Foam Buster Process Description

Coating is drawn into a port near the center of the classification chamber. Centrifugal action from s spinning rotor drives the air bubbles to the center. The foam is subjected to centrifugal force before it leaves the chamber so small bubbles have a chance to coalesce into an air core. Air bubbles and a portion of the fluid are drawn out of the center with a double diaphragm pump. The pump develops a vacuum and puts the inlet line under a negative pressure. Deaerated fluid leaves the chamber at the outside diameter under pressures ranging from 10 to 60 PSI according to the coating density and separation intensity required.

The Foam Buster has a control valve on the inlet to maintain the chamber vacuum at the air core near the boiling point of the fluid. The dissolved air effervesces out of solution as soon as it passes this valve, making the small bubbles larger and more buoyant.

The Foam Buster will remove air from any coating that can be applied to a moving web by any method. Viscous and elastic forces resist bubble movement through and fluid and ultimately limit the fluids that can be deaerated. The elastic forces typically are harder to overcome and they can be undetected in water thin fluids. We measure an elastic index with Capella’s Stretch Tester. For coating application processes an elastic index of 1 is the maximum that can be run. The Foam Buster will remove all air bubbles up to an elastic index of 2.5.

1. • Removing all air bubbles on a commercial curtain coater.
2. • Removing air to control viscosity on a special coating applicator.
3. • Faustel’s curtain coating pilot plant.

1. • A variable frequency drive allows you to set the process intensity for your coating.
2. • End face water lubricated mechanical seals are used on the rotor shaft. These seals do not leak coating and have long life as water lubricates the seal faces at all times.
3. • Seal water protection circuit. This circuit assures that the seal water pressure is always higher than the coating pressure while the rotor is spinning – even on a loss of power. It will alarm the operator for low and high seal water level. It will alarm and shutdown the deaerator to prevent damaging the seals for low water pressure, low water flow, or as a safety measure if the chamber is open for inspection.
4. • All controls are self-contained.
5. • All components are mounted on a single skid.

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