Tips for Maintaining Your Laundry Pods-Making Machine in Winter
Did you know temperatures can drop as low as -20°C (-4°F) in industrial cities like Yakutia, Russia? What if there was a laundry pod making machine working there? In winter, these temperatures can slow production and cause problems with laundry pod-making machines. Frequent breakdowns can result in significant financial loss for manufacturers. Isn't making money the primary target of manufacturers?
This article focuses on tips for maintaining laundry pod making machines and ensuring they operate at their best performance with high production rates. Many things can go wrong in laundry pod-making machines, especially those that involve liquids and pneumatic systems, and laundry pod-making machines have loads of liquid and pneumatic air handling. Let's consider the potential threat of winter and find ways to avoid it!
1. Control Viscosity of Liquid Detergent
Everybody has had some sort of experience with honey. As the honey heats up, it starts to become thinner. This phenomenon is due to the honey's viscosity. The liquid that goes into laundry detergent pods is viscous. Imagine making it thicker after exposure to cold conditions in the winter.
A single-degree change in the temperature of liquid detergent causes a viscosity change of 10-20%, which roughly translates to requiring more force to pass it through a pneumatic-based injector. The viscosity change is around 2 to 3 times the normal viscosity of detergent liquid. The viscosity change can lead to malfunctioning injectors, inaccurate filling, nozzle blockages, and inconsistent pod weights.
Tips to Maintain Viscosity:
- Ensure the laundry pod-making machine is in a temperature-controlled environment, preferably 20-25C.
- The container that feeds liquid detergent to the laundry pod making machine should have temperature control or a heater to maintain optimal machine design conditions.
2. Save PVA Film from Shattering into Pieces
The PVA film is a solid sheet made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) material with elastic properties. The mechanical properties of the PVA film allow it to fold into the form of a roll. However, every PVA manufacturer suggests a temperature control environment for their storage. Higher temperatures can cause them to stick together, while lower temperatures in winter and humidity can cause the film to become brittle.
Imagine the film breaking, similar to shattered glass. Cleaning up the mess can be a nightmare and result in the waste of raw materials.
Tips to Keep PVA Film Stable:
- Refer to the PVA film manufacturer for specifications for their storage.
- Ensure that the film is brought to the laundry pod-making machine site in a temperature-controlled environment.
- During the feed process, ensure the PVA film roll temperature remains stable at 20-25C and 50-60RH.
3. Maintain the Pneumatic System Performance
Compressed air plays a vital role in laundry pod-making machines by providing force to move liquid, providing tension, and initiating braking mechanisms during emergency stops. Almost all compressed air systems extract air from the environment. Then, they pressurize it using a compressor to the required pressure, usually between 0.6 and 0.8MPa.
However, moisture buildup in the air is likely during the compression process. In winter, if the moisture is not extracted, compressed air carrying moisture into a cold environment can turn to ice and cause actuator blockage. In extreme cases, it can cause the pneumatic air lines to break or reduce the efficiency of the laundry pod-making machine.
Tips to Optimize Pneumatic System:
- Always procure a compressed air system with dyers and moisture separators for higher performance.
- Monitor the compressed air dew point and pressure closely to avoid sluggish system response.
4. Maintaining the Mechanical Seals
Laundry pod machines handle lots of material, including air and liquid. These usually pass through containers, piping, and machine components. Like any other material, seals need an operating temperature for optimal performance. In winter, seals can become hard as they are mostly made from a petrochemical-based rubber material.
A high-end laundry pod machine has a pre-heating loop that ensures the entire body is at optimal operating temperature.
Pro Tips for Maintaining Seals:
- The laundry pod-making machine should have temperature control loops and pre-heating elements to maintain component temperatures.
- Ensure real-time feedback from the device and dual settings, including winter and summer.
- Never bypass the warmup time for the device, especially in winter.
5. Ensure the HMI Display or Touch Screen Works efficiently
Winter can cause HMI displays that are also touch screens to malfunction. The freezing or lowering temperature can cause the panels to become irresponsive or exhibit erratic behavior, leading to incorrect inputs. Moisture from workers' hands can also cause the display to malfunction.
Tip to Keep HMI Working:
- Ensure the laundry pod-making machine uses pressure-based HMI instead of a capacitance-based display for accuracy.
- In the case of a capacitance-based display, ensure that the temperature of the HMI display control box is maintained for optimal performance.
- Allow the heater to bring the HMI to optimal temperature before use.
6. Removing Static Electricity Build-up
Laundry pod-making machines designed for winter come pre-fitted with components that ensure no static electricity builds up. It's usually best to procure a laundry detergent filling machine with anti-static buildup features. The dry air in winter can cause static to build up on PVA film rolls, which can attract dust and cause jamming.
Tips to Faults from Static Electricity:
- Anti-static bars remove static electricity from the PVA film for the laundry detergent filling machine.
- Use ionizing blowers to remove static current from the PVA film drum.
7. Recalibration of Sensors and Injectors for Winter
Metals expand or contract due to the thermal expansion and contraction phenomenon. The laundry pod-making machine uses metal injectors, pneumatic cylinders, and sensor housings. We must recalibrate these injectors so that they inject the optimum amount for the production of detergent pods. Winters can cause contraction, leading to more liquid loading into the pod mold if the liquid viscosity remains constant.
Excessive loading beyond the design of pods can cause them to break or deform. It will also increase the usage of raw materials, increasing the manufacturing cost.
Tips to Keep Running Efficiently:
- Regular calibration of the sensors and injectors can rule out the effect of environmental temperature.
- Keep the air conditioners of the laundry pod-making machine running during shift-off hours.
- It's best to use temperature control and heaters to keep the machine warm during shutdowns and To avoid AC running costs.
8. Anti-Condensation Heaters in Motors
Large motors that have room for cooling through the air can accumulate moisture when returning to cold winter temperatures. The condensation inside the motor can cause it to fail. In a prolonged shutdown, performing a megger to check for grounding is vital. However, we have tips to avoid this altogether.
Professional Tip:
- Ensure that any large motor in your laundry pod-making machine comes with anti-condensation heaters.
- Keep your laundry pod making machine powered with electricity, as many heaters operate once the machine stops to accommodate winter conditions.
Conclusion: Entering Winter With A Laundry Pod-Making Machine And Confidence
Laundry-pod-making machines consist of delicate sensors and actuators that work to deliver the liquid detergent pods that we all love. However, they are put into a challenging situation when winter arrives. Especially where the temperature foes sub-zero levels. Ensuring that equipment works efficiently requires maintenance and enhanced monitoring. It includes controlling the viscosity of liquid detergent, maintaining the temperature of PVA film, removing moisture from compressed air, heating systems for optimal sealing, HMI heating for touch accuracy, removing static electricity, calibrating sensors, and using anti-condensation heaters.
However, to avoid hiccups or performance degradation during winter, consider purchasing a laundry detergent filling machine designed with winter conditions in mind. Tonchuang Machinery produces precision engineering laundry pod-making machines that go above and beyond to operate efficiently even in winter conditions. They feature advanced pneumatic systems with moisture control, real-time film tension regulation, auto temperature compensation, and robust PLC-HMI modules housed in sealed cabinets. Give their products a visit!