The colour of a product is now an important aspect of modern branding. With ColorAdjust from KraussMaffei, colour variations with input goods of different colours are a thing of the past.
KraussMaffei
KraussMaffei at K: Two innovations for the circular economy live at the booth
KraussMaffei’s ColorAdjust system automatically monitors and corrects even minor colour variations during compounding.
The innovative system combines a colour measuring device with photospectrometer technology and machine control to ensure precise, reproducible colours. Visitors can observe the fully automatic colour correction process at KraussMaffei’s booth in Hall 15, C 24-D 24, where a twin-screw extruder compounds shredded medical caps into a fibre-reinforced, colour-precise recyclate.
The ColorAdjust solution developed by KraussMaffei is the first of its kind on the market. It is designed not only for contactless monitoring, but to compensate even for minor deviations by directly adjusting the precise colour setpoint. This gives compound processors high reproducibility when processing input materials of varying colour. The colour setpoint is rapidly achieved when starting the compounding process after a stop as well as in the event of colour changes. Start-up scraps and reject material are thus minimised, ColorAdjust ensures sustainable and highly efficient production of reclaim material, which saves time, money and raw materials.
KraussMaffei’s ColorAdjust system comprises two units: A spectral photometer determines the colour of the cooled reclaimed pellets in the vibration chute and transmits the corresponding results to the machine control system. These values are used to control the colour metering unit that is equipped with at least four colours and four metering devices. Upon request, the system can be expanded to six colours to cover the entire spectrum. The colour can generally be added in masterbatch or liquid form. The ColorAdjust system adjusts the colours automatically without any operator intervention.
Interested visitors can also witness a live experience of the entire material cycle: from polypropylene virgin material used in the production process via re-compounding right through to the finished reclaimed material. The PX 200-1400 injection moulding machine, equipped with a 96-fold tool, produces insulin pen caps from PP. On the downstream mill, these caps are subsequently shredded to regrind. The resulting reclaimed material is transferred by appropriate conveying systems into the ZE 28 BluePower twin-screw extruder in UltraGlide version with a processing section length of 44 D. The screws can be removed automatically from the processing section for cleaning purposes, while the extruder with its ideal ratio between screw volume and torque ensures optimum melt homogenisation and colour dispersion. Glass fibres and additives as required for applications in the automotive industry, for instance, can be incorporated via additional gravimetric loss-in-weight feeders.