One of India’s leading paint companies, came to Floveyor for a three-stage equipment rollout to meet the challenges of conveying Panacea fibre.
The company operates in 15 countries and has 26 paint manufacturing facilities in the world servicing consumers in over 60 countries. Their innovative white fibre product had presented multiple conveying challenges.
The challenge
The Indian company needed a conveying solution in one of their existing plants to convey their product Panacea, a white fibre product with a bulk density of 110kg/m3.
Previous unsuccessful attempts with other technologies included screw conveyors and pneumatic conveying. Those conveying systems could either not convey the product or issues occurred such as build up on the filters.
The customer needed reassurance that the Floveyor technology could operate effectively in the existing processing system before committing to a full installation. Floveyor was confident that their fully enclosed aero-mechanical system would be able to handle Panacea successfully.
The original Floveyor equipment was configured to suit the customers’ particular needs by taking into consideration density of material, temperature, delivery system, and the process used for materials handling.
The solution
Successful material trials were carried out by Floveyor’s Indian partner Kiron. From these satisfactory results, the customer commissioned an installation of an 11.5m long F3 solution elevating the product to the mixing vessel.
After 12 months of successful production the customer had the confidence that Floveyor’s aero-mechanical method of conveying was a reliable solution for Panacea and were ready to proceed to the next stage.
Stage 2 consisted of an additional Bi-Directional Conveyor (BDC) F3 and an F4 Drag (slow speed unit). The existing F3 unit was also modified. The three machines were integrated to feed four mixing vessels.
During commissioning, some minor issues were found with the BDC. As a result of the low density and fibrous nature of the product, the material would recirculate and build up in the opposing housing and bridges and rat holes were forming. This was simply overcome by adding UHMWP internal liners to eliminate the point of build-up in the housings.
The next stage of the installation was dispatched two years later, when three new plants were built. This required four conveyors to feed four mixing vessels per plant. Each solution comprised of an independent Floveyor F3 and one F4 linked to two F4 Tubular Drag Conveyors.
The results
The complete solution was installed and commissioned at the end of 2019 and has continued to provide a reliable and successful service to the customer’s production line.
Watch the Youtube video from test to installation.
