules and regrind at proportions of up to 100% each. “The individual configu- ration of the plants at Cyklop is a big challenge for us every time”, recalls Georg Flink of Kunststofftechnik Flink und Wortmann GbR, Burscheid, who was in charge of the project as a sales partner of Motan-Colortronic. In this particular case, the primary task was to integrate into the existing infrastruc- ture a Luxor HDC 1800 crystalliser with agitator bin (capacity 2.500l), equipped with a Metro HCG 30 MG hopper loader suitable for flakes. In addition, the old dryer was to be sup- plemented by another drying bin from Motan-Colortronic with a capacity of 7.500l. Finally, a Gravicolor GC 600 dosing and mixing device of appropri- ate capacity needed to be integrated. Due to the available space and the already existing loader installed on the extruder, the Gravicolor had to be set up at the back of the extruder. From there, the material is collected by an Azo loader and transported to a 400l buffer container. Material conveying at Cyklop is handled completely with vacuum sys- tems. Georg Flink continues: “Nor- mally, system units are coordinated. Here, our application department primarily had to deal with adapting the different systems to each other. For example, the new drying bin had to be adapted to the blower of the already existing dryer. To do this, you need to know the type of blower, its dynamic pressure and characteristic curve, and the cross-sections of the available pipes. After all, the new bin should not use up too much air; otherwise the existing drying bin will stop working. The flow calculation was really tricky.” Another hurdle were the tempera- tures in the production environment. Particularly the machine-mounted Gravicolor devices are exposed to very high ambient temperatures (between 80 and 100°C) on the shop floor during full-load operation. To ensure that they work precisely and trouble-free, the pneumatic cylinders were equipped with special seals. The Gravicolor 600 devices installed at Cyklop are each equipped with four dosing units for granules, flakes, colour and masterbatch. In two of the lines, the dosing and mixing units as well as the 400l buffer con- tainers were installed directly above the extruders, in spite of their size. According to Bernd Causemann, this layout helps to prevent rapid segrega- tion of the material on its short way from the hopper to the inlet and thus leaves it more homogeneous. And he even sees another benefit: “For us, the buffer containers – whose con- tents is blanketed with dry air – serve as small silos. If a problem arises during production, the shift foreman has five to ten minutes to solve it without having to stop the plant. Minor problems in material supply can defi- nitely be solved during this time”, he claims. In the third line, the Gravicolor was placed beside the extruder, away from the high-temperature area. Plant configuration – technol- ogy composed individually The know-how gathered by Cyklop over many years is the reason why they do not use ready-made produc- tion plant. Bernd Causemann config- ures, partly constructs and builds the lines according to his own ideas. This is why the plants incorporate extrud- ers from Barmag and Reifenhäuser, melt filters from Gneuß and Kreyen- borg, temperature controls from GWK, Trane and Weinreich, dryers, dosing devices and suction boxes from AZO, Zeppelin and Motan-Colortronic – to mention just a few. In-house devel- opments, e.g. spooling devices or transfer points between the individual components, benefit from the fact that Cyklop do their own engineer- ing. Even the central plant control has been configured according to individual requirements. Apart from the regulation and control options at the machines themselves, there is a central station in the office of the shift foreman where all data can be moni- tored. www.motan-colortronic.com www.cyklop.de