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Press Contact: Dennis Grantham, Claron LLC Marketing Communications +1-216-672-0574; dennis.grantham@claronllc.com
At PTXPO 2023, Conair will, for the first time, showcase the availability of its common control platform across all major product lines – blenders, dryers, conveying systems, and temperature control units – while live demonstrations highlight its new real-time moisture monitoring device, called MoistureMinder™, and its innovative light-guided Resin Selection System with RFID proofing and traceability. All of the action takes place in Booth 209 at PTXPO 2023, March 28-30 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill.
Demonstration: Real-time resin moisture measurement with MoistureMinder™. Conair’s first interactive display simulates resin preparation, ingredient feeding, and a final moisture check before a resin mixture enters processing. The demonstration employs a TrueFeed™ feeder that draws polycarbonate pellets in via its vacuum loading option before metering them into a discharge bin. From there, the simulated pellet mix is pulled into a TLM motorized tube loader, which discharges the resin through the new Conair MoistureMinder, simulating the movement of resin to a machine feedthroat.
The all-electric MoistureMinder sensor provides in-line resin moisture analysis, detecting residual moisture levels in a broad range of polymers at throughput rates of 20 to 5000 lb./hr. The MoistureMinder is available in two models: the M5 unit detects moisture levels in the range between 10 and 1000 ppm, while the M10 tracks moisture in the 300- to 3000-ppm band. The real-time monitor measures material moisture continually, based on user-configured set points that trigger an alert when moisture levels drift outside prescribed limits, enabling managers to adjust drying parameters and prevent the processing of material with excessive moisture.
Demonstration: Resin Selection and Proofing using RFID. The second interactive display demonstrates how Conair’s Resin Selection System table and optional RFID resin-proofing/tracing system interact with the SmartFLX conveying control to ensure error-free resin transfers. Each material port on the modified RSS table connects, via a fantail assembly, to a specific resin supply and is associated with an RFID sensor beneath the RSS tabletop. All resin sources, along with their RSS ports and unique RFID addresses, are tracked in the material source/destination database in the SmartFLX control. Overhead, flex tubes to destination receivers are equipped with steel handles that contain coded RFID chips associated with those receivers which are stored in the SmartFLX database.
In operation, wireless signals between the RFID chip in the handles and the sensor at each RSS port are used by SmartFLX to proof each connection per its onboard database, while a changing light display signals operators about the status of each connection. Once a material source and destination are selected in the SmartFLX control, the proofing system signals the correct destination flex-tube with a yellow light, while the RSS table signals the correct resin source(s) with flashing blue lights next to the appropriate port(s). When the user completes the connection properly, the port’s light changes to green, the conveying system unlocks, and conveying begins. If the user makes an incorrect connection, the port light turns red and conveying remains disabled until the correct connection is made.
Common Control implemented in all major Conair product lines. With the introduction of the ‘Common Control’ across dryers and drying equipment with throughputs above 15 lb./hr., Conair’s multi-year effort to offer a common control across all of its HMI-interfaced upstream auxiliary equipment is nearly complete, spanning TrueBlend™ blenders, SmartFLX conveying controls, premium Thermolator temperature control units, and all Carousel Plus™ dX Series mobile and D Series central drying systems. “Now, customers can equip Conair auxiliary equipment with a control platform whose interface shares the same interactions and features, making it easier and faster for processors to onboard and train equipment operators, said Sam Rajkovich, Conair’s Vice President, Sales and Marketing.
The versatility of Conair’s common touchscreen HMI will be on display as this control operates throughout the Conair display, not only the SmartFLX main and remote displays used in the RSS/RFID demonstration, but also on a Carousel Plus™ dX25 mobile dryer, a TrueBlend TB100 gravimetric blender, and on another recently introduced product, the premium Thermolator TW-T temperature control unit.
The Conair Group (www.conairgroup.com) offers innovative auxiliary equipment solutions to plastics processors around the world. With 32 degreed engineers, including 16 senior team members with an average of over 23 years of experience, Conair brings unparalleled technical expertise and support to its customers, guaranteeing its products will deliver maximum productive uptime. Twenty parts and service team members respond to tens of thousands of calls each year, answering in an average of about 15 seconds. Over 450 individual products include resin drying systems, blenders, feeders and material-conveying systems, temperature-control equipment, and granulators. Extrusion solutions include line-control systems, film, and sheet scrap-reclaim systems, and downstream equipment for pipe and profile extrusion. Conair also has specialized expertise in every major end market – such as packaging, medical, transportation, building and construction, and many others – and strives to ensure plastics processors succeed in today’s competitive global marketplace.
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The new Conair Moisture Minder™ sensor detects residual moisture levels as low as 10 ppm in a broad range of polymers at throughput rates of 20 to 5000 lb/hr. Set points can be configured so that an alert is issued when the specified moisture level drifts outside prescribed limits.
