Starve Feeding of Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruders

Starve Feeding of Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruders

Given the array of raw materials often fed into compounding twin screw extruders, it’s no wonder that the feeders often become problematic. Join us at the Polymers Center and hear Andy Kovats of Brabender discuss how such feeders work, how to specify the correct feeder for your application, and how to configure, program, and troubleshoot it.

Andy will discuss agitation techniques to ensure consistent flow, then move on to screw design, belt or vibratory feeders, and end with a discussion of volumetric feeding. Andy will discuss how installing such feeders on scales permits Brabender to supply loss-in-weight feeders, including the process by which they are refilled, controlled, and programed. He will complete the day with a short discussion on liquid feeding using loss-in-weight feeders as well.

In the morning, the workshop will focus on understanding the ingredients to be fed, how to specify them, and the properties that can affect feeder performance. We will then move on to discuss ingredient storage, ingredient activation to ensure flow, and various types of feeder agitation techniques used by various manufacturers in the industry. From there, we will move on to discussing the advantages and disadvantages of various volumetric feed devices, including single and twin screws, vibratory feeders, belt feeders, fiber feeders, and others. Then, we will install these volumetric feeders onto scales and add controls to become loss-in-weight feeders. We will discuss the operation of these feeders, including how they work, how they bare refilled, refilling, ingredient storage, control systems and other topics as applicable. Although 95% of the discussion will deal with dry ingredients, there will be a brief discussion of liquid LIW feeders as well.

In the afternoon we will move into the lab for actual hands-on operation of the feeders including discussion of various types of screws available, programming the feeders, actual running them with dry ingredients and taking them apart for cleaning and re-assembling them. Attendees will have a chance to visualize actual feeder operation and see the ingredient move through and exit the feeder.

Date: May 23rd, 2023

Time: 9am-4pm

Where:

The Polymers Center

8900 Research Drive

Charlotte, NC 28262

Cost: $500

Register here.

Mr. Andy Kovats has over thirty years of experience in the plastics industry in Sales and Application Engineering, primarily in the area of Loss-In-Weight Feeders as used in starve fed, co-rotating twin screw extruder applications. Andy Kovats has been involved in the specification, application, and sales of feeding equipment since 1984. Well-known to those of us in extrusion, he is one of the most experienced of Brabender’s technical resources. He is a member of the SPE and has authored numerous papers and publications in this field.

His employment history is as follows:

Brabender Technologie Inc., Toronto, Canada. July 1997 to present. Sales and Application Engineer for the plastic compounding industry.

Control and Metering Ltd., Toronto, Canada. January 1984 to July 1997. Licensee of Brabender Technologie, Duisburg Germany. Helped introduce product to the North American market. Ultimately responsible for OEM support and application engineering and support for USA office.

Roots Blower Division, Dresser Industries, Toronto Canada. July 1977 to 1982. Responsible for sales of positive displacement Roots Blowers in eastern Canada.

His education is as follows:

B.S.C. (Chemical Engineering), Queen’s University, Kingston ON Canada, 1976

MBA (Finance and Statistics), York University, Toronto ON Canada, 1984