Dryer, Blender for 'Real Time' Regrind Usage

Auxiliary equipment leaders Dri-Air Industries and Maguire Products have combined to develop Dri-Air’s second generation of on demand drying/blending systems for the circular economy.

The machine builders’ note that processors for years have struggled with using regrind material in real time — adding it back into the process consistently and reliably while keeping the materials dry throughout the process. They say the answer comes with this newly developed solution.

On display at Dri-Air’s booth, the system combines Dri-Air’s drying know-how and conveying capabilities with Maguire’s blending technology, enabling molders to dry virgin material, reclaim and redry regrind material; add colorant; and blend these components just prior to conveying to the injection molding machine. This approach creates numerous efficiency advantages and reduces waste, the two companies say.

Dri-Air’s unique approach dries materials separately at different temperatures and keeps materials isolated until the blending step. This eliminates the inventory issues and the waste of premixed materials that are no longer needed after the job runs out while keeping materials dry throughout the blending and conveying process. Other issues such as contaminated regrind can be quickly isolated and disposed of without contaminating hundreds of pounds of virgin material.

Positioned below the discharge of the drying hoppers is Maguire’s weigh-scale blender (WSB series blender). Configured with a touchscreen control, it provides gravimetric accuracy, data recording/reporting, and additional component flexibility. Once the dried components are blended, Dri-Air’s closed loop, dry-air conveyance system ensures the blended material stays dry and properly blended during conveyance to the process. A small minimum inventory receiver is mounted on the feed-throat.

Valuable floor space is also conserved as the drying/blending/conveyance package is all combined on a single portable frame. The castered blender can easily be removed for ease of cleaning and docked into position for production.