Lighter touch from Winkworth
A new range of extruder discharge Z-blade mixers for the pharmaceutical industry has been developed to include a lighter extruder mixer by Winkworth Mach- inery. The UK-based company has extended its range of tilt, bottom outlet and extruder Z-blade mixers that have long been associated with processing the toughest and most viscous pastes, says sales director Paul Winkworth. 'Many lighter pastes, however, require the efficient mixing and folding action of the Z-blade, but not the heavy duty design and build quality associated with really tough mixes.'
Lighter mixing applications have specific and very different requirements. The mixer must be compact, quiet, hygienically designed, easy to clean and easy to maintain. Winkworth's new extruder mixer incorporates independent drives for each of the blades and extruder screw, which negates the need for gears and enables a more variable mixing action. Redesign of the gland housing facilitates cleaning and fast repacking of the glands when required.
Internally, the trough, blades and screw are polished and one end-plate is welded to assist cleaning. The extruder nozzle can also be simply removed for cleaning or changing. Key operator switches are fitted on the lid and discharge nozzle to eliminate wiring on the mixer. These and other new design features result in a compact, quiet, user-friendly mixer at a very competitive price, the company says.
Winkworth has also recently introduced the new Forberg rotating vacuum coater, whose gentle action and mechanical reliability are claimed to make it ideally suited for tablet coating applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
With a typical cycle time of three to five minutes, Forberg mixing technology is said to ensure the correct homogeneity is achieved, while spraying with special nozzles gives even coating.
