Accuracy in pellet screening

Quality and consistency are major concerns  among  producers of plastic pellets that Japan-based Kubota Corporation aimed to address when it decided to launch its Super Platon Pellet Screening System. First introduced at the company’s in-house exhibitions held in late 2011 which were attended by nearly 170 customers from Japan and overseas, the pellet screening system seals Kubota’s prestigious position as the first in the market to offer a highly efficient equipment that is able to detect black spots or off-colour contaminants without the need for the tedious process of laboratory analysis.

Kubota, a leading manufacturer of gravimetric feeders and pellet screening systems in Asia, has been providing industries with advanced  gravimetric feeding technology and pellet screening systems to meet customers’process requirements. Its latest pellet screening system can be installed in-line or off-line after the pelletiser and vibratory size screener to detect and remove defective pellets that are stained,  spotted or discoloured to prevent contamination of the final product.

“This latest screening system from Kubota is able to sort out foreign matters based on colour differences such as minute black spots, blurs, black particles, etc. that are generated during the production process of plastic pellets. Super Platon’s screening performance is better than that of other models that are available in the market today,” according to Rick Wall, Regional Sales Manager of Kubota. The new model is targeted towards helping domestic and overseas plastics manufacturers enhance the quality  of plastic  pellets with high added values. “Most compounders and processors perform  the  screening  in laboratories where they take the samples and when it’s not good, then they try to look for the problem. With Super Platon, screening can be done right away as it’s capable of screening 400-1000 kgs/hr.,” Mr. Wall stressed.

Screening ability strengthened
While conventional  models use fluorescent lights as light source, Super Platon uses the newly developed Omni-directional diffusion lighting method. The Omni Diffusion Lighting System enables increased screening ability by adopting LED that can adjust the brightness and illuminate direct  light to the material in Omni directional way; which makes it possible to eliminate the shadow in transparent and white pellets created by conventional lighting system. Kubota succeeded  in  controlling the contrast between light and shaded areas, which hampers correct detection, by applying diffused light to the object material evenly in all directions.

Detection resolution was improved to0.03 mm by using four line sensor cameras to increase the total number of pixels. Four sets of 5000 pixel cameras detect across a span of 140mm. “The previous generation of pellet screening system had two cameras, but the Super Platon has four cameras. The Omni direction allows for more and brighter light which corrects the problem of seeing shadows in transparent pellets. When there are two cameras, there is a shadow that looks like defect because of the two lighting,” according to Mr. Wall. Detection rate can reach by as much as 99 percent as it features 20 sets of high-speed air valves that positively screen out foreign materials. In screening materials, Super Platon is able to screen contaminants and discolour material among transparent and semi-transparent material.

The machine uses the “auto tuning function” that allows the user to make adjustments  easily  by  following a guideline, that indicates which settings to use for a particularWomens Running Shoes & Running Clothes