Great systems need the best auxiliary equipment. At Process Control, we dedicate ourselves to providing the entire system to guarantee that our customers truly are getting the best. Our goal is to offer high quality equipment and to provide outstanding customer service. We have a long history of product development that has produced a series of industry leading standard products that can be custom engineered to meet customer needs. To maintain this exceptional quality, our products are manufactured and engineered in-house; including fabrication, wiring and assembly, mechanical, electrical and software engineering. After installation, we continue to set the standard in keeping your equipment at its best by providing excellent customer support and service. We can even offer integration into existing systems and live support of your equipment and software.
Your complete and customized system could be just one step away. Let PCC engineer, install, and manage the entire project. by checking out our website, sending us an e-mail, or calling Dr. Mark Venable at 770.449.8810 ext. 226
This week’s entry would like to spotlight the X Series 2 Continuous Blender. The X Series 2 is designed to produce precise, homogeneous blends by weight and offers unsurpassed blend accuracy and blend homogeneity in a wide range of configurations to meet the needs of any application. For extruder throat-mounted applications, the X Series 2 blender comes equipped with an integral downcomer to preserve the blended material all the way to the extruder without demixing. For mezzanine or off-line mounting, the blender does not include the downcomer and is designed to work with a number of different options for storing the blended material prior to it’s use.
Mechanical Features
Individual weighed ingredient hoppers with easy-to-use drains
Interchangable metering units with quick disconnect
Brushless DC gear motors with closed-loop control for precise ingredient measuring
Integral loading platform for mounting vacuum receivers
Designed for easy clean-out and quick change over
Color touch screen operator interface with new “off-the-shelf” control
Control Features
Blender monitors weight loss of each ingredient hopper for precise control of blend ratios.
Weighing system resolution is 1:1,000,000 for maximum accuracy.
Color touchscreen display for easy viewing of inventory and performance data.
Storage for 400 blend recipes in battery-backed memory.
Multiple alarm levels with visual display and contact closures.
Options
Gravimetric Extrusion Control
Steep-wall hoppers for regrind and other sluggish materials.
Today’s blog entry will feature Process Control’s X2U Series Continuous Gravimetric Powder Blender. The X2U offers unsurpassed blend accuracy and blend homogeneity in a wide range of configurations to meet the needs of any application incorporating the PF Series powder feeders. It allows gravimetric blending of non-free-flowing powder materials with free-flowing powder and pellet materials at unprecedented metering and mixing accuracy.
The powder feeders allow rates as low as 0.2PPH and as high as 3,000PPH. Metering augers are available in full pitch or 1/2 pitch configurations with helix diameters from 1/4 inch to 2-1/4 inches.
9 element Continuous Blender equipped with 3 powder feeders, 2 pellet, and 3 regrind hoppers
Incorporated into the electro-polished stainless steel design is a patented round-to-trough feeding area which provides more consistent mass flow for better metering accuracy. The feeder is designed with a steep wall, removable hopper which features a dust-tight band clamp for easy mounting of hopper extensions and quick disassembly for clean out. The bottom trough design is optimized to provide maximum material exposure to the auger.
“TAKE 2”, GOT CLUMPY? That is, do you frequently have plastic pellets or regrind material that clumps together making it difficult to feed?
In February of last year we supplied several unique batch blenders that integrate the cost effective 12kg, 5 component Guardian Series 2 Batch Blender with auger metering. That design incorporated a remote mezzanine mounted material multi-hopper, due to customer height restrictions.
The latest version incorporates cylindrical material hoppers mounted on the blender base along with auger feeders for each component. As before, the blender base includes a weigh hopper and mixing chamber. AC motors equipped with variable frequency (VFD) drives allow frequent motor starting and stopping without overheating. As usual a powerful, off the shelf, color touch screen control provides user a friendly blender interface.
For more information on our unique engineering solutions, send us an email at sales@process-control.com.
Today’s product spotlight will focus on our Guardian® Series 2 Gravimetric Batch Blender. This blender was developed for processors who want the simplicity of operation combined with the most accurate dispensing and superior blend homogeneity at a low cost.
The outlet of each of the individual material hoppers is equipped with a fast acting V-gate valve. Each of the materials is dispensed sequentially into a common weighing hopper in the desired proportions. The weighed materials are then released into a separate mixing chamber which provides the most consistent homogeneous blend of any batch type blender.
