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Metallic Flake Paint Application
Their customer is a large contract specialty coating company with strong ties to the domestic motorcycle market.
Application Description
Their customer is a large contract specialty coating company with strong ties to the domestic motorcycle market. This customer needed to provide the end user with a system that would accurately measure the flow rates of their new metallic flake paints, which will soon be seen on motorcycles everywhere.
Challenge
The challenge of this application was finding a metering solution that would be able to handle the oversized metallic flake particles that give these new paint colors their intense sparkle. In fact, the flakes in this new paint were too large to pass through positive displacement gear meters, as the flakes would clog the gears.
Solution
The AW-Lake solution was to switch from gear meters to our TCM line of TRICOR Coriolis flow meters. By design, Coriolis meters have no internal mechanical gears or restrictions that "pack out" a gear type meter. Instead, the TCM-325 Coriolis meter consists of smooth, vibrating tubes that can easily pass the large reflective flakes. Problem solved!
Result
The resulting 2K metering system is the first of its kind to successfully handle this revolutionary new "bling" coating. By switching over to the TRICOR Coriolis meters, the equipment runs without interruptions from clogged gear meters. Added benefits include five times better flow measurement accuracy and the new ability to sense if paint runs out by continuously monitoring the material's specific gravity. As this new style of metallic flake paint colors take off, this customer now has a proven solution to add capacity in planned future paint line upgrades.
