Maguire Products, a supplier of gravimetric blenders and liquid color pumps, will showcase Maguire MGF gravimetric feeder with enhanced capabilities at NPE2012 exhibition.
MGF Feeder with Removable Hopper
The gravimetric feeder is extensively used for metering additives and colorants into plastics processing machines. The enhanced unit offers considerably higher accuracy and increases the throughput twice the original value.
Maguire has carried out tests comparing the performance of the enhanced MGF gravimetric feeder with the competitive gravimetric feeder. The results specify that when each unit was fixed with a 12.7 mm auger, Maguire’s feeder has offered an extreme throughput range from 0.4 to 120 lb./h, as against 1.5 to 55 lb/h of the competing feeder. In addition, dosing accuracy has been higher.
The company has been able to achieve this increase in performance by using a stepper motor instead of the electric motor, which is used to drive the feed auger. The stepper motor completes each rotary motion in 200 increments and operates at a maximum speed of 100 rpm. With the high motor speed, it is possible to double the throughput to 120 lb per hour in extrusion processes and about 40 lb per hour in injection molding processes. The throughput range of the auger has also been improved, thus eliminating or decreasing the need for replacing the auger.
Other benefits offered by the enhanced MGF feeder are document color usage, improved control product quality and higher accuracy. In addition, the unit increases the capability of extrusion processors and molders to decrease consumption of additives and colors. B. Patrick Smith, VP of marketing and sales at Maguire Products, stated that these performance enhancements do not add cost to the customers, thus allowing them to purchase the MGF feeder at the same cost as the company’s volumetric system and 35% less than other competing gravimetric feeders available in the market.