Process Control engineers have produced a highly advanced metering and weighing system that accurately controls each ingredient of every batch to the desired amounts and is not averaged over multiple batches as is common in other batch blenders in the industry. At the blender’s highest accuracy setting, each ingredient can be dispensed to an accuracy of +/-0.02%
The metering gates are controlled with one initial dispense cycle and then the balance of the requested weight amount is fine tuned by “short cycling” the gate. Every batch is exact. The competition makes up for discrepancies on the next batch. Why assume that their next batch will correct the previous inaccurate batch? Do it right the first time, every time.
Standard Features
Capacity and Sizing: Available in 2.5kg, 5kg, 12kg, 18kg, and 25kg (1kg and 2kg are also available with our Guardian Series 3 design).
Segmented Material Hoppers: Available with 4-8 elements in individual fixed hoppers that are welded together. Special configurations for up to 12 ingredients.
Each hopper has one 90° side and no transition sections for improved material flow.
Hopper access doors with redesigned latching system.
Detached weigh hopper discharge gate actuator for improved performance.
Removable cartridge style dispensing gates for ease of maintenance and clean-out.
Optimized V-design metering gates for improved accuracy and dispensing range.
Color touch screen operator interface.
Click here for more information on our product line of Guardian Series 2 Batch Blenders.
Today’s entry features a quick video demonstrating the easy and straight-forward process of cleaning the material out of the hoppers and downcomer of an X2 Series Continuous Blender. The blender has been designed for easy clean-out and quick change over.
Unequaled customer support is available at PCC including complete refurbishing of aging equipment. What is a good engineering design? At PCC it includes backwards compatibility of components which translates into drop-in upgrades. Our continuous blender upgrades include state of the art brushless motors and drives, weigh modules and a user friendly touchscreen control.
Most customers choose to upgrade their existing blenders while in place in the production line, thereby minimizing down time. Sometimes equipment is transferred between sister plants which allows a “stopover” at PCC for a redo. This was recently the case for two PCC continuous, loss in weight gravimetric blenders. The blenders were stripped down to the frame. All defective and normal wear parts were replaced, the frame and all components were painted, re-assembled and thoroughly tested. The end result, a blender that runs and looks like new.
Model XLC large frame, 6 element blender, manufactured in 2001
Before:
After:
Model XDG small frame, 4 element blender with integral downcomer, manufactured in 2002
Process Control offers several upgrade options for our Autobatch, Continuous, and original Guardian Series blenders. Read below to see how you can be sure that your blender is running at it’s fullest potential.
Touch Screen Upgrade for Autobatch and Guardian Blenders
We offer a new touch screen controller for Autobatch and Guardian blenders that is an off-the-shelf solution to improve your blender’s performance and longevity. This non-proprietary upgrade will not only add years to your blender’s life, but it will actually improve your blender’s accuracy and output as well. the upgrade is also a way to simplify the blending process and postpone future blender replacement, which makes things easier and saves you money all at once. Your older Autobatch or Guardian controls are facing the threat of becoming obsolete; ensure that will not happen by upgrading to our new touch screen control system today.
Click here to learn more about PCC Batch Blender Upgrades.
Upgrades for Continuous Blenders
In addition to the same touch screen as mentioned for the batch blenders, Process Control offers brushless motors and drives and a DSP weigh module upgrade kit for our Continuous Gravimetric blenders. As compared to the previous versions, the new gearmotors are both brushless and encoderless, for far superior reliability, performance and a longer lifespan. The new motors come with more torque and a far greater speed range than before. Only two power/gear ratio combinations are required to cover the required RPM range for our line of blenders and feeders, versus eight power/gear ratio combinations for the previous permanent magnet gearmotors. The new drive/gearmotor package is 100% compatible with PCC blenders and feeders already in service.
Click here to learn more about PCC Continuous Blender Upgrades.
Check out this video of a Guardian Series 2 Batch Blender dispensing material from the metering gates. One gate has the standard v-gate design (right) while the other (left) has a restrictor plate installed. The restrictor plate gives processors the ability to finely control low rate ingredients for even greater batch accuracy.
Today’s post features a video of powder and pellet materials being fed into PCC’s X2 Gravimetric Continuous Blender.
All ingredients are simultaneously metered in the correct blend ratios from individual weighed material hoppers. The ingredients flow through a cascade chamber into an integral downcomer. The downcomer preserves the blended material all the way to the extruder without demixing producing the best blend homogeneity.
Click here for more information on PCC’s Continuous Blenders.
