MATERIALS PREPARATION | TECHNOLOGY
Left: The Moisture Meter Manager from Moretto
Far left: Moretto has installed its Moisture Meter system at Marca Group in Italy
per year, such as PA, PE, PP, PC, ABS, PS, PMMA or PET, as well as epoxy, phenolic and polyester thermosets, through a special department equipped with different injection moulding ma- chines (from 50 to 150 tonnes) and compression. Moisture Meter is ideally suited to meeting the
drying requirements of such an injection moulding operation, says Moretto. It is able to measure the real residual moisture content of granules (in ppm) in-line and checks that the polymer is properly dried before the production process. Power-Peak technol- ogy analyses the dielectric characteristics of a granule and detects the exact content of water present in the polymer, without any further off-line analysis. The device has a high precision moisture measurement capability of 3,000 down to a mini- mum of 15 ppm, with an accuracy of ±3 ppm and within a temperature range of 20-180°C. Moisture Meter guarantees the production of plastic material products with qualitative and certifiable characteris- tics that pass qualitative audits. It serves to eliminate offline analysis, which is expensive in terms of process efficiency, time and equipment. In 2017 Moretto also introduced the Moisture Meter Manager, a device able to integrate the dryer into an adaptive system for Industry 4.0. The Mois- ture Meter Manager is made up of two sensors - MM Crown and MM Box. The MM Crown is installed at the hopper inlet, detecting the initial moisture level of the granule. This allows the system to predict the drying process accurately and manage all the parameters to obtain the exact final humidity of the polymer at the MM Box at the hopper outlet. Measuring the difference between the initial and final granule moisture level, Moisture Meter Manager is able to manage the dryer’s working conditions autonomously, maximising process performance and using only the energy needed. The Moisture Meter Manager is equipped with a 10-inch HD colour touch-screen operator interface, and is easy to program and object-oriented,
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capable of handling up to 12 hoppers, each equipped with Crown and Box sensors. It can be interconnected with Ethernet, Serial RS 485, USB and Mowis Supervisor systems, providing reports which can be stored for 30 days and printed. This device creates an ‘on-demand drying process’, based on the polymer’s real drying needs and capable of managing internal and environmental variables that affect the level of polymer humidity. Moisture Meter is integrated with the process management software, based on the OPC-UA universal communication protocol. According to Massimo Parini, Production Manager at Marca Group, the Moisture Meter has been able to keep the process under control, reducing waste to zero, with all information available in real time for analysis and management requirements. The next step is to anticipate problems, trying to predict the relationship trends in the variables that will lead to a certain type of result. The relationship undertaken with Moretto
Left: The Moretto Moisture Meter Manager in place at the Marca Group
March 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 45
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