How to choose high quality pellet making equipment?

The application of biomass boilers, pellet stoves, and biomass energy drive up the demand of wood pellets. The sales of pellet making equipment also have a strong growth. Many manufacturers and home users buy pellet machines to make wood pellets on their own. Then, how to choose a high-quality pellet machine become an important question. Here I have some tips.

Inspect the pellet machine exterior

High quality wood pellet machine should have uniform spray paint, without paint leakage, hanging and peeling. The clad layer should have high fastness and glossiness, without shed or corrosion. The surface of stainless steel parts should be smooth with uniform polishing finishes.

Inspect the workmanship of the die

Make sure the size of the die meet the technical standard, with no manufacturing defects. Each side of the die should have high surface finish. High quality dies are processed by heat-treatment, which can be judged by the appearance.

The inner holes should be distributed uniformly and symmetrically. The opening of the hole should be tapered. The inside of the hole should be smooth with no rags. Don’t choose the dies with blind holes or joint holes.

Flat die and ring die

Check the rotating of the die

Test run the pellet machine or rotate the die by hand, observe whether the die shakes in rotation, and whether it have friction with other components.

Open up the feed stranding cage in stopped status, check if there is foreign matters inside. Rotate the cage axis with your hand. It should run smoothly without noise from rugs.

Check the fastening of assembly

Check the fastening of the main body and the drive engine on the under frame. In ring die pellet machine, check the tightness of the fastening bolts and roller support. In flat die pellet machine, check the assembly of die lock nut and the pellet cutter.

Open and shut the door of the compression chamber. Check whether the movement is smooth, and whether the sealing is tight. After locking the door, observe the sealing tightness from the side. If there is loose sealing, adjust the fastening bolt for the door hinge to prevent the powder leakage.

Check the tightness and reliability of the connection between the compression chamber and the feed stranding cage. Make sure the position is accurate, the locking is firm, and no powder leakage.

Check the wood pellet quality

The wood pellets should have smooth surface without cracks, the cross section should be flat. The wood pellets should have certain hardness and you can’t crumb it easily with your hand. The pellet size should be uniform, with the qualified rate higher than 95%.

Pellet machine test run

Before turning on the machine, inspect the lubrication of the gearbox and other parts. Adjust the cutter of the pellet machine to the largest distance. Power on the machine briefly to check whether the rotating direction of the electric motor is in line with the marked direction. If not, stop the machine at once and switch the connection.

The first commissioning shouldn’t be too long, and prepare to stop at any time. After confirming there is no abnormalities, you can let the pellet machine run continuously. During the idle of the machine, there should be no irregular vibration, the crash of gears, or the friction between the feed reel and the string shaft.

After confirming the idle is normal, you can add some powder feed to the feed stranding cage. Keep the pellet machine commissioning under medium load, and observe the current reading of the spindle motor.

Safety inspection

In large ring die pellet machine, to prevent foreign matters getting into the machine and cause damage, the main shaft is equipped with a safety linkage. It will cut off the power of the main engine when foreign matters get into the ring die. When choosing ring die pellet machine, check whether the safety linkage is right installed and work effectively.

To prevent operators getting hurt by the ring die, the compression chamber door is equipped with a travel switch that connects with the main motor. The machine would run only when the compression chamber door is closed. Inspect whether the travel switch is in position.

The feed hopper should be installed with a guard magnet. Feed raw materials to the hopper to check whether it works well. The transmission mechanism, whatever belt wheel, transmission shaft, or flange plate, should be covered with shield to ensure the safety of operators.

Choose corresponding support equipment

Besides pellet machines, you need to choose some corresponding support equipment, such as feed conveyor, drum dryer, hammer mill, pellet packing machine, etc. So you should make it clear to the salesman your raw materials and product uses, and consult with them on the equipment model and quantity.