Product/Service

First Strand Pelletizer In New Reduction™ Range

Source: Reduction Engineering, Inc.
Reduction Engineering, Inc. recently introduced a strand pelletizer of completely new design that provides safeguards against contamination of compound by stray pellets from previous production runs, makes string-up (manual loading) of strands simpler and faster than with conventional equipment, and enables compounders to use virtually any downstream equipment to take away or package pellets

Reduction Engineering, Inc. recently introduced a strand pelletizer of completely new design that provides safeguards against contamination of compound by stray pellets from previous production runs, makes string-up (manual loading) of strands simpler and faster than with conventional equipment, and enables compounders to use virtually any downstream equipment to take away or package pellets.

The new Reduction™ 800 Series pelletizer is believed to be the first system introduced by Reduction Engineering since it purchased the pelletizer product line of Conair in May, after several years of assembling, servicing, and marketing pelletizers for Conair. The design innovations made by Reduction Engineering are particularly valuable for custom compounders, who may make anywhere from two to twelve job changes a day, according to sales manager Chris Case.

"Over the years, Reduction Engineering gathered real-world, shop-floor input from the compounders we worked with and now has developed a pelletizer that addresses the issues that they face every day," said Case. "Most important among the improvements in our 800 Series pelletizer is a solution to the problem of color cross-contamination, which can render an entire order useless to a compounder's customer, cost the compounder considerable effort and expense to make good on the mistake, and result in permanent loss of business." Even the tiniest cross-contamination (by a few black pellets, for example, in a gaylord-full of beige compound) can yield molded or extruded products with obvious defects, Case pointed out. "In designing the Reduction 800 Series pelletizer, we eliminated the hang-ups and hiding places in conventional equipment that cause stray pellets to find their way into the discharge stream for the next production run," Case said.

For example, the sound-dampening hood covering many pelletizers is a rectangular component that traps pellets in corners and ledges and in the perforations of the interior plates. In contrast, the new Reduction pelletizer has a rounded hood with a pellet-free internal design that includes slots for pellets to fall onto the deck, or isolation plate, on which the working components of the pelletizer are mounted; from there they are easily removed. The inside of the hood has a smooth inner lining consisting of an advanced sound-dampening material. The deck itself has a hard-coat anodized aluminum surface that is easy to clean and has also been designed to eliminate pellet hang-ups, particularly in the area around the opening for the pellet discharge chute, which is flush-mounted to the under-side of the deck.

Case cited three other major innovations in the Reduction 800 Series design:

  • Universally adaptable discharge portion
  • Easily targeted infeed portion
  • Separate motor drives with ‘drop-in' gear boxes

Among other improvements is the use of abrasion-resistant anodized aluminum for many surfaces that come in contact with strands or pellets.

SOURCE: Reduction Engineering, Inc.