Feeding and Elevating Glass Cullet Owens Corning in Newark, OH

General Description

Fiberglass insulation is used throughout the world to keep homes, businesses and processes at constant temperature. The US market for fiberglass insulation is over $10 billion per year with continued steady growth. Owens Corning is the largest insulation-maker in the country, with 16-percent of the market. Competitors include Johns Manville, CertainTeed and Dow Chemical. Fiberglas is the Owens Corning trade name for its product with a pink color that is synonymous with fiberglass insulation.

Bulk materials such as cullet (waste glass), sand, dolomite, limestone and other ingredients are used in the fiberglass insulation making process. These bulk materials are stored, metered, conveyed and mixed in batches before being heated in furnaces at temperatures up to 2,500-degrees F. The molten glass is spun, cooled and drawn into fibers to create insulation.

As part of a process expansion, Owens Corning added a KWS screw feeder and bucket elevator. Maintenance reduction and increased life span were key features as downtime can be very costly. With a long history of successful screw conveyor projects for the fiberglass insulation industry, KWS provided a screw feeder and bucket elevator to meet the demands of the application.

Design Parameters

1. Product Type: Glass Cullet
2. Material Density: 100 to 140 Lbs. per Cubic Foot
3. Capacity: 1,000 Cubic Feet per Hour
4. Duty: 24 hours per Day, 7 Days per Week

KWS Advantages

Engineers from Owens Corning and KWS worked together to finalize the exact details of the process. Cleanout ports, inspection ports, and easy to replace abrasion-resistant liners were carefully selected as the equipment was located in a confined area that spanned several floors of a building. An oversized service platform was provided for the bucket elevator for ease of maintenance. KWS engineers performed finite element analysis (FEA) on the platform to ensure structural integrity.

Special Features

Since glass cullet is highly abrasive, inside areas of the bucket elevator boot and head section as well as the trough, discharge spout, and screw of the screw feeder were lined with special chromium carbide overlay plate which historically provides a long-life span. The trough of the screw feeder was rectangular, so the glass cullet becomes a wear surface to eliminate wear on the trough. The boot section of the bucket elevator was equipped with a cleanout port so an operator can use a broom to sweep out any loose material. The boot shaft was hardened in the areas exposed to the abrasive glass cullet to prevent wear.

The bucket elevator service platform was equipped with a ladder and safety gate for easy access. KWS utilized a head take-up design for adjustment of belt tension, making boot section clean out easier for operators. Both the screw feeder and bucket elevator were equipped with bearing temperature sensors, plug sensors at the inlets and discharges, speed sensors for the tail and boot shafts, a belt alignment sensor for the elevator, and a PLC control panel to interface to the main control panel and provide single-point maintenance monitoring.