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CONTROL | INDUSTRY 4.0


Monitoring energy consumption can help identify optimal working practices


Source: AIMPLAS Data extracted from the compounding process


can provide information about the effectiveness of the manufacturing operation. For example, monitoring energy consumption can identify which lines are running effectively. Factors such as staff skill and the number and duration of stops for changeover and maintenance can be treated statistically to see which ones are affecting quality and productivity, suggests Luis Roca Blay, Head of Compounding at the Spanish technical institute AIMPLAS. Good working practices then can be exported from the better-performing lines to the poorer-performing ones, he explains. Another use of data could be inline measurement of compound properties. AIMPLAS is monitoring electrical conductivity inline, for example, and using it as a screening method to determine the optimal processing conditions.


Right: Leistritz says its new Elongational Rheomoeter can be used in-line to provide advanced process control


Real-time control Advanced process control employs real-time data gathered from the product and process that is then used to adjust process variables to obtain tighter control, and so a better end product. This type of closed-loop control is being used in a large-scale polypropylene manufacturing facility to reduce variability in melt flow index (MFI), says Sven Wolf, Managing Director of Leistritz Extru- siontechnik. In this case, an in-line rheometer measures MFI near the outlet of the twin-screw compounding extruder and this data is used by the control software to predict how peroxide dosing needs to be adjusted at the input to keep the outlet MFI at the desired setpoint. This self-optimising control system can keep the


32 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2018


MFI within ±1%, according to Wolf. “Typically, variation in MFI on polyolefin data- sheets may be ±5%, and in reality may be ±3% from batch to batch. This high variation affects the downstream process and can cause problems for injection moulders. Improving the process capabil- ity of the resin compounding process to reduce MFI variation, however, creates higher quality product,” he says. Previously, in-line rheometers based on fixed capillary geometry could only measure single points on the viscosity curve. However, a new instrument developed by Leistritz and the Institute for Poly- mer Extrusion and Compounding (IPEC) at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz, Austria, measures shear and elongational viscosity along the entire viscosity curve to obtain a more complete picture of melt quality. The online elongation and shear rheometer uses a patented slit die geometry and can be used in either an in-line mode, in which the melt is diverted through the rheometer and back into the melt stream, or in an on-line mode, in which the melt can be discharged after going through the rheometer. Wolf says this is the first instrument of its type that can perform such measurements in both in or on-line configurations, enabling it to be used in advanced process control. The new instrument provides more information than is possible with a simple MFI. For example, because elongational viscosity is sensitive to fibre content and distribution, it can present a picture of differences in glass and natural-fiber filled compounds. Other properties can also be measured in-line.


Leistritz has worked with ColVisTec, which supplies UV-Vis spectroscopic tools for in-line measure- ment, to develop colour monitoring and control systems. In-line measure- ment and closed-loop control of colour is now being used in masterbatch production, says Wolf.


Colour management Liquid colour and additive supplier Riverdale Global is introducing GlobalTracker, a web-based solution that captures real-time input from liquid-colour metering devices and uses it to automate purchasing, production management, and compli- ance functions, as well as enable remote troubleshooting. Transmission boxes at the custom-


er’s plant receive data from the metering controllers and transmit it to


www.compoundingworld.com


PHOTO: LEISTRITZ


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