ResinWorks with Optimizer Conair’s new artificial intelligence feature for its ResinWorks centralized multi-hopper drying system automates the process of maintaining process-ready resins at perfect temperatures. The Optimizer artificial intelligence package may be ordered with new ResinWorks multi-hopper carts from the factory. Retrofits are possible and involve removal and replacement of the manual airflow lever and valve with new hardware, plus a software upgrade to an existing Conair DC-B common control.
What’s new? The system.
Benefits Energy efficiency and prevention of overdrying. AI logic optimizes airflow through each active hopper based on changes in mass flow and temperature. Once material at the bottom of the hopper achieves the proper temperature, the Optimizer logic holds it steady while incrementally adjusting airflow through the rest of the hopper to match the actual processing rates, incoming material condition and material drying requirements. This eliminates the need for workers to manually control a damper to manage and balance airflow into each active hopper. ResinWorks with Optimizer has demonstrated energy savings of 10 percent to 40 percent without the need for complex sensors. Most processors who invest in the ResinWorks with Optimizer upgrade can expect payback within one year, even with process energy savings as low as 10 percent.
Conair Group, Cranberry Township, Pa., 724-584-5500, www.conairgroup.com
Bruce Geiselman | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Bruce Geiselman covers extrusion, blow molding, additive manufacturing, automation and end markets including automotive and packaging. He also writes features, including In Other Words and Problem Solved, for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. He has extensive experience in daily and magazine journalism.
