MATERIALS PREPARATION | TECHNOLOGY
Be in control of your drying process
Preparing materials for the injection moulding process is now asking a lot more of the drying operation. Mark Holmes finds out how dryer manufacturers are rising to the challenge
Preparing materials for injection moulding no longer just requires a dryer to operate at an accurate temperature and meet dew point require- ments. Dryers are now required to be even more energy-efficient and facilitate rapid changeovers, have sophisticated control systems that are Industry 4.0-compliant and interact with all other areas of the manufacturing process. They are also increasingly required to allow the collection of data to meet higher levels of certification. Manufacturers of drying equipment are meeting these needs and many others. For example, Dri-Air Industries has introduced its new Industry 4.0-compliant Smart- Touch Control. The new control gathers data from the dryer and shares it with various pieces of equipment, such as the injection moulding machine, while maintaining maximum efficiency. It is compatible with most Dri-Air dryers.
www.injectionworld.com
“The new control is based on an open platform and will consist of an HMI, PLC and a thermocouple monitoring system,” says Jason Sears, Dri-Air Industries President. “We want to stay on the leading edge of technology for customers who want to gather data and monitor their processes. The open platform will allow users to add new sensors, communications devices or protocols that may become available in the future.” Sears adds that SmartTouch Control will gather
data about the dryer and communicate with other machines equipped with similar controls. For example, the PLC, which is OPC-UA-compliant, would be the gateway to an injection moulding machine or to a manufacturing execution system (MES), which tracks and monitors the transforma- tion of raw materials into finished goods. Equip- ment utilising OPC-UA, the agreed-upon standard
March 2020 | INJECTION WORLD 35
Main image: The Dri-Air Industry
4.0-compliant SmartTouch control
IMAGE: DRI-AIR
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