Pump buy return on funding may be measured in days
By Mike Libbey, Area Sales Manager CIRCOR and Bob Limper, Business Development Manager CIRCOR
A international producer of scented plastic garbage bags was on the lookout for an various choice to the use of pre-scented plastic pellets. A serendipitous encounter at a tradeshow led them to a precision gear metering pump answer that gave them accuracy and consistency on the low circulate rates required, whereas additionally lowering their costs and bettering employee health. Yearly financial savings are so high that the return on investment for the pump system can be measured in days.
Seeking another for pricey pre-scented plastic pellets
A world manufacturer of scented plastic rubbish bags was looking for an various to the use of pre-scented plastic pellets, which required a dedicated silo for each of the 20 obtainable fragrances. The pellets are pneumatically conveyed to every silo from either tanker trucks or rail vehicles and the manufacturer was experiencing logistical issues associated with keeping the silos crammed. They additionally needed to carry high prices for sustaining the stock of the pre-scented pellets.
In addition, the closely concentrated scents had been inflicting well being issues for the employees who complained of complications. To mitigate this concern, each extruder line was fitted with a vacuum exhaust hood to expel the fumes to the outdoors. On occasion, these emissions led to complaints from neighbors and citations from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The company was looking for a method to make use of plain plastic pellets and apply scented oil on to the plastic sheet immediately after the extrusion process to reduce costs, logistical challenges, and vitality use. They had tried to build such a system in-house however had struggled to attain accuracy and consistency on the low move charges they required. They decided to seek a pump-based resolution that could immediately spray perfume on the warm melted sheet plastic as a result of the in-house resolution could not meet rigorous high quality control requirements requiring the spray-on scent to precisely match that of pre-scented pellets.
Finding an answer on a tradeshow ground
Design engineers from the plastic bag manufacturer attending the PackExpo present noticed a working demonstration of precision gear metering pumps made by Zenith and requested application consultants if the pumps might be a match with their utility. After amassing data on the application, an space supervisor for the pump manufacturer with extensive experience in dosing and mixing methods visited the plant to get a firsthand view of present operations and gather further data.
Working with the pump manufacturer’s design group they developed a system answer using a Zenith B-9000 Series rotary positive displacement pump particularly designed for single stream chemical responsibility functions. The pump features an accurate, repeatable, pulse free circulate in a compact design perfect for dosing additives such as colours, flavors, and fragrances.
This kind of pump is defined as rotary because the drive shaft is rotated as compared to other forms of pumps using a reciprocating movement and can be considered to be a optimistic displacement sort as a result of the displaced volume is fixed and doesn’t vary.
Pumping action is achieved by filling the gear tooth areas and transporting the fluid around the outer diameter of the gears. When the gear tooth mesh, the fluid is displaced and compelled to the outlet aspect of the pump. The flow price can solely be adjusted by growing or lowering the speed at which the shaft is rotated. The pump selected provides precision grinding and lapping processes that result in a precision metering instrument, producing precise, pulse-less, and repeatable fluid flow.
The pumps provide extremely tight working clearances to reduce fluid slip. Manufacturing tolerances on many components are to +/- 50 millionths of inch with floor finishes as clean as 4 micro inches or higher. The pumps are offered with an AC “closed loop” motor pace controller to maintain zero.1 p.c pump pace accuracy.
The Zenith 9000 series pump is out there in 11 sizes with capacities starting from .003 to 300 GPH. Wetted components can be found in by way of hardened 440C sequence stainless-steel, specialty treated 316 stainless-steel, and prime quality tool steels corresponding to D2, M2, M4 and CPM-M4 to supply good corrosion and abrasion resistance.
The bag producer chosen a mannequin with a magnetic drive (mag-drive) sealing choice, which might eliminate shaft leakage of fluids, increasing plant security and lowering unstable organic compound emissions. The use of a magnetic coupling also eliminates downtime because of mechanical seal failures and eliminates the necessity for buffer fluids.
New resolution reduces costs and provides uniform perfume distribution
The new Zenith pump system gave the scented bag manufacturer a steady, pulse free course of, which ensures equal and uniform fragrance distribution. By adding เพรสเชอร์เกจ to the luggage after leaving the extruder, the plastic bag producer not only eliminated the necessity to have separate pellet silos for every scent, but additionally eliminated the necessity to vent the fumes that come from the pellets as they travel from the silos to the extruders.
The manufacturer purchased the primary system and after successful trials, ordered six additional systems. Over the previous two years they’ve bought more than 30 methods, with plans to order extra. The manufacturer can additionally be excited about having Zenith conduct annual subject calibrations of each system.
After pressure gauge of operation, the manufacturer estimates a yearly savings of approximately $480,000 per skid in operation. With 30 skids now operating, the return on investment for each system purchase could be measured in weeks. To date, there have been no odor complaints because the customer installed the Zenith systems
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