Patent ID: RE45113

Claim:
A melt cooler and valving system for an underwater pelletizer, comprising: a melt cooler that cools a polymeric melt, including a melt cooler inlet line that conveys the melt to the cooler, and a melt cooler outlet line that conveys the cooled melt from the cooler; and a diverter valve configured to convey the melt to and from the cooler during a cooling mode of operation, to convey the melt around the cooler during a bypass mode of operation, and to drain the melt from the cooler and from the diverter valve during a drain mode of operation, the diverter valve including a first and a second positionable valve component each (i) having a plurality of sets of flow channels therein and (ii) being independently positionable so as to effect separately and independently the cooling mode of operation, the bypass mode of operation, and the drain mode of operation.