Paul Boughton
Over the past 40 yearsAcrison has established itself as an industry’s authority in dry bulk solids handlingspecifically the precision metering of dry solid ingredients by volume or weight and the closely related proportioningblendingstorage and hoppering of these materials.<p><font size="1"><div align="left">Acrisonwith its headquarters in New JerseyUSAoffers a comprehensive line of volumetric and gravimetric feeders . It maintains an aggressive R&D programme to ensure it maintains a leadership position through in-depth knowledge of the latest industry applications and engineering issues.</div><div align="left">According to Paul MatarazzoSenior Mechanical Engineer at Acrison Incone of the company’s strengths is its use of the various metal coating technologies available.</div><div align="left">"Metal coatings play a critical part in the performance of our products primarily because of the variety of applications our products serve" reports Matarazzo. "The principle issue is the reduction of friction on our metal feeders to prevent the materials from sticking. Coatings with a lower coefficient of friction (COF) prevent build-up on the machinery and in cases where materials such as pigments are used; accuracy is critical because any error will directly affect the end product. Obviously this can have huge cost implicationsfor examplein the manufacture of automotive parts or consumer products where the colour of the part is extremely important.</div><div align="left">"Pigments themselves are also extremely expensiveespecially in the food industry where colour additives are being used. The food industry also has its own unique issue – any of the coatings we use have to be FDA or UDSA-approved and we serve many customers in the food manufacturing industry."</div><div align="left">Abrasion of machinery from certain dry bulk solids can also create issues for customersas well additional expense. Matarazzo adds: "Certain materials will cause abrasion and this kind of damage not only leads to costly production downtimebut can also mean expensive replacement parts. Tungsten carbide and silicon-type materials are particularly abrasiveleading to meter and feeder damage.</div><div align="left">"In other cases our customers have applications where materials will react with stainless steelwhich is an issue because most of our parts are made from stainless steel. Chlorides like ammonium or stannous chloride will react causing corrosion and even pitting on the steel – a real issue for companies such as pool chemical manufacturers. The reaction between the materials can also contaminate the original materialso the right coating is imperative.</div><div align="left">"We also use metal coatings for applications that require a release property in high temperature situationssuch as feeding into a furnace at up to 1000°F. These applications require coatingsunlike Teflonthat are able to withstand high temperatures while providing functionality."</div><div align="left">Generally speakingwhen manufacturing equipmentthere are four main coating options available to Acrison; chrome coatingceramic coatingAcrison’s own in-house coatingsand finally coatings provided by proprietary metal coating providerGeneral Magnaplate Corporation.</div><div align="left">Given the available optionsa key question is why Acrison would outsource coatings as its traditionally more expensive to send parts out for coating and also adds time to the overall process?</div><div align="left">Matarazzo says the company was able to provide release coatings that outperform others available in the marketplace and with a much lower COF.</div><div align="left">He said: "Recently we had a customer whose materials was reacting with our steel parts in a rubber compounding applicationso we turned to Magnaplate to solve the problem. If they do not have a coating available to solve the problemthen they'll engineer one that custom fits the application.</div><div align="left">"Magnaplate provides a wide variety of proprietary coatingsmany of which meet strict federal standards such as FDA and USDA compliance. This enables us to better serve these particular industries. Most importantlyhoweveris the life-span that Magnaplate’s coatings offer metal parts.</div><div align="left">"Some of the machinery we produce is expected to survive 20 yearsbeing used on a gruelling daily scheduleand we need to provide customers with minimum downtime and a low cost of ownership. If a feeder is processing 100000 pound per hour then every hour it is not operating is extremely costly for the customer.</div><div align="left">"In one instance we installed a feeder in Chicago in 1963 and today its still going strong without even replacing an auger! Magnaplate’s coatings are designed to increase the lifespan of metal parts and their technology enables us to have utter confidence with our customers. It does help that our customers are very familiar with the Magnaplate name – that in itself breeds confidence."</div></font><font size="1"><div align="right">Enter 36 or at www.engineerlive.com/ede</div></font><em><font size="1"><div>Nemanja Marinkovic is with General Magnaplate CorporationNew JerseyUSA. www.magnaplate.com</div></font></em></p>"
