A method of cleaning a powder coating production line, the method including: providing a powder coating production line including equipment, an automatic cleaning tool, and a monitoring device; receiving, by the equipment, an instruction of automatic cleaning, and allowing the equipment to enter an automatic cleaning mode; cleaning, by the automatic cleaning tool, the equipment of the powder coating production line; monitoring, according to a preset monitoring condition and by the monitoring device, whether the automatic cleaning is completed; stopping the automatic cleaning when the monitoring device indicates the automatic cleaning has been completed, or continuing the automatic cleaning of the equipment; and turning off the automatic cleaning mode of the equipment.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of panels for floor or wall coverings comprising the steps of mixing and homogenizing raw materials, thereby obtaining a dryblend, extruding said dryblend, thereby obtaining one or more thermoplastic layers, laminating the aforementioned thermoplastic layers, thereby obtaining a panel for floor or wall coverings, wherein said raw materials and/or said dryblend are predominantly transported vertically downwards during the weighing, mixing and/or homogenizing of said raw materials and during the feeding of said dryblend to extruders via feeding units.

A self-cleaning dosing apparatus includes a material hopper for containing pellets of material, a feed screw, a first material outlet through which pellets of material fall by gravity onto a first end of the feed screw for the feeding of pellets to a process machine. A second material outlet is located beneath the first end of the feed screw, with a slide gate blocking the second material outlet. A pneumatic piston is provided for pulling the slide gate to unblock the second material outlet, and a Venturi pump is located under the second material outlet for pulling pellets through the second material outlet when the slide gate is opened.

A system and method for enclosing the blowing area of a biopolymer blown film production process. The enclosure surrounds the blown film tower and includes at least a climate controller to maintain an optimal temperature for the blown film process.

Methods and systems for controlling the moisture content of biodegradable and bioresorbable polymer resin during extrusion above a lower limit that allows for plasticization of the polymer resin melt and below an upper limit to reduce or prevent molecular weight loss are disclosed. Methods are further disclosed involving plasticization of a polymer resin for feeding into an extruder with carbon dioxide and freon.

The invention relates to a method for the changing of material from a starting material to a subsequent material with an extrusion device (10) for the production of extrusion products (100) comprising the following steps: recognition of a change of material requirement, performance of at least one preparation step for the change of material, performance of the change of material after termination of at least one of the preparation steps.

The invention relates to a device (1a . . . 1g) for processing thermoplastic material, comprising a storage container (2)/a conveying line (11) for plastic particles and a conveying screw (3) connected thereto. The device (1a . . . 1g) further comprises an extruder (4) which connects to the conveying screw (3), and a tempering device (7) arranged in the course of the conveying screw (3). In addition, a temperature sensor (8, 8a, 8b) is arranged in the course of the conveying screw (3)/the extruder (4), and/or means (10) are provided for detecting a load of a drive (6) of the extruder (4). Finally, the device (1a . . . 1g) comprises means for influencing the tempering device (7) and an open loop control/closed loop control (9) which is connected to the at least one temperature sensor (8, 8a, 8b) and/or the influencing means of the tempering device (7). Furthermore, an operating method for the device (1a . . . 1g) is specified, in which the plastic particles are temperature-controlled by a tempering device (7) in the course of the conveying screw (3).

The invention relates to a monitoring method for monitoring the energy requirement of an extrusion installation (10), comprising the following steps: Setting of a balancing limit (20), in whose balancing space (22) the extrusion installation (10) is assembled, Monitoring of at least one energy flow (30) into the balancing space (22), Monitoring of a feed flow (40) of granules in the extrusion installation (10), Determining the relation between the at least one energy flow (30) and the feed flow (40).

Apparatus has a vacuum pump for conveying granular plastic resin material from a supply to receivers retaining and dispensing resin when needed by a process machine with a flow limiter connected to the suction head of the vacuum pump, with the vacuum pump being a controlled, variable speed device.

A method of increasing bubble stability of a needful high molecular weight bimodal high-density polyethylene resin in need thereof, the method comprising subjecting the needful high molecular weight bimodal high-density polyethylene resin to a determined amount of oxygen tailoring of the resin so as to independently increase both the resin's melt storage modulus G (at G=3000 pascals) and complex viscosity ratio SH1000, and thereby make an oxygen-tailored high molecular weight bimodal high-density polyethylene resin having a targeted increase in bubble stability. The method uses a tailoring effective amount of molecular oxygen (O.sub.2) to achieve the desired oxygen tailoring. The method uses these advanced rheological properties from dynamic mechanical spectroscopy, but analyzes the data in a different way that is more sensitive to changes in resin composition and properties, and yet achieves a resin regime having a targeted increase in bubble stability.