Product category:
Weighing and counting equipment
News Release from: Weightron Bilanciai | Subject: Multi-interval stainless steel floor scale
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 December 2004
Vessel Weighing Improved For Plant
Nutrition Firm
Weighing equipment supplied by Weightron Bilanciai is playing a pivotal role at a leading plant nutrition manufacturer at their Pocklington plant near York (UK).
Weighing equipment supplied by Weightron Bilanciai is playing a pivotal role at a leading plant nutrition manufacturer at their Pocklington plant near York (UK) Phosyn plc formulates and manufactures a range of specialist plant nutrition products that are currently sold in over 55 countries around the globe
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 27 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Crop nutrition is fundamental to profitable farming and the company is recognised for its technical innovation and the efficiency of its products.
To help Phosyn meet growing demand for its products, Weightron Bilanciai has supplied a special multi-interval stainless steel floor scale to upgrade the existing XY filling station and a new 35 tonne vessel weighing system.
The filling system is used for filling liquid micro-nutrients into a variety of containers, depending on customers' requirements.
Further reading
Vessel weighing kits make installation simple
Available with individual load cell capacities from 50kg to 200 tonnes, vessel weighing kits come in pre-calibrated sets, making on-site installation extremely simple.
Robust tension load cell suits hopper weighing
Industrial weighing specialists' industrial tension load cells are specifically designed for high capacity hopper weighing and feature a 36mm thread in the top and bottom, for the fitting to supports.
Floor scales are ideal for weighing in food plants
Constructed in AISI 304 stainless steel, a range of one-piece, robust floor scales, with capacities from 600 to 3000kg, are suitable for weighing in harsh washdown environments.
The original weighing system only had a single measuring range, which was not suitable for filling the different sizes of container within weights and measures requirements.
Filling the small drums with the same proportional precision as the larger ones, requires a special high accuracy platform.
To solve this, Weightron has replaced the single range system with its multi-interval 1,500mm square PRM stainless steel platform and D450 weight controller.
In effect, the scale operates as three separate 3,000 division units with ranges of 0kg-300 kg x 100g, 0kg-600kg x 200g and 0kg-1,500 kg x 500g.
The PRM features fully welded, C6 stainless steel load cells and a hinged weigh deck for easy cleaning.
The indicator is housed in a robust waterproof stainless steel enclosure and features a large backlit graphic display said Weightron.
The multi-interval capability of the Weightron system now allows Phosyn to fill a range of containers using the same scale.
The containers to be filled are brought to the scale on pallets, which may be made up of 32 small 25-litre drums in two layers of 16 drums, four 210-litre drums, or a single rigid 1,000-litre IBC.
Phosyn's production engineer Sean Molloy said he is pleased with the new system: "Having the ability to weigh the three different containers on one scale is very cost effective and time saving.
The 25-litre drums can now be weighed to +/-100g, the 210-litre ones within +/-200g and the IBCs within +/-500g.
The D450 is interfaced with the existing Mitsubishi PLC controlling the filling operation and the system has a fast and slow fill sequence to ensure the target weight is achieved within the specified legal limit for trade error.
Approximately 3kg before the target weight is reached, the system automatically switches over to slow fill.
After each drum has been filled, the system automatically resets to zero and the next drum filled with the same precision.
When all the drums on a particular pallet have been filled, the system gives a reading of the total weight of liquid." The vessel and weighing system have been installed to enable Phosyn to store bulk glycol, an important base ingredient in the nutrients.
Previously the company purchased it in 1,000-litre IBCs, which presented a number of logistical problems.
As Sean Molloy explained: "We were using up to six IBCs a week.
These had to be moved to the specific mixing tanks and then the required amount pumped out.
The 3,3000-litre storage now gives us the facility to order glycol in bulk, which is much more convenient and cost effective.
We know exactly how much is in the tank at any one time and when the level falls to 1,0000kg, we know we can accommodate a full tanker load of 23,000 litres." The vessel is mounted on three Weightron GPAC 20-tonne capacity load cell mounting kits, connected to a D450 weight terminal mounted near the seven mixing tanks in the liquid manufacturing section of the plant.
The load cells and instrument were supplied pre-calibrated to give a system capacity of 35,000kg x 5kg increment.
Weightron said it is well aware that calibrating large vessels on site is both time consuming and costly.
Its approach meant that systems such as this could be installed and made ready to go in a matter of hours rather than days.
The vessel is connected via a series of pipes and valves to the mixing tanks.
The operator selects the route to the particular mixer, inputs the required weight and presses the start button on the D450.
The correct valve sequence is initiated and the set weight of glycol is automatically dosed in the mixer.
As Molloy concluded: "Both Weightron systems are providing significant time and cost savings as well as improved accuracies.
Initially our operators had some reticence regarding use of the vessel weighing system but have soon realised that it is much more efficient and reliable than the old IBC method.".
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