An ultra-robust system capable of handling all types of materials and contaminants.
A mechanical abrasive recovery system uses a screw conveyor system and a bucket elevator to collect residual abrasive media from blasting operations and clean it through an air wash separator, which separates reusable media from dust and foreign particulate matters.
It is the ideal solution for maximizing the blaster’s productivity while minimizing required care and maintenance of the system components. Also, there are no limits when it comes to the type of abrasive media used in the process or the contaminants that might chip at the workpiece during operations – a mechanical system will move the dirty media mix without restrictions and at a much faster rate than a pneumatic system.
The key advantages of a mechanical abrasive recovery system:
The recovery rate capacity is 10,000 lb/hr.
After contact with workpieces, abrasive media falls on the floor and mixes with the blasting process by-products – paint chips, rust, scale, shattered media, solid debris, etc. The dirty media mix is then pushed through floor hoppers (excavated in the floor) or shoveled into hoppers located above the ground.
In a mechanical abrasive recovery system, the dirty media mix is conveyed by worm screws to a bucket elevator, then hauled up to an air wash media separator where light particles are separated based on their specific density through a set of adjustable air streams and deflectors. When exiting the air wash system, dust and foreign particulate matter can be collected separately, and only reusable media still in good shape is returned to the blast pot for further operations.
Although a mechanical abrasive recovery system is more expensive to implement than a pneumatic abrasive recovery system, it provides an exceptional return on investment when considering the overall process expenses related to downtimes, productivity, maintenance, and operation.
Let’s take a closer look at the key components of the mechanical abrasive recovery system.
The screw conveyor system collects and conveys the dirty media mix from the floor hoppers to the recycling system.
It consists of a set of long auger assemblies that move the media mix all the way to the end of the room, where the load is discharged into a bigger transverse auger assembly.
At the end of the transverse auger assembly, the whole blast booth load is then discharged into a bucket elevator after passing through a rotary screen drum to remove large debris from the dirty media mix.
The floor recovery hoppers layouts are practically unlimited with this system.
The screw conveyor system must be integrated into the blast booth floor to maximize the blaster’s performance and efficiency, reducing the effort required for sweeping the abrasive media into the floor hopper rather than shoveling it. Ideally, excavation work of at least 3 feet is required for the augers, and 5 feet is required for the bucket elevator. When excavation is not possible, the blast booth floor must be elevated at least 5 feet above the ground to permit the installation.
Furthermore, the installation of the bucket elevator requires a minimum ceiling clearance of 18 feet when excavated, or 23 feet for above-ground installation. As previously mentioned, the height of the bucket elevator is mainly determined by the size of the storage hopper. Consequently, a clearance of 18 feet allows for a standard 6.4 cu. ft. storage hopper, which is the size of the pressure blast pot’s tank. As a result, such an installation requires the blaster to clean the floor frequently to make sure the storage hopper is full before the blast pot runs empty in order to allow uninterrupted blasting operations – unless the system has a full-floor recovery system, which allows for continuous recycling of media without any effort from the operator.
So, if you are not allowed to excavate your building or if you do not have enough ceiling clearance, then your only two options are the pneumatic abrasive recovery system (if your application is suitable for it) or the hybrid abrasive recovery system.
The endless screw is a key component of the mechanical recovery system. Its innovative design, with only rugged parts, reduces wear and tear caused by friction with abrasive media. The auger’s shaft and steel flights are made of steel alloys specially designed to withstand incredibly heavy load demands. All Kresco augers are built to CEMA standards.
Unlike the competition, our design consists of a direct drive 2 hp motor, on each auger independently, which rotates at a slow 2 rpm speed. This significantly reduces the blast booth’s energy consumption and eliminates the need to constantly adjust the strap on regular belt drive motors.
The shaft is supported by suspension brackets with steel bushings to facilitate the auger’s calibration, alignment, and maintenance. Between the shaft and the suspension bracket, friction is absorbed by the hanger bearing, which is one of the rare pieces of equipment that requires special attention in a mechanical abrasive blast facility.
Indeed, this sacrificial component needs to be replaced after several hours of operation in order to keep the screw-conveyor system in smooth running condition and avoid wearing out critical components. But no worries – it is a 10-minute job when you get used to it.
Our screw conveyor design provides self-limiting features to prevent overloading the blast recovery system at the bucket elevator during the recycling process.
The bucket elevator also has a high-level media detector to prevent overfilling the storage hopper. When the bucket elevator stops hauling, the screw conveyor stops feeding it in order to avoid overloading the recovery system.
