Parts Handling Equipment

Microscopic hair-like flash from molded, cut, and skived plastic parts used in medical applications is removed in an instant using a new compact hot-air blower. The parts in question are used for internal medical examinations or dispensing applicators.

Venturi vacuum pumps powered by compressed air have no moving parts, thereby delivering high reliability, and can achieve a 26-inch Hg vacuum with only 0.74-1.27 SCFM air flow, depending on the suction cup size. Vendor Anver Corp. (Hudson, MA) says these devices can provide millisecond attach and release. The pump, suspension, and suction cup are an integrated unit and can be positioned close to the load to minimize the potential for vacuum loss through tubing.

Horizontal flow wrapping using shrink films to provide skin-tight packaging for cartons, food products, and pharmaceuticals is a popular packing method where the film is fed around a forming box to create a tube. Generally an overlap, often sealed together by heat-seal or heat-shrink processes, of 25-35 mm of film is needed. But due to tension on the film, the overlap can come apart if the seal is not formed correctly, causing high rejection rates and requiring rewrapping. Packagers often compensate by using wider films to produce a larger, more expensive overlap.

The Combipac system of thermal shrink film protection of pallet unit loads from Beumer (Beckum, Germany) is designed for rapid heating of polyethylene film to about 180°C, which allows the film molecules—tensioned during processing—to return to their original chemical structure. Such shrink films provide safe transport, storage, and packaging of palletized items.