Plastic granulator is a machine used to reduce large pieces of plastic waste into smaller, granular polymer particles. These particles can then be reused in the creation of new plastic products. This type of recycling can help to reduce the amount of material that is sent to landfills, which is good for the environment. There are many different types of plastic granulators available on the market, and they each have their own unique features. Some of them are designed to be used on long pieces of plastic, while others are made for use with shorter, thinner pieces of plastic. The type of plastic that a granulator is designed to process will determine the type of cutting system it has.
The most important component of any plastic granulator is the blades or knives, which are used to cut, crush and grind plastic materials into granules. A wide range of blades can be found for these machines, and each type has a specific function. For example, teeth blades are suitable for crushing tough sprues and rejects while paddle blades can be used to cut thin flakes of a variety of plastics.
Another common feature of these machines is the power transmission system, which is responsible for conveying and powering the blades. The system is also responsible for the heating and cooling of the cutting chamber. It is also required to control the flow of materials through the hopper and into the cutting chamber. In some cases, the power transmission system may also be used to control the agitation of the blades.
A number of auxiliary systems can be attached to plastic granulators, such as dust collectors, cooling fans and power transfer systems. These are used to keep the cutting chamber clean, prevent dust from building up inside the machine and make it easier for users to operate the device. They can also reduce noise levels during operation by removing vibration and sound.
Plastic granulators are commonly seen in plastics processing plants and can be classified into two categories: side-of-machine granulators and central granulators. Side-of-machine granulators are designed to handle relatively small volumes of scrap from various production cells or extrusion lines. Central granulators are typically larger and used to chop up larger volumes of scrap from multiple lines or molding cells.
These open source plastic granulators can be built for less than $2000 and have a power consumption of 380 to 404W for PET and PLA (the most common post-consumer waste and 3D printer polymers respectively). Tests showed that the open source plastic granulator can successfully convert shredded polymer feedstock into a granular size that is compatible with distributed recycling and manufacturing using open source recyclebots and direct material extruder-based 3D printers. These results indicate that the open source plastic granulator is an appropriate technology for community, library, maker space, fab lab and small business-based distributed recycling.