Germany's Füll Lab Automation GmbH has developed a plant for a major chemical and consumer goods company that performs fully automated dispensing, mixing, and application to produce new adhesive formulations for a wide range of applications. The heart of the system includes four mixers from Hauschild Engineering that are integrated into the robotics, some of which operate under vacuum to ensure that the adhesives are mixed homogeneously and, above all, bubble-free and efficiently without the use of stirring tools.
Füll Lab Automation GmbH develops and distributes automation solutions for high-throughput research and development as well as quality control of liquid, powder, and viscous materials. In addition to standard modules, the company also develops customized solutions. When such automation systems also involve mixing difficult materials such as adhesives and sealants, Füll Lab Automation works with Hauschild Engineering.
Developed in-house by Hauschild and manufactured in Germany, the Hauschild SpeedMixer® selected for this project is used in laboratories for research and development work, as well as in companies that require small-batch mixes in quality assurance or for short production runs. Within minutes and without the use of stirring tools, it mixes different liquids with pastes/powders, pastes with powders, powders with powders — even of different chemical and physical properties — without bubbles. The weight and volume of the mixing results range from a few grams or milliliters to 10 kilograms or 10 liters.
Fully Automated System
In 2021, Füll Lab Automation was assigned by a multinational chemical and consumer goods company to develop a fully automated adhesive dosing-mixing-and-filling system for an adhesive research laboratory with a staff of 500 people. Both partners were in agreement that the best mixers for the system were four DAC (dual asymmetric centrifugal) mixers from Hauschild. With a fully optimized system, the mixers work with the BLS syringe from Füll. With this technology, a direct application of the mixed formulation is possible without decanting and cleaning. When mixing adhesives, this is a significant step in process simplification and acceleration.
Three of the devices integrated into the automation system are mixers with vacuum option and robotics capability. With their extremely precise control and mechanics, these mixers can stop the mixing cup with centimeter accuracy, thus ensuring access by means of a robotic arm.
Three vacuum Hauschild SpeedMixers® are integrated into Füll Lab Automation's fully automated system, enabling precise mixing and complete deaeration of high-viscosity formulations, even in small quantities.
Dr. Roland Emmerich, authorized signatory and head of sales and business development at Füll Lab Automation describes the automation system. "The system we developed and built, includes 21 active stations over a length of ten meters and a width of four meters. In this system a wide variety of adhesives are formulated fully automatically in various containers and applied loss-free to sample carriers so that coated substrates or manufactured adhesive test specimens can be scientifically investigated further. Our system relieves chemists from manual sample handling and being able to carry many samples, the research laboratory gets a solid basis for statistical evaluations. In this way, new and also customized adhesives are always being developed for a wide range of industries."
"The core competencies of Füll Lab Automation and Hauschild Engineering complement each other perfectly," says Fabio Boccola, managing director of Hauschild Engineering. "In automation projects, handling adhesives and raw materials for adhesive production requires a high level of know-how and experience. Raw materials and their consistencies range from powdery, solid, paste-like or highly viscous to liquid. You need to find a handling process that allows as many different formulations as possible from these raw materials. We know how to mix them bubble-free and homogeneously, Füll Lab Automation knows how to dose and fully automate the individual process steps. Together, we have created the perfect solution for automated adhesive development."
Learn more at www.hauschild-speedmixer.com.
