Abrasive Recovery Systems
Lower operating cost and reduced abrasive waste
Continuous Abrasive Recovery
Maximise your blast chamber productivity. This solution is ideal for large chambers with high volumes of work. Find out more about Continuous Abrasive Recovery.
Batch Abrasive Recovery
Perfect for batch-by-batch blasting processes. Use this solution with chambers that work on a range of different materials. Learn more about Batch Abrasive Recovery.
Manual Abrasive Recovery
The cost-effective solution for portable and smaller-sized blast chambers. Find out more about Manual Abrasive Recovery.
- Higher abrasive recovery rates
- Reduced energy costs
- Reduced maintenance costs by eliminating excessive wear
By integrating the Airstream Abrasive Classifier with the Abrasive Recovery process, Protoblast have designed a highly cost effective complete Abrasive Recycling System.
The Protoblast Abrasive Recycling System is an innovative, market-leading technology that reduces operating costs and halves abrasive consumable costs.
The Protoblast Continuous Oscillating Conveyor
Protoblast builds a range of abrasive recovery but its most popular, the Oscillating Conveyor / Bucket Elevator system, is unique to Protoblast and was first designed in 1975 and has been refined over the years.
The tray of the conveyor is supported off the base using rubber blocks and when oscillated by the eccentric drive these rubber blocks cause a rocking motion. This rocking motion requires very minimal power. The abrasive is slightly lifted on the forward stroke and when the tray returns back to original position the abrasive lands a little further along.
The Oscillating Conveyor feeds the abrasive into the bucket elevator which incorporates the Protoblast Airstream Abrasive Classifier.
This system has the following key benefits:
- Reliability – the low wear of the oscillating motion shows proven reliability over other systems
- Low maintenance costs – due to the absence of high speed abrasive in the recovery process to wear componentry like suction hoses and ducting
- Low down time relating to maintenance – as there are no waffles or suction pipes to block
- Low power requirements – results in lower running cost much less than inefficient pneumatic system with large high pressure fans
- Ease of maintenance – the whole system can be accessed, so in the event of flooding the system can be cleaned easily
- Self-cleaning via the ‘live’ trash screen mounted on the tray – as the abrasive passes over the top the usable size falls through and the trash is past on into a bucket therefore it is self-cleaning.
Protoblast Airstream Abrasive Classifier
With the Airstream Abrasive Classifier the abrasive is spread into a thin curtain across the width of the classifier (typically 400mm). This abrasive is flowing purely under gravity. The curtain falls through a cross draft of air where it fans out and is separated by an adjustable plate. The abrasive that is usable is returned to the pot, the fines to the trash bin and the dust to the dust collector.
Backed by the experts
The Industry Handbook written by A.B. Williams from USA states that the best method for cleaning abrasives above 100µm (0.1mm) is the gravity airwash system. N.B. Other systems, such as a pneumatic cyclone airwash, can wokr well in the woodworking industry but does not accurately separate the dust, fines and good abrasive.
The classifier achieves improved safety, efficiency and economies with following key benefits:
- Maximise the use of abrasive – To achieve the maximum benefit from any type of abrasive, it is necessary to remove the contaminants and fine dust. If the cleaning system does not work correctly the abrasive will very quickly become so contaminated and dust laden that it will have to be disposed of before it has been used to its maximum capacity.
- Increased production using a correct mix of fines – a good cleaner should also remove abrasive fines. This is critical when a high profile is required as to achieve this the abrasive has to remain above a certain size.
- Visibility – the dust level in the abrasive directly affects visibility. When its cleaned properly the dust source will be from the job being blasted not the abrasive. 35% of dust in a blast room can be attributed to poor abrasive cleaning.
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