digicolor Gesellschaft für Kunststoffmaschinentechnik mbH
About us
Digicolor is a leading manufacturer of dry air drying systems and pellet supply systems for the plastics processing industry in the fields of injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion and compounding.
High-quality products for pellet conveying, pellet drying and the mixing and dosing of pellets and masterbatch are developed and manufactured at the Herford site. As a further core competence, Digicolor offers a comprehensive range of granulators for the recycling of technical plastics.
The company specialises in the development, planning and installation of automated and energy-efficient granulate conveying systems as well as drying and dosing systems.
Carefully matched components and devices enable economical solutions for both standard applications and customised plant engineering.
In the specialist fields of granulate drying, dosing systems, granulate conveying and grinding technology, Digicolor has extensive, specialised technological knowledge to successfully implement even difficult applications.
This makes Digicolor a competent partner to the plastics processing industry by realising our customers' requirements for automated, networked and energy-efficient granulate supply systems.
Products & services
Drywell Beistell- und Aufsatztrockner
The compact Drywell side dryers are used flexibly for pellet drying directly next to the processing machines. Thanks to their small footprint, these auxiliary dryers can be integrated very easily into the storage areas of injection moulding machines and extruders. Drywell auxiliary dryers only require a power connection - compressed air and cooling water are not necessary. Thanks to fast operational readiness and easy input and optimisation of the drying parameters, plastic pellets can always be dried where they are needed in daily production - and as energy-efficiently as possible. Both the surfaces in contact with the pellets inside the drying hopper and the outer casing of the hopper are made of stainless steel. Thick-walled thermal insulation is inserted between the inner and outer shell of the drying hopper, which ensures that the process heat is retained in the hopper and not released into the environment. Drywell top-mounted dryers from Digicolor are used to dry free-flowing plastic pellets directly on the processing machine. The pellet dryer is adapted for this purpose directly on the machine flange of the injection moulding machine or extruder. This makes the energy-efficient dry air dryer easy to integrate into the production process. The pellet dryer can also be easily operated, monitored and optimised on the machine via the large touch panel. The drying hopper can be supplied with plastic pellets using either a single conveyor unit or a compact conveyor system. If several top-mounted dryers are used on many processing machines, a central conveyor system with a higher-level visualisation system is ideal for supplying granulate. Drywell pellet dryers are available as top-mounted dryers, side-mounted dryers or centralised drying systems.
Visu Plus Visualisierung Granulatversorgung
Digicolor launches the new Visu-Plus pellet feed control and visualisation system for pellet supply systems. Pellet dryer, several vacuum pumps, variable number of pellet feed points, databases and much more, all in one visualisation system. Industrial-grade PLC control with industrial PC and large touch panel, ProfiNet and OPC-UA interfaces fulfil all the requirements of state-of-the-art automation technology for plastics processing. This state-of-the-art control system offers the unique possibility of controlling complex pellet supply processes, integrating various process steps and adapting them to the individual processing operation.
Inline Recycling
Digicolor implements solutions for inline-recycling, i.e. within the plastics processing operations. These solutions are based on a comprehensive product range of slow speed granulators for recyclate production. Further precise dosing devices or dosing systems play an important role for inline-recycling solutions. Sprues of engineering plastics such as polyamide (PA), polycarbonate (PC), polyoxymethylene (POM) or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) are particularly suitable for this form of post-industrial recycling. Recycling of glass-fibre reinforced polymers, such as those used in the automotive industry, can also be realised with Digicolor granulators and metering units. For inline recycling applications where it is important to maintain mixing ratios of regrind and virgin material extremely precisely or to document the weight proportions of the mixtures of more than one component, gravimetric batch feeders should be used. Depending on the application, these gravimetric batching systems can be installed either on the processing machine or next to the machine.
Pellet Containers
Bulk containers and granulate containers are made of stainless steel at Digicolor. Clean processing quality and high-quality surfaces enable the storage of plastic granulates for technical end products. Digicolor offers a complete product range consisting of stainless steel containers, starting at a volume of 50 litres up to 4,800 litres. The container programme is structured like a modular system. Depending on the respective application, the containers are equipped with suitable suction connections, slides or adaptations for conveyors. Additional functions can be integrated at the customer's request, such as hinged lids, fill level indicators or quick-release couplings for the suction connections. The feeding stations for granulate bags are particularly advantageous. These are equipped with hinged lids, gas pressure springs and grids as standard and make daily work in material logistics easier. Bulk material containers from Digicolor are available as additional containers, mobile day containers or as an integral part of the material logistics of centralised granulate supply systems. At Digicolor, we take care to design the best possible solution for the specific application in plastics processing. If the bulk material containers are part of a pellet conveyor system, we can take on the complete project planning and design of the central material supply with all the associated system components and interfaces if required: Granulate conveying lines, vacuum lines and pump systems, granulate conveying devices, dosing devices, gravimetric dosing systems, granulate dryers and granulators for recycling applications. We put all these components together for your granulate supply application - from project planning to commissioning.
