Four Removable Hoppers Permit Fast Color Changes; Optional Pneumatic
System Provides Easy Access for Cleanout
GUANGZHOU, May 21, 2007 - The world’s smallest gravimetric blender now has a big
brother with similar talents: While the new MicroPlus™ blender from Maguire Asia
accommodates processing machine throughputs of 45-160 kg per hour instead of the
45-kg maximum of the widely used MicroBlender®, it provides the same
user-friendly features for reducing downtime during color or job changeovers,
the company announced today. Maguire Asia is introducing the MicroPlus blender
to the Asian market at Chinaplas 2007 (Stand 1D-301.
Like the MicroBlender, the MicroPlus blender has four hoppers that are
removable for quick cleanout and product changeover. The hoppers are typically
used for natural resin, regrind, color, and additive. While the dispensing
systems in three of the hoppers are pneumatic vertical valves, there is a corner
valve in the hopper for regrind, which sometimes flows poorly compared with
other ingredients. “The vertical valves are particularly important for precise
dispensing of minor ingredients like colorant, while the corner valve provides
enhanced flow for bulk ingredients or materials that have large or variable
particle sizes,” said Hubert Nerlich, managing director of Maguire Asia.
For machine configurations involving use of loaders mounted atop the blender,
Maguire has developed an optional, patent-pending pneumatic system that further
reduces changeover time by automatically lifting the hopper lids on which the
loaders are mounted, easing the process of gaining access to the hoppers and to
the bottom of the loaders.
More than 4,000 MicroBlenders are now in operation, according to Mr. Nerlich,
and Maguire recently enhanced the system by converting the hoppers to stainless
steel for greater resistance to corrosion and surface damage, and by
incorporating new-design vertical valves with greater resistance to jamming.
These improvements are standard on the new MicroPlus blender.
Another standard feature on the MicroPlus is a newly enhanced controller
developed for the entire Maguire® line of blenders, with a number of
improvements for greater user friendliness, broader communications with other
systems, and more versatile deployment. Alternatively, customers can specify the
company’s touchscreen controller, also new, with wireless connectivity and
built-in Ethernet architecture.
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MAGUIRE PRODUCTS ASIA PTE LTD. is headquartered at 45 Kallang Pudding Road, No.
01-02 Alpha Building, Singapore 349317. Tel: 65-6848-7117. Fax: 65-6744-3370.
Email: magasia@maguire-products.com.sg.
MAGUIRE CHINA is headquartered at 7C-02 Majesty Building, 138 Pu Dong Avenue,
Shanghai 200120. Tel: 86-21-588-23410. Fax: -23420. General manager is Marshal
Guo. Email: mpa@maguirechina.com. Other China offices are in Beijing, Guangzhou,
Xiamen, and Suzhou.
MAGUIRE PRODUCTS, INC., headquartered in Aston, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the
world’s largest supplier of gravimetric blenders and liquid color pumps and also
manufactures loading systems, granulators, dryers, auger feeders, and related
equipment and software. Its customers include injection, blow, and rotational
molders, extrusion processors, and compounders. Founded in 1977, Maguire
operates five manufacturing facilities in Aston and Smithfield, Rhode Island,
U.S.A. The company maintains a network of distributors in the Americas and
overseas and has two sales and service subsidiaries: Maguire Europe, which
supports customers throughout Europe and operates a distribution center in
Tamworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom; and Singapore-based Maguire Asia,
serves customers throughout South Asia and the Pacific Rim. Visit the Maguire
Products web site: www.maguire.com
