A new range of automatic coupling stations, launched this year, is bringing technologically advanced solutions guaranteeing a total absence of cross-material contamination and high production performance.
Manual coupling stations are still widely used in the plastics processing industry. They are suitable for handling moderate workloads. In case of multiple uses, connecting the flexible pipes to the right source, and moving them as needed, can become a complicated and tiring task. To avoid errors, the pipes are coded. Managing a number of them also implies other problems: dirt that needs to be constantly removed from the system, and the use of connections and pipes that over time wear out and have to be removed and replaced manually.
Since 1989, Piovan has made automatic coupling stations as a safe alternative to manual systems involving multiple sources and uses. Today, 600 Piovan coupling stations are installed around the world, more than half of which have been installed in the past 4 years, underscoring the growing success and efficiency of this solution in many industrial sectors.
In 2015, Piovan has launched its new Easylink range of coupling stations consisting of 3 models:
EL 20, EL 40, EL 60 (the number indicates the amount of sources/destinations manageable). The new range is equipped with technological solutions which guarantee a total absence of cross-material contamination, thereby eliminating the primary concern among users of automatic stations.
The Easylink range is in fact fitted with a device that thoroughly cleans the conveyor pipe when a different material is being handled on the next cycle.
The Easylink coupling stations are unique in as much as a single selection pipe - rigid and enamelled to handle polymers of all hardness grades - has a variable diameter: 40, 50-60, 76 mm for small, medium and large capacities.
Easylink is therefore the only coupling station range that can manage not just a high number of sources and destinations, but which also has a capacity ranging from just a few to thousands kg per hour.
Meanwhile, Piovan says that an Easylink station has few components:
- An automatic connection system to the feeder line
- A servomotor that drives the selection of the material line
- A position controller that ensures proper placement of the mechanism
- A control unit that can be integrated into all vacuum conveyor systems
- The simple design of Easylink facilitates management and maintenance, limits wear and tear on the components, and ensures the utmost reliability even under severe operating conditions.
- The best demonstration of its reliability is its impressive production longevity: the first system, installed 25 years ago, is still in operation. As Piovan puts it, simplicity and reliability, combined with performance, in terms of precision, speed and operating capacity, at a very high level is the “recipe”.