Toothed Roller Granulators
The granulator next to the injection moulding machine is a proven means of implementing inline recycling in plastics processing cost-effectively and efficiently. It is important to process sprues and plastic waste into high-quality regrind without thermal damage and with low noise and dust levels. Side granulators are integrated into the workplace of the injection moulding machine in such a way that sprues and rejects are conveyed directly into the granulator hopper. In this way, the scrap does not accumulate in the first place, but is ground immediately. A suitable conveyor system then extracts the fresh regrind from the mill. In the next step, this regrind is fed back into the injection moulding process via mixing diverters or dosing devices. Granulators for auxiliary operation are available in different sizes. The appropriate granulator size is designed according to the geometry of the parts to be ground and the required throughput in kg/h. Digicolor relies on the proven, slow-running toothed roller mills from Moditec. Each granulator can be equipped with different hoppers in order to optimise the granulator to the individual installation situation of the processing machine. Low designs can be positioned directly under the production mould so that sprues fall directly into the granulator hopper. All grinders are designed so that the combs and counter-combs of the cutting unit can be reversed. In this way, the service life of these cutting elements is doubled. The unique design of these granulators guarantees easy maintenance and cleaning of the grinding chamber. Goliath beside-the-machine granulators are characterised by their high performance and industrial suitability in recycling processes in plastics processing. These toothed roller granulators can always be operated economically when sprues and rejects, which previously had to be disposed of, are processed into valuable regrind.
Digicolor Dosing and Colouring
Digicolor dosing units for additives, masterbatch and regrind are characterised by the highest metering accuracy. The product range includes units that meter volumetrically or gravimetrically. Gravimetric dosing units are used in particular when consumption quantities are to be recorded and documented. The so-called micro-dosing units complete the comprehensive product range. These units are specially optimised for processing minibatch and microbatch. All dosing units are particularly compact and space-saving and are mounted directly above the intake zone of the processing machine. Digicolor dosing units are highly suitable for the production of technical, optical and medical parts. This is due to the consistent construction of all units from high-quality stainless steel components. Gravimetric batch blenders from Digicolor are used to reliably mix free-flowing granulates, regrind, masterbatch and other additives in the desired proportions. After the mixing process, the produced granulate mixtures are further processed on injection moulding machines or extruders. A gravimetric batch dosing device, called batch blender for short, can be installed in different ways: either directly on the processing machine or next to the machine (injection moulding machine or extruder).
Pellet Conveying Control ZSF Comfort
The new generation of the ZSF central conveying control system, called ZSF-Comfort, is based on the latest Siemens CPU generation. The colour touch display can be used to control all functions of the granulate conveyor system as well as to operate and monitor Drywell dryers. These control systems are manufactured in series and are available at any time - also for modernising existing pellet conveyor systems. This control system is also ideal for modernising outdated granulate conveying systems. As a rule, the existing peripherals can continue to be used - only the old control system is replaced with the modern ZSF-Comfort. The new "Visu Plus" control system with a large 22″ touch panel is available for larger conveying systems, which can be used to parameterise, operate and monitor all the functions of a pellet conveying and drying system.
Service for auxillary equipment
We take care of your pellet supply systems, vacuum pumps and pellet dryers! Digicolor offers comprehensive service for pellet conveying systems, e.g. regular maintenance of vacuum generators, conveying lines for plastic pellets and other conveying components. If reinforced granulates are used, e.g. with a high glass fibre content, Digicolor's application engineers advise the processor on wear protection. Regular maintenance and preventive servicing of the pellet conveyor systems and pellet dryers increases operational reliability and reduces operating costs. Pellet drying makes a decisive contribution to achieving optimum results when processing engineering plastics. Defined residual moisture tolerances of the plastic pellets must be adhered to. To ensure the quality of the drying process in production, Digicolor offers technical services and maintenance contracts, e.g. specific measurements of dew point, residual moisture and energy consumption on dry air dryers.