Kresco offers various types of recovery floors which will be adapted according to your available production space and budget. Either for a surface installation or excavated, dimensions can vary from 4 feet in length for the compact installations, and to more than 40 feet for high output industrial facilities. The configurations are practically infinite!
The shallow and space saving over the floor design, is easy to install and requires limited maintenance. A 17” floor excavation is sufficient for existing floors. The system can also be installed on a concrete floor or on any other permanent or temporary floor.
We manufacture a complete line of Recovery Systems to accommodate sandblasting facilities constraints, and these systems are compatible with our equipment, with other manufacturers’ equipment, and even for self-fabricated facilities. The fundamentals behind an effective Recovery System is to Recover, Recycle and Reuse the abrasive. (3R).
Floor hoppers are protected by removable steel grating rated to 1,000 lbs. per square foot. Other capacities are available to allow lift trucks and other material handling equipment to circulate above.
Since the media falls freely through the grating, all contaminants can be easily conveyed by the augers without the risk of clogging the system, unlike with the pneumatic abrasive recovery system.
The bucket elevator collects the abrasive media discharged from the screw conveyor system and scoops it up to the air wash media separator.
The Kresco bucket elevator is powered by two adjustable take-ups powered by a 2 HP direct drive motor. It can move abrasive media at a rate of up to 144 cubic feet per hour, without weight restrictions.
It is designed with a crowned pulley to increase the stability of the belt to run at the centre of the pulley without wobbling off from the edges, and a self-cleaning lower winged pulley to avoid abrasive media accumulation. Furthermore, it uses a worm gear to drive the pulley, which means there is no risk of reversal rotation of the bucket even when all the buckets are fully loaded with heavy abrasive media.
The bucket elevator must be excavated into a pit at least 5 ft. deep for standard installation. Down this pit, a bucket collects large debris discharged from the rotary screen drum. Alternatively, the rotary drum screen and the large debris bucket can be located on top of the bucket elevator if excavating this deep is an issue.
Kresco offers different storage hoppers ranging from 6.4 cu. ft. to over 100 cu. ft. The storage hopper is usually located between the air wash separator and the pressure blast pot to temporarily stock an abrasive media reserve in order to refill the blast pot when it runs out of media.
A full-floor recovery system only requires a 6.4 cu. ft. storage hopper to run uninterrupted blasting operations. This system continuously collects abrasive media after contact with the workpiece and unceasingly feeds the recovery system. Therefore, by the time the 6.4 cu. ft. blast pot runs empty, the 6.4 cu. ft. storage hopper is full and ready to refill the pot. Not only does the full-floor recovery system maximize the blaster’s productivity and reduce the effort by eliminating the need to load the floor hopper manually, it also allows for a more compact system and a significantly reduced amount of circulating abrasive media into the system – usually, 2.5 times the blast pot, so approximately 16 cu. ft. of media.
On the other hand, partial floor coverage requires a much bigger storage hopper since that the operator must shovel residual abrasive media down the hopper to feed the recovery system, and eventually the storage hopper. Therefore, the size of the storage hopper must be oversized to at least 10-to-30 cubic feet if the operator wants to refill the blast pot without cleaning the floor each time it runs empty.
A mechanical loading recovery system has the advantage of using a powerful mechanical loader to clean the floor. Then, the amount of residual abrasive media left on the floor is not a concern as it is with traditional systems where the operator must manually shovel the blast media into the hoppers. However, to ensure uninterrupted blasting operations, the storage hopper must be able to hold enough abrasive media to last a day or two. So, a very large 50-to-100 cubic feet storage hopper is advised in this system.
Oversizing the storage hopper results in elevating the bucket elevator accordingly and feeding the system with more abrasive media.
In summary, the desired size of the storage hopper – in other words, the number of refilling cycles desired without the need to clean the floor – sets the minimum ceiling clearance for the bucket elevator, which is the highest component of the mechanical recovery system, as well as the required quantity of media in circulation.
The concept of recycling abrasives allows the user to achieve substantial savings in abrasive consumption while protecting the environment from harmful sandblast dust. For example, the cost of steel shot is of approximately 10 times superior compared with the cost of any non-recyclable media. However, steel shot abrasives can be recycled and used up to 100 times compared to only once with the standard media, which makes it a lot cheaper per usage compared to non-reusable abrasives.
The non-recyclable sandblasting abrasives are not expensive to purchase but they can only be used for one sandblasting cycle. Because of their fragile molecular structure, they deteriorate quickly while generating harmful residual dust and substantially reducing the visibility of operators.
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