Plastic chips extraction system with pneumatic discharge

As a leading company in the design and production of industrial extraction systems, at GGE we are constantly seeking effective and innovative solutions to meet our customers’ needs: on the one hand, improving company productivity by removing waste materials from production processes, and on the other, ensuring a healthy environment for workers by eliminating pollutants within production departments.

In this case study, we describe the plastic chips extraction and filtration system we designed and installed for a company specialized in plastics processing, operating in northern Italy. Given the company’s large production volumes and the intense work flows expected for our plant, we designed a solution that included a pneumatic transport system for the extracted chips, from the filter discharge hopper to a collection container outside the company.

How is the chips extraction system composed?

The Power Jet bag filter unit is the heart of this extraction system: the 110 filtering bags with a Ø of 125 mm and a length of 2 m, placed inside the central body, have the task of retaining the plastic chips present in the flow of air aspirated and coming from the company’s production department. They are made with a special filtering mesh, suitable for treating dust and plastic chips, which prevents premature clogging of the filter unit and the filtering media itself.
The Power Jet is equipped with an automatic bags cleaning system using timed jets of compressed air, which, by shaking the bags, cause the chips to fall towards the filter hopper.

An additional digital control unit manages the hopper fluidification system. Given the high concentration and lightness of plastic chips, it is very easy for ‘bridges’ to form in the filter unit discharge, blocking the evacuation of particulate matter. For this reason, we have installed a system of timed compressed air jets in the hopper, controlled by a special control unit, which break up the ‘bridges’ of material that form at the bottom.

The filtration system is powered by a 15 kW centrifugal fan, which generates the suction needed to convey the plastic chips to the Power Jet filter unit.
The purified air leaving the filter unit is released into the atmosphere through a properly sized chimney equipped with a silencer. In accordance with UNI EN 12097 regulations, we have installed an access door on the chimney for inspecting the air exiting the extraction system, accessible from the walkway mounted on the roof of the filter unit.

Simplified waste management

A motorized rotary valve, located at the bottom of the Power Jet hopper, discharges the filtered chips into a pneumatic transport system, driven by a 5.5 kW DT centrifugal fan. This pneumatic transport system conveys the residues directly into a container and it’s a safe and practical solution for waste management:

• SAFE because the pipe circuit runs continuously from the rotary valve to the container, preventing chips from escaping and, at the same time, preventing them from coming into contact with operators;
• PRACTICAL because direct emptying into containers reduces the maintenance time that would be required for more frequent emptying of a collection bin.

Automated control of the extraction system

The extraction system is operated by a centralized electrical panel, which controls the start-up and shutdown of the main fan, the fan that drives the pneumatic transport system and the rotary valve for chips discharge.

An HMI touch screen panel with dedicated software and Modbus TCP IP data communication protocol is installed on the electrical panel, allowing remote management of the system and monitoring of operating parameters.

Tailor-made solutions for every production requirement

The extraction system described here is designed to collect plastic chips, but in the projects section of our website you can read about other work carried out to purify industrial environments from various pollutants: welding fumes, oil mists, metal dust, resins and much more.

Are you interested in receiving more information about the systems we have built? Please do not hesitate to contact us!