Korean PU equipment manufacturer, DUT Korea, has a new metering pump designed to give better performance than previous ones, with the output rate easily controlled, and simpler maintenance. Itis lighter than former pumps, and as for maintenance tasks such as changing seals,
"Anyone can do it," said Jeong Yong-Chai in a 7 Sept discussion at UTECH Asia/PU China 2011.
Other pumps can be both difficult to service and costly, at $3000-5000. DUT's new pumps are, he says, the "same quality as German-made ones, at half the price."
Jeong commented that one supplier of metering pumps for PU materials has 80 percent of the market, but that "it is not their core business, so customers in the PU sector can wait months for a new pump." Delivery times can be 6-8 months, and spare parts are expensive, Jeong claims.
Delivery for DUT's new model is about 20 days, he added. He thinks the PU sector's demand for metering pumps is about 2000 to 3000 units a year.
Jeong claims that 80 percent of PU foamers in Korea use OUT equipment, from a range covering mixing/metering equipment for all types of polyurethane processing. The company supplies turnkey plants such as continuous lines for moulded car seat foam and headrests, refrigerator plants, and ones for continuous insulation panels and panels for cold rooms.
It sells into 52 countries, with Asia a growing market, and has big customers in China and India, for example, Jeong said. But it also sells into the US, Mexico, Brazil and even Germany.
In China, refrigeration is 40 percent and automotive moulded seat foam 30 percent of DUT's sales, with the rest in uses such as pipe insulation, and cast elastomers.
Jeong also observed that, at UTECH Asia/PU China, he had seen copies of OUT machines by several Chinese equipment makers. On its UTECH Asia display OUT Korea featured a rather unusual 12-component mixhead it has developed - an example that may not be so easy to copy.
