What next now my powder mixer is performing within specification.
Dyball, Steve
Manufacturing Solutions Consultant with Acmon Group. Andesite Blue Senior Operations Manager. Rotary Club Kyiv International Business - Secretary & Committee Chair for Service Projects.
So lets put an arbitrary mix time of 3 minutes, where trial tests and ongoing quality control prove you have a acceptable random mix.
This 3 minutes is now your target time for all raw materials to be automatically weighed or manually weighed.
The auto weighed material could be fed by screw feeders, vibratory feeders or belt feeders.
Each auto weighed piece of equipment must be timed. If the total weigh time for complete material preparation ready to load into the mixer is outside the mix time you need to take action.
Screw feeders, first action check the specification of the screw, if it is under performing, check for wear on the screw flights. However you need to ask, if the screw performs to specification can I still meet my target weigh time.
Options to reach target time, new flights for the screw, increase the screw speed for the main feed. If the screw was a single speed you need to add a VS drive so you can run high speed for 95% then slow down for accuracy as you meet 100% of target weight. Of course new screws with larger capacity and a VS drive is a final option but not always easy to fit into the existing plant.
Vibratory feeders, again normal you are able to vary the through put but if you are already on the maximum output rate you need to consult the supplier. Another option is to review the type of feeder, can you use an alternative system within the existing plant set up.
Belt drives, you will have flexibility to increase the speed with modifications to the drive. However as with all drives there is a maximum you can run any device without creating new problems. Sometimes you have to do some trials and review how well you are controlling the material flow.
All of the above will require some updating of your plant control system, so you need to talk to your supplier of the system about possible upgrades you want to try and can they support you with modifications to the control.
Manual weighed materials can be prepared in advance and should be bagged and labelled, contents of the bag and the batch it is to be used in. No excuse for this to hold up the plant.
The above is only a guide and maybe a simplification of the total work that is required. If you want to increase your plants output, contact me and lets review what is required to increase your production capacity.