INLINE MEASUREMENT | PROCESSING
Real time approach to process control
Inline measurement systems enable compounders to check and adjust processes in real time to improve manufacturing efficiency. Mark Holmes reports
A growing number of plastics compounders are now exploiting the benefits that inline measure- ment can bring in terms of process development, reduced material waste and improved manufactur- ing efficiency. Several specialist suppliers of inline technology, as well as some extruder manufactur- ers, are developing systems capable of measuring and adjusting parameters during compounding to regulate properties such as rheology and colour. Adapting quality settings in real time, they suggest, can lead to significant material waste and lost time reductions. Compounding machinery maker Coperion
reports a developing customer interest in inline measurement technology for some years. “Most big players in the market producing large batches already use various kinds of inline measurement as an established part of production,” according to Dr Johannes Heyn and Mareike Tabeling, both Development Engineers R&D for the company. “For example, these can be flow measurements for more precise process control or viscosity
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measurements and spectroscopic measurements for adjustments in recipe and operating point. Demand is spreading to an ever-wider range of applications. For the processing of sensitive products with a narrow quality window or critical products with required seamless traceability of process parameters, inline measurements can help to accomplish better process control. The potential to adapt the process directly to fluctuations leads to increased quality and savings due to less off-spec production,” they say. “The recycling sector in particular is confronted
with strong quality variations in the supply chain, raw materials from uncertain sources or lack of knowledge of material histories and contamination, for example. Without a pure source material, inline measurement technology is a useful tool to prevent costs caused by unnecessary downtime, incorrectly used additives or too much waste,” according to Heyn and Tabeling. “Further use of inline measure- ment technology is also driven by the digitalisation of production, self-learning systems or even
November 2021 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 31
Main image: Systems such as the Leistritz rheometer sample and return material to the produc- tion flow to provide process insight with no waste
IMAGE: LEISTRITZ
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