Why hopper design for plastic pallets is more than length and width

Material characteristics

• Incoming plastic materials often have differences in size, wall thickness, toughness and packing density. The difficulty of processing cannot be judged just by the name of the resin.
• Labels, sediment, metal accessories, oil and moisture content can affect tool wear, cleaning load and finished product quality.
• Volume reduction, external sales, cleaning and granulation, and reuse production have different requirements for discharge size, cleanliness, and fine powder ratio.

Key processing challenges

• Multiple pieces stacked may get stuck at the hopper mouth, and a single piece may lie flat and slide.
• Stiffening ribs and non-slip inserts create localized high loads, and materials may also be mixed.
• If it enters the granulation line after crushing, metal inserts and labels need to be effectively removed.

Equipment-selection criteria

• First determine the maximum single piece size, shape and feeding method, and then check the hopper, feed port, pressing structure and conveying rhythm.
• Select the tool structure, driving mode and whether to configure the screen according to the goal of primary volume reduction or subsequent fine crushing, and do not blindly pursue the production of fine materials at one time.
• Use normal incoming materials and extreme incoming materials to test the materials together, record the bite, current, discharging and winding conditions, and then confirm the continuous operation configuration.

Typical process flow

Pallets can enter heavy-duty conveyors via forklifts or grippers, and then be reduced in volume by low-speed shredders. After being magnetically separated, the discharged material enters secondary crushing, cleaning and dewatering; when only coarse crushing is for sale, the process can be shortened according to the downstream receiving size.