2508_GB_heating-cooling-mixer_extruder-feeding_window_profil

AZO CASE STUDY

Automatic raw material supply for feeding heating-cooling mixers

We Love Ingredients.

Finstral Website

Finstral

Finstral AG is one of the leading manufacturers of windows, doors and glass walls in Europe. Today, the family business has 14 production plants, 29 studios and around 1,600 employees and is represented in a total of 14 countries. Thanks to in-house profile, insulating glass and element production, the company can precisely control the manufacturing process from the raw material to the finished window. This ensures the highest quality from a single source.

Sustainability

Like AZO, Finstral AG also focusses on the durability of its products.

At the same time, the manufacturing process should consume as little energy as possible and use it sensibly. This is why Finstral invested in plants and systems from AZO. The heating-cooling mixer feeding system at the Weber plant in Moos was modernised back in 2019 and a recycling plant for regrind material was built in Kurtatsch. This was followed in 2023, also at the Kurtatsch plant, by the installation of a new system for feeding heating-cooling mixers and extrusion lines.

2 | AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system

The task for AZO

The production of high-quality windows also requires high-quality raw materials. AZO comes into play in the production of the PVC dryblend and the feeding of the extruder:

Fully automatic heating-cooling mixer feeding increases efficiency, quality and safety, reduces errors and costs and ensures consistent dryblend quality. Automation is a decisive competitive advantage, especially in large-scale production. Large components, such as PVC powder, must be reliably discharged from silos in large quantities and fed into the production process. Additives and colours, on the other hand, are delivered in big bags and each place their own demands on raw material handling. Suitable discharge aids, conveying and dosing methods are required here in order to provide the right quantity of each raw material to the right mixer at the right time –- and thus ensure the high quality of the dryblend.

Safe product quality Precise dosing and weighing of all components, as well as complete traceability for exact adherence to formulation and reproducible batch preparation

0101

Effectiveness Short cleaning times during product change over thanks to separation into light and dark lines

Automation Increasing production capacity and process reliability. Ensuring

Reliable partnership

traceability and documentation

Flexibility Sophisticated system concept for flexible material provision. Simple recipe changes via the system control

Operator and system protection Safe systems with constructive explosion protection and low-dust production areas

Sustainability Durable mechanics and future proof production control. Re-utilisation of the colour-sorted regrind powder by recycling all PVC production waste

Reasons that speak for AZO

« In 2019, we successfully implemented the modernisation of the heating cooling mixer feeding system at the Weber im Moos plant with AZO. We were impressed by the project management and the quality of the system, enabling us to take the next step towards future-proof production with the new heating-cooling mixer feeding system at the Kurtatsch plant. » Matthias Fauster, Finstral AG

AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system | 3

More about silo and discharge systems

PVC – the basic raw material

Outdoor silos with filter The PVC powder is stored in the outdoor silos. Large-area filters ensure clean ventilation when filling the silos. Pressure monitoring systems protect the silos from damage caused by overpressure or underpressure.

The existing silos at the Kurtatsch plant will continue to be used for the storage of PVC powder. Modern AZO filters and pressure monitoring systems reliably protect the plant. New suction hoppers with suction nozzels ensure trouble-free discharge from the silos into the conveying line.

Safety thanks to retrofitting the existing outdoor silos for PVC

AZO vacuum weighing systems

Multiport valve The multiport valve brings the individual conveying lines from the silos and big bag stations together at the conveying scales.

Pneumatic vacuum weighing systems with conveying scales are the solution for the economical automation of precisely weighed large and medium-sized components. The central elements of the multi-tube system are the conveying scale and the multiport valve. A conveying line leads from each product feed point to the multiport valve, which is connected to the conveying scale. As a result, the product overrun is very low, which enables high accuracy.

Discharging, dosing, conveying, combining and weighing. Many process steps in one system with special advantages:

• Safety thanks to sophisticated technology • Height and space-saving

• High weighing and dosing accuracy • Clean and simple product infeed • Consistent product quality • Fast recipe changes • Precise coordination of control and process technology

Convening scale The perfect system for transporting large and

medium-sized components directly above the mixer and weighing them precisely.

Animation vacuum weighing systems

4 | AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system

The colours are delivered in the form of micro-granules in big bags and fed at separate feeding stations. The consistent separation of the lines right up to the heating-cooling mixers into a light and a dark line minimises the cleaning effort and avoids product carry-over. Colours – best used separately

Cost-effective big bag discharge This big bag discharge station is specially designed for feeding free-flowing powders and is therefore particularly cost-effective and reliable.

Combined big bag and bag discharge station Enables simple and flexible product feeding of raw materials from big bags or sacks at one station.

Suction hopper The colours are pneumatically conveyed directly above the heating cooling mixers, precisely weighed and added.

Level indicator To avoid production downtime, the operating personnel automatically receive a message when the big bag is empty.

More about big bag discharge systems

AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system | 5

Additives – small quantities, big impact

Although additives are only minor components in dryblend production, they are very important for the properties of the end product.

Constructive explosion protection offers safety for flammable additives, such as stabilisers or modifiers.

Stabilisers, modifiers and titanium dioxide are delivered in big bags and emptied into buffer hopper via discharge stations. Each buffer hopper is equipped with a vibration bottom to support discharge and a dosing unit for dosing into a vacuum conveying system.

The additives are weighed to the exact gram directly above the heating cooling mixer and added to the heating mixer.

