Pump purchase return on investment could be measured in days
By Mike Libbey, Area Sales Manager CIRCOR and Bob Limper, Business Development Manager CIRCOR
A world manufacturer of scented plastic rubbish baggage was looking for an various 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 at the low circulate charges required, while also decreasing their costs and improving employee well being. Yearly financial savings are so high that the return on funding for the pump system could be measured in days.
Seeking another for pricey pre-scented plastic pellets
A global producer of scented plastic garbage baggage was on the lookout for an different alternative to the use of pre-scented plastic pellets, which required a devoted silo for each of the 20 obtainable fragrances. The pellets are pneumatically conveyed to each silo from both tanker vans or rail vehicles and the producer was experiencing logistical issues associated with preserving the silos filled. They also had to carry excessive prices for sustaining the stock of the pre-scented pellets.
In addition, the closely concentrated scents had been inflicting health issues for the employees who complained of headaches. To mitigate this problem, every extruder line was fitted with a vacuum exhaust hood to expel the fumes to the outside. On occasion, these emissions led to complaints from neighbors and citations from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The firm was seeking a means to make use of plain plastic pellets and apply scented oil on to the plastic sheet immediately after the extrusion course of to scale back prices, logistical challenges, and power use. They had tried to construct such a system in-house but had struggled to attain accuracy and consistency on the low flow charges they required. They decided to seek a pump-based solution that could instantly spray perfume on the nice and cozy melted sheet plastic as a end result of the in-house solution 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 observed a working demonstration of precision gear metering pumps made by Zenith and requested utility specialists if the pumps might be a fit with their utility. After amassing information on the applying, an space supervisor for the pump manufacturer with extensive experience in dosing and blending techniques visited the plant to get a firsthand view of present operations and gather additional info.
Working with weksler ea14 ’s design group they developed a system resolution utilizing a Zenith B-9000 Series rotary positive displacement pump specifically designed for single stream chemical duty applications. The pump features an accurate, repeatable, pulse free flow in a compact design perfect for dosing components similar to colours, flavors, and fragrances.
This sort of pump is defined as rotary because the drive shaft is rotated as compared to other kinds of pumps using a reciprocating motion and can be thought of to be a optimistic displacement kind as a end result of the displaced quantity is constant and doesn’t vary.
Pumping motion is achieved by filling the gear tooth spaces and transporting the fluid around the outer diameter of the gears. When the gear teeth mesh, the fluid is displaced and forced to the outlet facet of the pump. The flow fee can only be adjusted by growing or reducing the velocity at which the shaft is rotated. The pump selected offers precision grinding and lapping processes that lead to a precision metering instrument, producing precise, pulse-less, and repeatable fluid circulate.
The pumps supply extremely tight working clearances to reduce fluid slip. Manufacturing tolerances on many components are to +/- 50 millionths of inch with floor finishes as smooth as four micro inches or higher. The pumps are supplied with an AC “closed loop” motor speed controller to maintain 0.1 percent pump speed accuracy.
The Zenith 9000 sequence pump is available in 11 sizes with capacities starting from .003 to 300 GPH. Wetted elements can be found in by way of hardened 440C series stainless steel, specialty handled 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 can eliminate shaft leakage of fluids, growing plant safety and decreasing risky natural compound emissions. The use of a magnetic coupling additionally eliminates downtime due to mechanical seal failures and eliminates the necessity for buffer fluids.
New resolution reduces prices and offers uniform perfume distribution
The new Zenith pump system gave the scented bag manufacturer a continuous, pulse free course of, which guarantees equal and uniform fragrance distribution. By adding the scent on to the baggage after leaving the extruder, the plastic bag manufacturer not only eliminated the need to have separate pellet silos for each scent, but also eradicated 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 methods. Over the previous two years they’ve bought greater than 30 techniques, with plans to order more. The producer can additionally be interested in having Zenith conduct annual area calibrations of each system.
After two years of operation, the producer estimates a yearly savings of approximately $480,000 per skid in operation. With 30 skids now working, the return on funding for each system buy can be measured in weeks. To date, there have been no odor complaints for the explanation that customer installed the Zenith techniques
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