What's New at Conair: ResinWorks

Improved ResinWorks™ System has Smaller Footprint; New Features Make Central Materials System Easier to Use

The Conair ResinWorks™ central drying/conveying system has added new features to make the system even easier to use. Air manifolds integrated into hopper sleds, a new slide valve design for the material conveying manifold, automatic air-flow control, and a new material-purge valve are just a few of the improvements Conair has made to this convenient material handling and conditioning system.

With ResinWorks centralized drying and distribution, material changes are made faster because resins can be predried and conveyed to processing machines quickly. Processors can remove individual dryers from beside or atop machines. They can cut labor costs dramatically and improve operator safety by eliminating manual handling of resin. And they can improve finished product quality with better control over drying and blending, and reducing potential for contamination. Even a medium-sized molder can easily save hundreds of thousands of dollars every year by cutting energy, material and labor costs, and increasing overall productive up-time.

Although Conair uses a menu of standard components as a starting point, each ResinWorks system is custom configured to meet specific user requirements — from the number of different materials being processed to the number of molding machines being serviced. Core components, including drying hoppers, desiccant dryers, blenders, vacuum pumps and loaders, are pre-assembled and delivered with material-handling controls, conveying pipes and valves, and other components to ensure precise resin drying, blending and delivery.

Space Savings
Conair engineers have reconfigured many of the basic components in the new, improved ResinWorks system to dramatically reduce its footprint, saving valuable manufacturing floor space. For instance, the main electrical enclosure has been moved to the front of the system, making it easier to access and eliminating the need to leave space behind the sleds for service access. Likewise, individual drying air heaters have been moved out of the way and underneath the hoppers.

The sizeable ductwork required for moving drying and conveying air to and from the material hoppers has been fully integrated into the ResinWorks sleds. This approach not only saves space, but the ducts actually become part of the sled structure, making it stronger. The ends of the ducts on each sled are gasketed, so when multiple sleds are bolted together, a complete air-handling manifold is created.

Simplicity of Operation
Several innovations make ResinWorks easier than ever to operate:

Automatic Air Balancing… whenever the full supply of drying air is not required (when one or more hoppers are shut down for cleaning, for instance) a new bypass valve automatically diverts air back to the dryer so that only the right amount (CFM) of air is delivered to the operating drying hoppers. Three years ago, Conair pioneered airflow balancing with an easy-to-use manual valve at each hopper. Now, however, even that clever system has been made obsolete by this new automated system.
Slide-Operated Material Distribution Manifold… ideal for processors that run just a few different materials on a limited number of machines. The new material distribution manifold eliminates the often complicated snarl of material conveying hoses. Instead, a single hose is connected to a slide plate that is easily shifted back and forth to tap different material sources.
Individual Electrical Disconnects for Each Hopper… each hopper in the new, improved ResinWorks can be electrically isolated from the rest of the system so that service can be performed on one hopper while the others continue to operate normally.

New Purge Valve
ResinWorks is designed with a purge valve that meters only a small amount of material out of the drying hopper at any given time and then conveys it immediately and completely to the processing machine. This prevents dried material from regaining moisture while it sits in a conveying line. The purge valve in the new, improved ResinWorks system is a spin off from Conair blender technology, and it actually comprises both a metering valve and a distribution box built into a single, compact casting. A convenient access door opens wide to allow easy cleaning, and the discharge elbow rotates 360° to make it simple to connect conveying lines. The unit costs as much as 20% less than previous-generation purge valves which, in a ResinWorks system with ten hoppers, could save processors well over $1000.

With all these new features, the Conair ResinWorks system can be almost anything a processor wants it to be. Up to five drying hoppers, each sized specifically for either multi-machine/long run or single-machine/short-run operations, are factory assembled onto a sled-like base and fitted with heaters, controls, dry-air manifolds and purge valves for easy place-and-play installation. Multiple sleds can be integrated for larger installations. The ResinWorks system can also include a gaylord or bag station, allowing an almost unlimited number of different materials (dried or un-dried) to be managed through the central resin distribution manifold and control system. A Conair gravimetric blender can mix different materials and additives, which can then be conveyed to a drying hopper or directly to processing machines.

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