Plastic granulator is the machine used to break down plastic products like bottles, bags and packaging for recycling. These machines can be found in workshops and factories to help reduce the amount of waste produced by manufacturers. They can also be used by individuals to recycle their own plastic products. While the machine may look complicated, it is relatively easy to use. It simply uses a series of cutting knives to chop up plastics into smaller pieces, or granules. The plastics are then separated, washed and sorted by size to be reused in new plastic products.
Most people are aware of the environmental concerns surrounding discarded plastics. According to some estimates, they represent up to 40% of the solid waste disposed in landfills in the US. Because plastic does not biodegrade, it is important to recycle as much of the material as possible to reduce the amount that ends up in the environment. Plastics can be recycled in a variety of ways, including through the use of plastic granulators and shredders. The two machines perform similar functions in terms of reducing the size of plastics for recycling, but there are some differences between them that need to be considered when selecting one for your facility.
The basic difference between a plastic granulator and a shredder is that the former is designed to shear the scrap material into small granules, while the latter is built for tearing the scrap to make it smaller. This is important because different types of plastics require shearing for recycling, while some are better suited to tearing or crushing with torsional force.
There are four separate systems that comprise a plastics granulator, each responsible for specific parts of the machine and serving an individual function. The first system, power transmission, encompasses any machine parts that convert electrical energy from the power grid into mechanical energy for the plastics granulator. This includes the motor, circuit board and other electrical peripherals present on the machine.
Plastics granulators, as well as shredders, are large machines that can produce substantial amounts of noise while operating. This makes it important to consider noise reduction when selecting a piece of equipment for your manufacturing process. The safe level of noise exposure for an eight hour work day is 85 dB(A). Depending on the specific needs of your production line, you may need to consider purchasing a granulator with sound reduction features.
To measure noise levels around the granulator, we used a free field array microphone positioned in front of the machine at a distance of about 30 cm from the vacuum inlet. The sound pressure levels (SPL) were recorded using a National Instruments compact DAQ data acquisition system. A total of 10 sound level measurements were taken during each session to average out the fluctuations and get an accurate reading of noise levels at various points in time. The results are shown below. In all, a 4dB reduction in noise was observed. This is a significant reduction for such a large, high-powered machine.