« With the investment in the new mixing plant, we also wanted to achieve the greatest possible safety for our operating personnel and the plant. The system was therefore designed and built to be explosion-proof. » Matthias Fauster, Finstral AG

More about big bag discharge systems

Clean production thanks to big bag connection systems With powdery raw materials, the big bag connection system reliably prevents dust from escaping during big bag discharge.

Discharge support through vibration bottoms For a trouble-free process, it is important that the products do not come to a standstill when flowing out of the buffer hopper. The vibration bottom ensures an even product flow.

Constructive explosion protection Additives are often combustible dusts. The use of flameproof and pressure shock-resistant rotary valves and flanged pipework is essential for the safety of the operating personnel and the system.

6 | AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system

Regrind – consistently sustainable

In the interests of sustainable production, the plastic waste generated during window production is recycled and reused as regrind powder. The colour-sorted rigrind material can be fed into buffer silos via big bags and made available, as well as being stored temporarily in silos directly from the recycling plant.

Existing silos were modernised and integrated into the new plant for the temporary storage of regrind material - another sustainable approach

Clean and flexible Different lines can be supplied with material simultaneously from one silo via the suction hopper with several suction nozzles.

Safe storage The regrind is stored safely and colour-sorted – whether in outdoor or indoor silos.

Clean Production The regrind material is fed from the big bag emptying stations into the vacuum conveying system simply and cleanly via suction hoppers .

AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system | 7

Automatic mixer feeding for optimum recipe accuracy

In the production of PVC dryblend, it is essential that all raw materials arrive at the right mixer at the right time and in the right quantity.

The vertical tower concept is a proven solution for heating-cooling mixer feeding.

Pneumatic conveying The raw materials are fed in at ground level and then conveyed pneumatically above the heating cooling mixer. This has the advantage that no big bags or other containers have to be transported up to this level and stored there. As a result, the steel structure can be designed more simply and no operating personnel are required on this level. For flammable additives, the conveying system was designed to be explosion-proof in accordance with ATEX guidelines.

Animation vacuum conveying

Dosing and weighing of colours In addition to the conveying scales for the large components, the scales for the additives and colours are located on this level. The colours are dosed into the scales in the form of microgranules via dosing screws and weighed precisely there. Each mixing line has its own colour scale, so that a line separation between light and dark colours is possible. A feeding hopper also offers the option of adding pre-weighed small quantities to the mixer.

More about dosing systems

Dosing and weighing of additives The additives are dosed from the buffer containers via double dosing screws into the scales belonging to each mixer, where they are weighed precisely. Weighing is additive: Once all the raw materials are in the correct quantities in the scales, they are emptied into the heating mixers.

8 | AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system

AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system | 9

The fully automated production process

The production process is controlled fully automatically on the basis of the effective batch priority and the available resources (scales, silos). There are also various mechanisms for optimising the throughput of the overall system. A weighing record is created for each weighing order, which contains all the necessary information to be able to establish a batch reference later and ensure complete documentation of the entire production process. Safety and flexibility The current status of the feed can be read in the control centre at any time. Deviations from the target value are displayed immediately so that a timely response can be made. The subsequent feeding of the extrusion lines is also continuously monitored. This maximises supply reliability. The batch protocols with recipe composition verification make dryblend production traceable and document the quality of the products.

More about plant control

Conveyed air cooling By using cooled conveying air, process stability can be increased, material losses reduced and better product quality achieved.

Provision of Dryblend

The flexible provision of the dryblend in silos or big bags enables optimum production planning. The homogeneously mixed batch is emptied from the cooling mixers into following hoppers and from there conveyed via pressure conveying systems with conditioned conveying air into silos or into the buffer containers of the big bag bagging system.

Big bag aeration The dryblend from the buffer containers is dosed into the big bags via rotary valves. The dusty air displaced in the process is extracted and cleaned in a filter. This minimises dust exposure for the operating personnel in this area.

Big bag filling The big bags can be filled precisely using calibratable scales. All relevant data

is documented on a consignment note.

10 | AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system

Reliable extruder feeding

Flexible and clean thanks to vacuum conveying The extrusion lines are fed with dryblend via vacuum conveying systems. The dryblend can be conveyed both from silos, in which it is temporarily stored, and directly from big bags. As the dryblend produced can be stored temporarily, profile extrusion can take place independently of the production of the dryblend. This enables optimised production planning. In addition, the dryblend can also be supplied to other plants in big bags.

« With the AZO system, we are very flexible when it comes to feeding the extrusion lines. All extrusion lines can be fed from all silos and big bag feeding stations. This enables us to achieve optimum production capacity utilisation. » Matthias Fauster, Finstral AG

Air purged filter The large filters in the receivers with automatic cleaning ensure dust-free feeding.

Receiver Gentle and segregation-free feeding enables consistently high product quality.

Level indicator Monitoring the fill level ensures a high level of feeding reliability.

Animation vacuum conveying

AZO Case Study | Finstral | Heating-cooling mixer feeding system | 11

2508 2075 GB

« The automation of our second dryblend mixing plant with AZO was a complete success. Despite the challenge posed by the installation in an existing building, we found the optimum solution together. We were convinced by the partnership based cooperation and expert advice – we feel that we have received excellent support and are very satisfied. »

Joachim Oberrauch, Managing Director Finstral AG

AZO GmbH & Co. KG D-74706 Osterburken Tel. +49 6291 92 0 azo-group@azo.com www.azo.com

We Love Ingredients.