Mini Laboratory – MODULAB SBM

Fully Automated Mini-Laboratory MODULAB SBM

In the early 2000s, absolute dosing accuracy, effective sampling in a laboratory, and their automation were concepts that were already part of SALCE’s know-how, thanks to the hundreds of volumetric dispenser machines (many of them equipped with integrated dyeing units) sold worldwide.

At the same time, a series of factors made it necessary to direct Research & Development towards total automation, extending it to the dosing of powders.

Mini laboratorio Modulab SBM

The elimination of human error, the possibility for operators to be relieved of any manual and repetitive work and to be able to dedicate themselves entirely to the development phase are just two significant examples of what was needed to reduce costs and operating times, to cope with an ever-increasing differentiation of finished products and a demand for ever higher quality standards. In other words, the need for a very high degree of automation was becoming essential in the dyeing laboratory in order to remain competitive in the market.

All this, moreover, was moving in parallel with no less important issues, such as the reduction of risks for operators and respect for the environment.

Thanks to its solid experience, combined with an extremely coherent construction philosophy, SALCE was able to accept and win this challenge, introducing on the market the fully automated mini-laboratory Modulab SBM, i.e. enclosing in a single, extremely compact machine, a series of multiple and simultaneous stations capable of performing simultaneously dosing of dyes and auxiliaries in powder, dosing of dyes and auxiliaries in liquid, preparation of recipes for exhaustion dyeing, in semi-continuous (Pad-Batch), in continuous (Pad-Steam) and for small production machines, dyeing processes, automatic washing of the bottles on the work table.

Two important features make this model stand out for its extremely high productivity and efficiency:

THE POSSIBILITY OF PERFORMING UP TO SIX OPERATIONS SIMULTANEOUSLY

THE PRESENCE OF TWO INDEPENDENT BRIDGES (SALCE PATENT).

This allows one of them to be dedicated WITHOUT INTERRUPTION to the dosing of products in the integrated dyeing units or in the dyeing beakers of external machines while ALL THE OTHER OPERATIONS (refilling of an empty or expired bottle, dosing of auxiliary powders, etc.) are carried out in dedicated stations and served BY THE SECOND BRIDGE.

The Modulab SBM, born from the need to manage not only liquids but also powders in a completely automatic way, adds to all the features and technical characteristics of the volumetric dosing unit and the integrated dyeing units the following functions:

  • Automatic preparation of solutions (gravimetric system) from a powder dye warehouse located on the work surface of the machine;
  • Optimization of the dye descent according to its intrinsic characteristics (granularity, etc.);
  • Anti-caking devices for the stored powder;
  • Automatic preparation of low-concentration or diluted solutions (volumetric system) from a liquid solution;
  • Fully automatic refilling of empty or expired bottles;
  • Automatic addition of the auxiliary products necessary for the creation or refilling of a bottle;
  • Automatic preparation of laboratory recipes for Pad-Batch (semi-continuous dyeing), Pad-Steam (continuous dyeing) and for small department machines (exhaustion dyeing);
  • Possibility to work for dozens of hours and in all its functions without operators;
  • Programmable starts that allow the work surface immediately ready for use after a possible period of inactivity (weekends, holidays, etc.);
  • Bottle washing machine: frees laboratory personnel from the need to manually wash bottles and allows for the fully automatic management of expired or finished bottles. The bottle washing system is extremely reliable and programmable with diversified treatments depending on the products used;
  • Real-time electronic control of dosing accuracy;
  • Complete management of every function of the machine via PC/PLC and dedicated control software;
  • Alternating and customizable stirring (intensity and duration) on the entire bottle plane;
  • Automatic bath ratio;
  • Interface with all the most popular colourimetry software.

A variant of the Modulab SBM is the Modulab POW, which has the powder dosing area but not the volumetric dosing area. This is a machine model specifically designed for those who dye only in continuous or for those who already have a volumetric dispenser machine.