Torque improvement for handling accuracy
23 January 2009
After 20 years of research & development into digital non-contact torque monitoring, previously undreamt of control levels are set to become a precision science for dry bulk handling.
Many industrial processes have been re-developed from a “black art” into a highly accurate and controlled procedure and dry bulk handling is following these processes where margins and timetables must be controlled to within extremely demanding tolerances.
IT has played an important role in this advancement and the heart of the matter has been in developing computers to “see” exactly what is going on and to constantly retune the process but some critical data can be hard to collect which is where Sensor technology comes in following their research into torque monitoring.
Nearly all machines are driven by a motor through a rotating shaft, and monitoring the torque, speed and power in this can provide masses of useful information. Tony Ingham of Sensor technology said,” Consider a screw conveyor or auger - if this is rotating empty, it requires little power from its drive shaft. If it is half full, it requires rather more, and if it is completely full its needs a lot more. The same goes for speed - the faster, the more power consumed and the denser the material being conveyed, the more power required. So by constantly measuring the torque in the driveshaft, we can determine the volume and weight of material conveyed.”
But measuring torque is far harder than you may first imagine. “Our technology, called TorqSense, effectively senses and measures the sound waves generated by a rotating shaft and converts them to a torque measurement. Additionally, we don’t need physical contact with the SAW, just a radio frequency, (RF), pickup close by. Dry bulk handling is traditionally thought to be harder to monitor,” says Tony, “but using TorqSense puts it on exactly the same footing as many well established processes.”
TorqSense is already in use in many liquid handling applications, in mixers, in the nuclear industry, for testing aerospace components, running drug trials. It is applicable to all sizes, from dispensing active pharmaceutical ingredients, through stirring industrial quantities of cook-chilled curries, to modelling storm and flood water flows. “
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- 14/09/2017 - Electric vehicle pioneer favours wireless test rigs
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- 10/06/2013 - Torque Sensor guarntees Tip Top-Taps!
- 30/08/2012 - Automotive Innovations Torque Up Manufacturing Revival
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- 12/08/2010 - Tidal Turbine to light the Thames
- 22/06/2010 - Sensor Technology Provides the Key to Learning
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- 16/04/2010 - ULTRASOUND HELPS OPTIMISE DRIVE DESIGNS
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- 12/01/2010 - Iron Bird with lightest touch
- 16/10/2009 - Sensor hones in on sharp operators
- 03/09/2009 - Testing time for business Jet
- 10/08/2009 - Non-contact torque sensor now mounts in moments
- 09/06/2009 - SAWs: A Cutting edge technology from Sensor Technology
- 03/11/2008 - Servo research points the way to improved dynamics
- 29/08/2008 - Sensor Technologys' TorqSense shows it's safer to belt up than previously thought
- 30/07/2008 - Nuclear engineers avoid contact with Sensor Technology
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- 19/10/2007 - BIG PUSH TO RECYCLE PLASTIC
- 12/09/2007 - Intelligent Extruder plans its' own growth
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