Shaw-Almex, A Manufacturer of Conveyor Belt Vulcanizing Equipment, Chooses Q-Foil® Flexible Graphite Thin-Film Heaters for Use on Its Small Vulcanizers
Chardon, OH (PRWEB) July 17, 2013 -- Conveyor belts are used in nearly every industry. But what happens if the belt breaks? Enter Shaw-Almex, out of Perry Sound, Ontario. They manufacture conveyor belt vulcanizing equipment for the splicing and repair of a full range of sizes and styles of conveyor belting for everyone from mining to food processing to aerospace.
Shaw-Almex makes nichrome wire heating elements, but recently, they began incorporating the Q-Foil® Flexible Graphite, thin-film heater into their smaller applications like the Quantum Lightweight Press and MPX and MVP vulcanizers.
Said Tim Girard, Systems Engineering and Safety Officer, “There is no maximum size. We manufacture vulcanizer’s from 4” X 6” up to 185 ft. long. It all depends on the application and the material.” Most frequently, the material to be replaced is a rubber compound but Shaw-Almex also deals with urethane, vinyl or “anything that customers are using in the field,” said Girard.
Q-Foil Flexible Graphite, manufactured by EGC Enterprises, can save the customer 40% to 50% in energy savings alone. “Q-Foil heats up and cools down so fast that if you’re dealing with the same wattage, amperage and watt density, you literally cut the time in half,” says Girard. “It’s great for Shaw-Almex and exceptional for the customer.”
“We did some tests on Q-Foil and made an important discovery,” said Girard. “When wire burns out, it won’t heat anymore. But, Q-Foil is different. If you develop a pockmark in Q-Foil, it continues to heat around the flaw in the carbon. You could be talking $100,000 to make a repair and if the cooking or “heating” fails you have to start all over. You can’t stop in the middle of an operation. Once you start, you’re committed.”
“With any heating element, you have to plug it in. If we can get Q-Foil on a lightweight press to operate at 110 volts and still get the required heat with a low amperage draw, we can plug it into a standard wall outlet,” says Girard. “That would save our customer a lot of frustration and hassle.”
Q-Foil Flexible Graphite thin film heaters from EGC start with a thermally conductive inner layer of flexible graphite sandwiched between a variety of conductive or insulating materials that are then bonded together. With no hot spots and thermal response rates of up to 100 degrees F/second, Q-Foil heaters can provide electrical energy savings of up to 50%.
Corporate Profile
EGC is a recognized world leader in the engineering and manufacturing of graphite and graphite composites for high temperature applications in fluid sealing or thermal systems management.
Jeff Bernthisel, EGC Enterpises, Inc., 440-285-5835, [email protected]
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