Automated Hand Pour Station
Statemix automated hand-pour dispenser is designed for processing a variety of hot cast or room temperature polyurethane or epoxy materials in a compact and economical workstation.
To dispense the material, the operator simply places his container on the digital scale located under the valves and enters the total pour amount and the required ratio of the second component. The computer will calculate the amounts of prepolymer and curative, then turn on the prepolymer valve and begin reading the changing value of the scale (each material is moved from the tank by applying 5-10 PSI nitrogen in each tank).
When the required amount of prepolymer is transferred to the pail, the prepolymer valve is closed and the curative valve is opened immediately. As soon as the calculated amount of curative is dispensed into the pail, the dispenser will sound a beeper informing the operator to retrieve the pale from the scale and manually mix the material and pour it in the molds. Each pour can vary from ½ pound to 50 pounds, making the machine feasible for both small and large hand pours. The accuracy of the machine is 2% of the total weight and 0.2 points of the set ratio.
Due to simplified design and low number of moving parts, the dispenser is extremely easy to maintain and operate.
Basic Components
Each workstation may contain from 2 to 12 individual tanks, allocated for a variety of prepoymers, curatives, plastesizer, dye or other additives.
Each material tank has the following characteristics:
- Electrically heated, insulated, and controlled by a PID temperature controller
- Air driven agitator
- Capable of holding vacuum for batch degassing and nitrogen blanket
- Sight glasses and industrial lights on the lid of the tank.
- Tank sizes vary from 1 to 110 gallons
All tanks are sealed and can be used as storage tanks if all the material is not used in a short period of time.
Computer controlled valves
Designed and manufactured specifically for this application, each valve is connected to a tank and is controlled by the main computer.
Digital Scale
Is located under the valve assembly and is connected to the main computer. It sends real time weight information to the main computer via a digital communication port as the material is being filled into the pail.
Main Computer
This computer acts as the operator interface and is connected to all the valves and also to the digital scale. It can maintain multiple menus and store pour information for future quality control printouts. It will also indicate which material is stored in each tank and how much material was used in a week or a month.
Considerations
You should consider StateMix Semi automated dispenser if:
- You have a number of formulations in small quantities to be mixed in a daily basis, making it unfeasible to run them in continuos dispensing machines.
- You need to automate your conventional hand pour area and improve your accuracy and quality control.
- You need to improve the cleanliness of your hand pour area
You will reduce your hand pour station costs since:
- Both the prepolymer and the curative are degassed and dispensed at their operating temperatures directly from their own tanks, there is no need to heat any raw materials prior to or after dispensing. Low cost paper containers or reusable plastic pales can be used to weight the material, reducing your operating
- The dispenser provides you with the exact amount of mixed material that you ask for, not more to cause waste or less to cause underpouring of your parts.
- Your material is always kept under nitrogen after being degassed in the tank, making this machine ideal for moisture sensitive materials such as MDI systems.
"Our Automated hand-pour Station has been tested with a variety of material such as hot cast TDI and MDI systems, epoxy systems, RTV Silicon, etc. It specifically works well with Variable Hardness Polyurethane system from Crosslink Technology Inc. By using only three tanks, you can process a wide range of hardnesses by choosing from the recipes stored in the machine."
