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Covestro Canisters

Liquid dispensers in a filter system

Scope of the Project : Filter application for the production site in Covestro Coatings & Adhesives in Waalwijk (The Netherlands).
Printed by Colossus.
The Results: In the production process Covestro uses what they call liquid dispensers a.k.a. balloon which are inserted into a filter bag, to push out the residue resin through a filter.

The original dispenser was a hollow metal vessel made out of stainless steel.  An operator is required to lift it multiple times per day over his or her shoulder, but the weight per dispenser was too heavy, hence there was an internal need to improve the ergonomics for the operators.

With this question they came to us; is there a way we can 3D print this technical part, optimize its weight without the loss of functionality and quality? The technical requirements were:
- Pressure; the pressure in the vessel can increase to 5bars.  
- Chemicals; pH ranges from 2-14 Handling; Part will drop on the floor during production and need to withstand impact with the concrete factory floor.  
- Watertight; the balloon in pushing out resin. Therefore the part itself needs to be watertight and the material itself is not allowed to swell as a result of the contact with the resin.
- Design; parts need to be easy to clean. Surface needs to be smooth. And top of the part needs to be easily accessible by the operators.  
  • Met requirements based on: Hoop stress, chemical resistance, buckling under pressure
  • Design can be printed, not only 1 by 1, but also series mode
  • 40% weight saving
  • Additional benefit: Due to customization of new displacer design the factory has 3kg / filter higher yield (300kg total higher yield for all 5-filter setup).
A short word from the client:
"Together with Colossus we have been able to make an awesome functional end-product with 3D printing. It was a pleasure working with the team, as they are highly knowledgeable, they think along and are open minded to experts of other fields.

Not only is the performance of the printed part on par with requirements set by the factory. It was also possible to take along some wishes of the operators and have functionality of the products validated along the way. And it works beautifully."
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