30 fooD & DRInk PRocEssIng
Torquing sense for process plant
machine monitoring and control
ay ‘process control’ and most people example. Others are more difficult to measure,
Plant monitoring and
control is particularly
vital in the continuous
S
automatically think of monster-sized so an often-used technique is to measure a
central computers running related parameter (typically one related to the
barely-fathomable SCADA software plant or machinery rather then the process
process industries, where
multiple machines must
in a control room that would not be out of place material) and interpolate from this.
act in harmony. Tony
at Cape Canaveral. But out on the plant floor, Significantly many types of process plant –
Ingham considers the
there may be literally thousands of simple mixers, pumps, conveyors – are motor driven,
techniques.
sensors and switches, collecting data and feeding and measuring the motor output characteristics
it back to the Beamoth. will often provide process information. For
These sensors are tracking every little change instance, the torque of a motor could suggest
La surveillance et le
in the plant’s operating parameters, indictative the quantity, speed or viscosity of the process
contrôle des usines
of either the state the materials being worked or material being worked.
est particulièrement
of the state of the machinery itself. Obviously, measuring the processing is the
important dans les
industries du traitement
For instance an increase in torque on a mixer primary concern of the production engineers,
continu, où plusieurs
drive may suggest that a mixture has thickened but torque measurement has a second, equally
machines doivent
up as expected, or alternatively that a seal or important funtion.
fonctionner en harmonie bearing is failing. Either way this is vital Because you are actually measuring plant
et la survenue d’une information for the central computer to capture performance, you get to see how the machinery
panne au niveau d’une
and assess. is holding up. Knowing what to look for will give
seule machine peut
Ultimately, process engineers want to you early warning of breakdowns, allowing you
entraîner des pertes de
transfrom material from one state to another, to schedule pre-emptive maintenance.
production. La plupart
and to monitor variables indicative of the various For a continuos process where downtime can
des machines étant
entraînées par un arbre
stages of the process. Some parameters can be cost thousands of pounds an hour in lost
rotatif, la surveillance de
measured directly and simply – temperature for production, this can be critical – ultimately the
la torsion peut identifier
les problèmes avant qu’ils
ne deviennent critiques.
Die Anlagenüberwachung
und -steuerung
spielt besonders
für kontinuierliche
Verfahrensabläufe eine
große Rolle, wo mehrere
Maschinen harmonisch
aufeinander abgestimmt
sind. Wenn der Betrieb
einer einzigen Maschine
gestört ist, kann dies zu
Produktionsausfällen
führen. Da die meisten
Maschinen über eine
Drehwelle angetrieben
werden, können
Probleme durch die
Drehmomentüber-
wachung bereits vor
Eskalation des Problems
identifiziert werden.
Fig. 1. The digital TorqSense unit emits a low poweredradio frequency signal towards the piezoelectric
acoustic wave combs which are reflected back to the unit.
www.scientistlive.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52