The Conair ResinWorks™ central drying/conveying system has added new features to make the system even easier to use. Air manifolds integrated into hopper sleds, a new slide valve design for the material conveying manifold, automatic air-flow control, and a new material-purge valve are just a few of the improvements Conair has made to this convenient material handling and conditioning system.
With ResinWorks centralized drying and distribution, material changes are made faster because resins can be predried and conveyed to processing machines quickly. Processors can remove individual dryers from beside or atop machines. They can cut labor costs dramatically and improve operator safety by eliminating manual handling of resin. And they can improve finished product quality with better control over drying and blending, and reducing potential for contamination. Even a medium-sized molder can easily save hundreds of thousands of dollars every year by cutting energy, material and labor costs, and increasing overall productive up-time.
Although Conair uses a menu of standard components as a starting point, each ResinWorks system is custom configured to meet specific user requirements — from the number of different materials being processed to the number of molding machines being serviced. Core components, including drying hoppers, desiccant dryers, blenders, vacuum pumps and loaders, are pre-assembled and delivered with material-handling controls, conveying pipes and valves, and other components to ensure precise resin drying, blending and delivery.
Space Savings
Conair engineers have reconfigured many of the basic components in the new, improved ResinWorks system to dramatically reduce its footprint, saving valuable manufacturing floor space. For instance, the main electrical enclosure has been moved to the front of the system, making it easier to access and eliminating the need to leave space behind the sleds for service access. Likewise, individual drying air heaters have been moved out of the way and underneath the hoppers.
The sizeable ductwork required for moving drying and conveying air to and from the material hoppers has been fully integrated into the ResinWorks sleds. This approach not only saves space, but the ducts actually become part of the sled structure, making it stronger. The ends of the ducts on each sled are gasketed, so when multiple sleds are bolted together, a complete air-handling manifold is created.
Simplicity of Operation
Several innovations make ResinWorks easier than ever to operate:
Automatic Air Balancing… whenever the full supply of drying air is not required (when one or more hoppers are shut down for cleaning, for instance) a new bypass valve automatically diverts air back to the dryer so that only the right amount (CFM) of air is delivered to the operating drying hoppers. Three years ago, Conair pioneered airflow balancing with an easy-to-use manual valve at each hopper. Now, however, even that clever system has been made obsolete by this new automated system.
Slide-Operated Material Distribution Manifold… ideal for processors that run just a few different materials on a limited number of machines. The new material distribution manifold eliminates the often complicated snarl of material conveying hoses. Instead, a single hose is connected to a slide plate that is easily shifted back and forth to tap different material sources.
Individual Electrical Disconnects for Each Hopper… each hopper in the new, improved ResinWorks can be electrically isolated from the rest of the system so that service can be performed on one hopper while the others continue to operate normally.
New Purge Valve
ResinWorks is designed with a purge valve that meters only a small amount of material out of the drying hopper at any given time and then conveys it immediately and completely to the processing machine. This prevents dried material from regaining moisture while it sits in a conveying line. The purge valve in the new, improved ResinWorks system is a spin off from Conair blender technology, and it actually comprises both a metering valve and a distribution box built into a single, compact casting. A convenient access door opens wide to allow easy cleaning, and the discharge elbow rotates 360° to make it simple to connect conveying lines. The unit costs as much as 20% less than previous-generation purge valves which, in a ResinWorks system with ten hoppers, could save processors well over $1000.
With all these new features, the Conair ResinWorks system can be almost anything a processor wants it to be. Up to five drying hoppers, each sized specifically for either multi-machine/long run or single-machine/short-run operations, are factory assembled onto a sled-like base and fitted with heaters, controls, dry-air manifolds and purge valves for easy place-and-play installation. Multiple sleds can be integrated for larger installations. The ResinWorks system can also include a gaylord or bag station, allowing an almost unlimited number of different materials (dried or un-dried) to be managed through the central resin distribution manifold and control system. A Conair gravimetric blender can mix different materials and additives, which can then be conveyed to a drying hopper or directly to processing machines.
For more information, call the New Product Hotline at 1-888-486-6601
Consider using a compressed-air-operated discharge valve. This provides a positive seal when it closes and ensures that no wet ambient air seeps into the drying hopper.
With advocacy, communication and sustainability as three main pillars, Seaholm leads a trade association to NPE that ‘is more active today than we have ever been.’
A collaboration between show organizer PLASTICS, recycler CPR and size reduction experts WEIMA and Conair recovered and recycled all production scrap at NPE2024.
Starting on Thursday August 8, 2024, PT will begin “gating” its premium content, asking all new website users to provide some information about themselves — name, title, employer, email address — before they are provided free access to the content.
We are doing this because the ways PT’s audience finds and accesses our content is changing. Google’s search algorithms, increasingly, make it difficult to connect PT’s content with the people who might make use of it. On top of that, generative AI like ChatGPT is serving up PT content to internet users without attributing that content to PT.
As a result, it has become increasingly important for PT evolve its audience development strategy and learn as much as possible about who is accessing our content, what content they are accessing and how they are accessing it.
With this audience development strategy, we hope to do two things:
First, we will be better able to deliver directly to our audience the editorial content that aligns with plastics materials, processes and technologies that interest them.
Second, we will be better able to connect the materials, equipment and services our advertisers supply with the audience that is most interested in them.
PT plays a distinctive role and has earned a place of esteem within the focused and specialized industry it serves. Large developments in the media landscape are forcing us to change the way we communicate with our audience. We are confident that our audience values the role PT plays in their professional lives and will join us in this effort to stay connected to them.
We thank you for your continued interest in and support of PT and welcome any questions you might have about the brand’s new content gating strategy.
