One of the most advanced systems designed by Comec in the field of water-based paints is the one it made for IMPA of Conegliano Veneto. The lay-out of the system is as follows: an initial set of silos for the storage of the raw materials in powder format, a second set of containers for the storage of additives (such as products against foaming or mould, anti-freeze, etc), a set of vacuum-operating mixer-dispersers, the measuring-related section, packing and palletization.

A modern and advanced control station handles all the stages in the production cycle.
The raw materials contained in the external silos enter the dispersion chamber of the MD by suction force through a specially designed, pipe system made in stainless steel and lapped internally, preventing the possibility of blockages caused by the passage of the powder or any residue inside the pipes.
A special system of synchronised-emission, pneumatic nozzles aids the passage of the powder inside the pipes. The mixers are placed on special loading cells which send weight data for each component in the formula being made to the main computer during loading.

All the other components in the formula in question are also dosed by means of a dedicated control unit and an electronic weighing system. The mixture inside the MD’s is kept in constant motion by the motorised scraper which affects the container’s entire internal surface.
The possibility of vertical head excursion together with the action of the notched turbo impeller in stainless steel enables uniform dispersion throughout the full product mass.
Looking at the lid of the MD’s, it is easy to recognise the apparatus and the relative vacuum meter for controlling the vacuum achieved inside the container. A window in the lid of the loading inlet is provided for checking the progress of the mixture.
Once the formula has been completed, the product is ready for filtering and dosing into containers: a special steel filter ensures any residual impurity is eliminated and a positive displacement pump makes it possible to keep the flow constant during the roughing and finishing stages until the preset weight has been reached.
The pails are automatically transported towards the sections for infeed and lid closing, labelling and palletization.
An electronic printer provides production batch and bar code labels, if required. A robot handles palletization and is programmed to act independently and in perfect accord with the packing line. The customer has reached a production capacity in excess of 30 tons in an 8-hour period thanks to the new system, requiring only 2 employees. Another, very similar system with 2, standard-configuration, 3,000-liter mixers has also been made for IVC of Pescara for the production of water-based paints. Here, the operator can again handle the whole system from the control panel, calling up the formula to be produced each time from the computer’s memory and starting the production cycle. The end of the line is practically identical to the IMPA system:  filter – double diaphragm pump – doser – automatic grippers for closing the lids – automatic labelling machine and palletization robot.