RotaSafe retrofit kit Gericke’s new rotary-valve kits include an automated monitoring device that detects metal-on-metal contact between a valve rotor and housing from the same company. The device controls the pellet or powder flow rate. If it detects metal-on-metal contact, it instantly shuts down power to the drive motor. Manufacturers can add the device to a pneumatic conveying system that transfers resins from storage to an injection molding machine, extruder or other processing equipment. The kit is delivered ready for installation, pre-wired and pre-assembled with a control module, sensors and all accessories, and a Gericke engineer or most maintenance and operations technicians can set it up.
What’s new? The kit, available since this fall for all Gericke rotary airlock valves installed in both hazardous or non-hazardous environments.
Benefits Prevention of contamination. The retrofit kit makes possible the detection of metal fines that can taint the resin stream. It protects the rotor, seals, bearings and other components from damage.
Gericke USA Inc., Somerset, N.J., 302-766-7150, www.gerickegroup.com
Karen Hanna | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna covers injection molding, molds and tooling, processors, workforce and other topics, and writes features including In Other Words and Problem Solved for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. She has more than 15 years of experience in daily and magazine journalism.
