BASF engineering plastics for solar technology

Engineering plastics from Ultramid ® Family (PA), BASF offers solutions for plugs and sockets of photovoltaic systems.

Photovoltaic systems, also called solar systems to be treated as electrical systems and must therefore also with respect to the approval of their connection technology to meet high requirements. For the plugs and sockets of these plants, BASF can now offer special versions of the Ultramid ®, which not only flame retardant and highly resistant, but also very cold impact are: A property that is important for the life of the plants from wind and weather. In contactors, circuit breakers or bobbins, classical E & E applications, these special stamps are used for many years.

The Huber + Suhner, a leading global manufacturer of systems for electrical and optical connectivity with headquarters in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, used according to BASF already Ultramid ® type connectors in their latest generation of solar systems. "We decided very early on for its powerful and reliable material because it facilitates the production of our high-efficiency photovoltaic devices," said Max Goeldi, product unit manager at Huber + Suhner in Pfäffikon.

Depending on the requirements - for connectors or sockets
For the indication photovoltaic connectors BASF offers mainly Ultramid ® A3X2G7. This material is particularly rigid, so that the plugs can be very lean and still fulfill the high requirements. For example, to reach Ultramid ® A3X2G7 the UL-V0 with a wall thickness of 0.8 mm and 5VA at 1.5 mm.

For outlets of solar systems, BASF Ultramid ® A3XZG5 recommends, however. While required in the damp heat test only 1000 hours, offer the high-impact-modified Ultramid ® grade even after 4000 hours air storage at 85 ° C and 85% humidity of a stretch, which is twice as high as the previously used materials. In addition, junction boxes were made of this material with the challenging Cold Impact test according to UL 1703 easily done. This exam components if they have at minus 35 ° C after the impact of a good 500 g ball of 1.3 m height of cracks and damage. The prescribed fire protection classification UL 5VA Ultramid ® A3XZG5 fill from 2.3 mm.

Both polyamide-types are also after the interest to the solar technology f1-weathering test (UL) certification. It requires that the fire rating of the product after 1000 hours Xenon UV weathering and after seven days of water storage does not change. Strength and impact toughness after irradiation must achieve at least 70% of its initial value. This package provides the special BASF Ultramid grades well prepared for the growing market for solar technology. Initial parts will be on display at the plastics trade fair K 2010 in Dusseldorf.

Source : plasticker.de

Which Plastics to Use and Avoid

Plastics are very important in day-to-day lives due to the numerous applications associated with them. Some of the common uses of plastics include packaging of items. Packaging industries must realize which plastics to use/avoid thus protecting the environment from harmful plastics. Generally, plastics are non-biodegradable hence they do not decay. For this reason, plastics fill the earth and cause water run off when they accumulate in soil. Because of this reason, packaging industries must use the appropriate plastic. The advantage of using plastic for packaging is because plastics offer a good barrier to many elements including oxygen and water.

Many governments, because of its pollution effects, ban thin plastic use. Thin polythene is not recycled after use; it thus ends up in the garbage heap thus polluting the environment. On the contrary, high-density plastics do not damage the environment due to recycling; this reduces pollution of the environment. Apart from conserving the environment, many employment opportunities crop up and sparing of raw materials thus boosting the economy. Another vital use plastic is in building and construction however, majority of construction work uses high-density plastic that is renewable. Polyvinyl chloride makes pipes as well as sliding sheets. Insulators, computer hardware as well as many handles are made of high-density plastics. These plastics never damage the environment because they are recycled. Apart from recycling, the plastics are multipurpose.

Industries use high-density plastics to manufacture of automobiles, trucks as well as airplanes seats and bumpers. Another use of plastics is in electric appliances and electric wire coatings. Due to inability of plastics to conduct heat or ectricity, they are widely used as insulators. Majority of these plastics are high-density plastics. Low-density plastics on the other hand lead to flooding. This is so because thin plastic fills the ground, thus no water percolation in the ground. Thin plastics harbor water that is breeding grounds for harmful insects like mosquitoes.

Thin plastics have some advantage because they are very cheap and they are produced fast. Plastics both high and low-density have general benefits to man and they include, flexbility. Tailoring plastics is easy thus attaining many different forms and shapes of products. Plastics have lightweight thus excellent for transporting purposes. This leads to reduced fuel consumption. When well kept, plastics are durable because they do not rust nor rust. Plastics are excellent building materials because they are resistant to water and chemical damage. Medical equipments and foodstuffs are packaged using plastics due to cleanliness of plastics. Plastics contain chemical compounds that are harmful to human body, thus, they are not ideal for food covering. An alternative plastic like bio-plastics solves this problem.

