Securing CAMPEN Machinery a constant temperature in their test facility

In 2019 CAMPEN build an internal airlaid test facility that gave Danish as well as foreign companies the ability to test their products in regards to creating new materials from the by-products of their production, or to develop entirely new products or materials.

Last year CAMPEN needed to expand their test facility with an oven to be able to produce even more different kinds of materials within the airlaid technology and to make sure, that the outcome was a homogeneous airlaid material. At the same time CAMPEN had to deliver a complete airlaid facility to a customer in Sweden.

The airlaid facility is primarily used to experiment with greener solutions in product developments and can produce new products using recycled products or by-products from a production. According to Pia Holm Hansen, Head of development at the airlaid test facility, there is no limits to what kinds of materials and products the facility is able to test: “We have tested as many different types of materials as wood pulp, viscose, rayon, cotton, waste fibers, straw, hemp, coconut, seaweed, bamboo, tobacco, glass and stone based fibers”.

But with a greener focus on production the machine had to follow. The challenge was to find a partner within electrical heating with a high reliability of delivery to produce a complete solution containing both heating and a constant temperature control.

An exact and constant temperature control was import in order to be able to produce a homogenous airlaid material. Therefore the new electrical heated convection oven had to be able to control the temperature as precisely as +/- 1°C the entire time, the machine was in use.

Heating and temperature control as a complete solution

Newtronic designed a solution consisting of two big 100 kW tubular heating elements and a control board build with Eurotherm power controllers for an accurate regulation of the temperature in regards to the customers wishes to keep a constant temperature at 140°C.

The solution includes sensors that measure the temperature inside the convection oven and automatically regulates the heating elements outside of the oven. That way, the air pressed into the oven maintains a constant temperature. That provides CAMPEN with an increased efficiency since there is no manual adjustments to make. That provides their employees with more time to develop new and greener products and ways to use the machines as an inspiration to their own customers.

Goran Rudan, Senior Project Manager at CAMPEN, says: “[Newtronic] have been part of designing the solution we needed – a great and exact temperature control that lives up to the demands of the Airlaid industry. With Newtronic we have received a solution, that was delivered as scheduled and fully lives up to our expectations. Throughout the process their focus has been on us and the project was followed until all components were implemented and running. With Newtronic we got a partner who kept their promises and who have the necessary expertise about their products. That has been very important to us.”

Who is CAMPEN?

CAMPEN Machinery develops and sell machines manufacturing airlaid (airlaid is a water-absorbent, paper-like non-wowen material used in wet wipes, diapers, sanitary napkins and so on and is created from by-products). That way they contribute to create a focus on the industrial possibilities within recycling and greener solutions in general – also by choosing to implement solutions that are electrical as opposed to gas-run.

Facts on the CAMPEN test facility

The test facility consists primarily of an airlaid forming head, a fiber feeding system, a hammer mill designed for high capacity and flexible airlaid processes and an convection oven that dries and ties the material together to a homogenous product.

The hammer mill pulverizes an existing material into tiny fibers without destroying the fibers. This allows these to be mixed with other fibre material and, through the airlaid process, form a material for the production of new materials. The shape head then processes the material via air and needle sticking to give it elasticity and durability.

From there, the material is sprayed onto the tape and run through the convection oven. Here, the constant temperature contributes to binding the material together into a uniform, finished product that is rolled up.

Yo can read more about Campen Machinery here.