This is no emergency-loss-in-weight feeders save fire-resistive materials manufacturer

摘要

A manufacturer of spray-applied fire-resistive materials upgrades from volumetric to loss-in-weight feeders for improved process and quality control. Isolatek International, headquartered in Stanhope, N.J., has more than 40 years of experience manufacturing dry and wet spray-applied fire-resistive materials. Used as a fire barrier, these materials are sprayed onto steel beams, columns, joists, and roof and floor assemblies during the construction of commercial buildings. To produce these fire-resistive materials, Isolatek used volumetric feeders to feed the major ingredients to its mixers, until 1999, when the company decided to upgrade to loss-in-weight feeders for improved process and quality control. The dry spray-applied fire-resistive materials are used like this: At a construction site, the dry material is pneumatic ally conveyed to a nozzle that's connected to a water line. When it reaches the nozzle, it mixes with the water, which activates the material's binders as the material is sprayed onto the building's structure. Isolatek manufactures its dry spray-applied fife-resistive materials at its plant in Huntington, Ind. The mineral-fiber-based dry spray is produced from steel-mill slag blended with different powdered binders. The company buys the dry-spray ingredients in bulk and stores them in silos. From the silos, each ingredient goes to a series of holding hoppers above a series of feeders. In the past, the ingredients were continuously moved into the feeders at different rates (depending on the blend required for the particular dry spray being manufactured) and volumetrically metered into the mixers.