Scientists are researching on a new form of plastic called bio-plastic made from plant polymers. The advantage of this plastic is that microorganisms have the ability of degrading it. Bio-plastic are friendly to the environment thus it has no issues of filling the soil. Bio-plastics are also the ideal plastics because they have no harmful effects to the body due to chemicals present in the synthetic plastics. With these facts in place, an individual must decide which plastics to use/avoid depending on activity on hand.

http://www.articlesbase.com

Rehrig Pacific Company Adds New Line of Extruded Plastic Sheet Products

Rehrig Pacific Company, a leading manufacturer of reusable plastic pallets, crates and containers for the material handling and many food & beverage industries, is pleased to announce a new line of extruded plastic sheet products including slip sheets, divider sheets, tier sheets, and pallet pads.

Made from 100% recyclable materials, the Rehrig Slip Sheet is the key product in the group providing an alternative to other shipping platforms, such as wooden pallets and corrugated sheets, used in many industries including food, beverage, bagged goods and electronics. Slip sheets utilize a push/pull device that attaches to an existing forklift and function as the shipping platform typically for one-way shipments.

Since 1913, Rehrig Pacific has developed customized products and shipping solutions for many industries. “With years of design expertise and manufacturing experience, Rehrig decided to engineer an improved slip sheet which reduces tab failures and has a higher coefficient of friction (COF) than others,” said Nathan Franck, New Product Development Manager for Rehrig. “Our new state-of-the-art equipment and material blend combination allows us to manufacture a sheet that addresses these existing problems.”

Rehrig Slip Sheets weigh approximately 2 lbs and take up virtually no space in a trailer or container. A typical 40x48 wooden pallet weighs up to 50 lbs and takes up over six cubic feet of storage space. “The slip sheets’ size and weight allows companies to ship more product, improve sanitation, save warehouse space and reduce the cost of each unit load shipped,” said Franck.

The Rehrig Slip Sheet is manufactured using nearly 100% recycled HDPE resin and may be reusable in certain applications. Rehrig offers a buy-back program which assures the value of the material at the end of the sheets’ useful life. Slip Sheets are available in standard or custom sizes to meet each customer’s requirements and with different COFs depending on the application.

Rehrig also provides asset recovery programs and reverse logistics solutions, which can further reduce the average shipping cost per unit load, through Rehrig Penn Logistics (RPL), a Rehrig subsidiary. RPL develops customized pooling solutions and provides a full service for the various products Rehrig manufactures.

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Innovations in material handling increase flexibility, efficiency and ease of use

MANN+HUMMEL Pro Tec introduces further developments and expansions of its innovative systems for drying, conveying and dosing of free flowing plastics in hall 9, stand D60 in Düsseldorf. Single workplace solutions and solutions for complete factories offer great operating comfort and flexibility for stable, efficient and economic process management in extrusion, injection moulding, calendering or blow moulding.

Module dryer update – small load dryer for engineering plastics

The new generation of stationary material drying systems is presented at the K with the example of a SOMOS® D200 dry air dryer (air flow 200 m³/h) and a module hopper system with drying hoppers from 50 to 300 l. The technical innovations in design, process control and control engineering that are utilised here combine great operating comfort with a further improvement in energy efficiency. This results amongst other things in the new process control of the rotary desiccant container of the D dryer taking a much shorter time for regeneration of the drying agent, which means that the energy required for this can be used more effectively. At the same time all module hoppers have their own control system structured on a universal concept. This independent mode of operation makes things like the expansion of the module system through the adding on of one or several drying hoppers considerably easier. The tried and tested ALAV and Super-SOMOS® control mechanisms used in SOMOS® dryers continue to provide high energy efficiency adapted to the respective current material throughput.

The new SOMOS® TP 8 compressed air dryer extends the series of small load dryers specially designed for multi-component injection moulding in the processing of engineering plastics. With an insulated drying hopper of eight litres capacity and a freely selectable drying temperature from 60 to 180°C it is suitable for throughputs of up to approx. 2 kg/h. The dryer works on the principle of air expansion and can be fitted with conveyer equipment that is operated directly from the dryer control unit.

Communicating conveyer equipment – high-precision, gravimetric dosing of small amounts

The current SOMOS® FG series of suction conveying equipment differs from existing models particularly in its range of features: the devices are fitted with control units which can communicate with each other. There are also cost advantages with this further feature, as up to 16 conveyer units can now be flexibly linked together to a composite without the requirement of a central control.

Another innovation at the K is a fully weighing dosing system for small amounts which can be used in the SOMOS® Gramix S9 or Gramix E gravimetric dosing and mixing systems for the production of multi-component mixtures for extrusion processes. Designed for throughputs of approx. 2 kg/h down to 200 g/h, a dosing precision of ± 1 % is achieved. In a throughput of 200 g/h the target weight of approx. 3.3 g/min thus varies on average by a mere ± 33 mg. This high dosing precision has clear advantages in the increasingly used practice of dosing very small amounts of highly concentrated masterbatches into the main flow of material.

Mann+Hummel ProTec GmbH