Hosokawa Alpine will be presenting its range of products and services at the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg from today to 30 March in Hall 4 | Stand 416. The focus of the trade fair presentation is the efficient processing of powder coatings by classifier mills in the ACM series and the direct further processing of the resulting fine dust through compacting.
User-friendly design for minimum cleaning times
The ACM EC (Easy Clean) and ACM EC-CL (Classifier Direct Drive) classifier mills were developed to satisfy customer requests for minimum cleaning times in the production of powder coatings. This is particularly important in industrial production where frequent product changes take place or batch production is used. The housing of the mill has a double-chamber system design and the grinding chamber cover can be opened safely and quickly at the touch of a button (depending on the size). “The inner parts that come in contact with the product can be easily removed without any tools, because they are neither welded nor screwed to the housing. This significantly reduces cleaning times compared to older ACM designs,” explains Alexander Krauser, Operations Director Chemical Division at Hosokawa Alpine.
Further processing of the fine dust through compacting
Fine dust is produced during the manufacture of powder coating. This can be processed directly using compacting technology. The compaction of powder coating on roller presses enables further processing of the fine dust. This process of inline recycling reduces waste and makes production more efficient. By compacting the powder on two counter-rotating rollers, the particles are bound under mechanical pressure. The compactor, specially designed for compaction, ensures high bulk density during the compaction process – without the formation of hard particles. The fine dust accumulated in Big Bags is fed into the feed hopper of the compactor either offline or directly inline from the residual dust filter. In the process, an agitator or vibrating nozzles above the feeding screw prevent bridging. The material is compacted into flakes or granules in the compactor’s nip and then fed directly into the grinding process or into Big Bags for further processing in the extruder. Depending on the feed material and its particle size, different throughput rates of between 80 and 150kg/hr can be achieved with an ARC L or K series roller press from Hosokawa Alpine.
Solutions from development through to industrial production
Hosokawa Alpine supports its customers from the development of the requested powder coating through to production on an industrial scale. “In our Alpine test centre in Augsburg, we also carry out product trials during the initial stages to achieve the desired properties for the customer,” explains Alexander Krauser. After that, industrial production can start with the machine solutions from Hosokawa Alpine.
Main photo caption: The inner parts of the classifier mill ACM EC-CL from Hosokawa Alpine can be removed without tools. This reduces cleaning efforts to a minimum.
