Product category:
Film materials, equipment and services
News Release from: Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co | Subject: Measuring device for film thickness
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 February 2007
Measuring device has benefits over beta
gauges
New cut design assures smooth winding of rolls among components that are essential to the operation of a cast film or sheet line, the thickness gauge and cut assembly are especially important.
If either one doesn't work to full effect, extruders pay a penalty in process economy and product quality Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co has expanded its equipment offerings in these areas with a new infrared transmission gauge and auto-cut assembly
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 Feb 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Michael Wainer, senior product manager for cast film, says both have advantages over the systems they replace and can improve the productivity and quality of cast film.
The infrared (IR) gauge replaces beta nuclear gauges.
Wainer says the system Battenfeld supplies incorporates recent improvements in IR measurement technology that make the unit more accurate than beta counterparts.
Further reading
Battenfeld Gloucester introduces ThermoFlex
With the introduction of Battenfeld Gloucester's new ThermoFlex Technology for the production of mono and multilayer sheet, the company has sold a record number of sheet lines in 2006
Film and sheet extrusion machines displayed
Machinery and equipment for film and sheet production offer numerous benefits to processors and converters.
Next Generation films add quality
Blown film maker relies on model 1008 winders for accuracy and repeatability in winding high-performance films.
Moreover, since the IR gauge uses no radioactive elements, processors in areas that require licensing to bring the nuclear source, typically krypton or promethium, into their plants avoid the time and cost involved in acquiring and renewing a license.
The IR gauge was previously available through Battenfeld Gloucester's sister division in Europe, where regulatory rules place stringent procedures on the use of radioactive materials.
Wainer says the IR gauge, which Battenfeld sources from measuring specialist NDC Infrared Engineering, requires far less maintenance than a beta system and provides more consistent readings.
Since the nuclear components of beta gauges have half-lives, their accuracy as determined by signal-to-noise ratio declines over time and requires calibration and eventually replacement of sources.
Beta gauge readings are also susceptible to ambient change (temperature, humidity) within a plant and to web flutter.
Maintenance needs of the IR gauge are minimal and generally involve replacing the light source once a year.
Wainer adds that the device resists changes in ambient conditions and, unlike a beta gauge, has layer-discrimination capability since it utilizes wavelengths calibrated to various materials.
A beta gauge, by contrast, measures the overall thickness of a web, but can't tell what materials comprise layers in it.
Infrared gauge requires less maintenance and provides more consistent readings - 3 - Battenfeld's gauge can be used in some blown film applications as well as cast film and sheet.
It is retrofittable to all Battenfeld Gloucester lines using the company's Extrol microprocessor controller, including those equipped with beta gauges, as well as lines running a standalone control from NDC or lines operating an IR gauge and control.
The winder cut, primarily for stretch film, has a different operation than that of a conventional cut assembly.
A typical "plunge knife" system is positioned so the full mechanism drops down (or moves up) into a web to make a cut, which finishes one roll and starts another after a new core has been electrostatically charged.
The Battenfeld system rotates the blade-part of the mechanism into the web.
The result, Wainer says, is consistently cleaner cuts.
"This produces a better start on the new roll and reduces air entrapment, which improves product quality by building up the roll smoothly and evenly." Another factor in the performance of the cut assembly is the electrostatic charge.
Wainer says the new system charges the core first, a millisecond before the knife cuts the web.
Applying the charge in this sequence assures that the core is uniformly charged and the cut web lays flat and smooth on it during the changeover to a new roll.
Battenfeld has installed two of the cut assemblies on stretch-film lines, one in Toronto and the other in the Ukraine.
"In both applications we are seeing improved roll quality," Wainer says.
The cut assembly is retrofittable to most Battenfeld Gloucester stretch film winders.
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