Fiberglass is no match for GK’s VIBRA-DRUM®
In Paris March 11th – 13th? Visit GK at JEC 2014 to learn more about GK and the fiberglass industry!
Challenge
Chopped fiberglass has been a challenge in the composites industry for years. After fiberglass is chopped, its form becomes flattened and shifted. Even when the chopper is sharp and working well, this still occurs and only worsens over time as the blade is dulled. In a typical process the chopped fiberglass then enters a dryer system. Because of the irregular shape created by chopping though, the rice like material will not flow smoothly creating inconsistent flow rates and clumping issues.
Approach
General Kinematic’s VIBRA-DRUM®TM has been used in the foundry mining and processing industries for decades. GK Technical Directors began researching and testing possible solutions for this unique issue.
Solution
Inserting the compactly designed VIBRA-DRUM®TM before the chopped fiberglass enters the dryer, leaves the rice-like material more uniformly shaped, thus increasing flow rate and material usability. Bonus features include the ability to see and sample the fiberglass while the machine is still running. The VIBRA-DRUM®TM can also be adjusted for retention time of material without ever shutting down.
Results
General Kinematics has provided this solution to over a dozen fiberglass operating systems and raised the bar in product process expectation. Previous chopped fiberglass has been marked as unacceptable after seeing the results of the VIBRA-DRUM®.
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