For most companies running extrusion lines, the raw material management system to establish the extrusion process has always been too complicated or expensive. Three years ago, Maguire developed LineMasterTM software, which works in concert with the Maguire® Gravimetric GatewayTM (“G2â€) mixer network software to provide a cheap, easy-to-operate, ultra-precise extrusion control system that kicks off this Two stumbling blocks. Extrusion processing companies, whether large or small, can use the standard LineMaster system to enhance product consistency, save raw materials, reduce setup time, and reduce scrap. The newly developed LineMaster AC system allows processing lines that frequently cycle up and down, such as film reversal, or production lines (such as co-extrusion lines) that can cause particularly severe problems due to inconsistent extrusion rates.
With only calculated raw material savings, the standard LineMaster system or "AC" LineMaster system can recover the investment in just a few months. For example, by reducing the average film thickness tolerance, a blown film processing facility in the United Kingdom could save a cost equivalent to almost $51,000 in a single blown film process within a year of using a single production line, which is more than a Macquarie gravimetric mixture. The cost of feeders plus LineMaster is much higher. Composite Film Technology (CFT) also reportedly saved a lot of raw material costs. The company is a three-layer blown film manufacturer in South Africa.
Accurate control of three-layer coextruded films
Since the LineMaster extrusion control system was installed two years ago, it has been continuously operating at Co-Extrusion Film Technology (CFT). The company is a three-layer blown film production plant in South Africa. The control system is now directly connected to President Bob from the CFT plant in Johannesburg. Boden's home, he can remotely monitor and change settings.
By using the G2 software, it is possible to control the yield of multiple extruder processing lines (such as the CFT production line). “Using the Magequix LineMaster system, we can maintain a precise ratio of layer thicknesses and produce continuous-length films with exactly the same film weight before and after production,†said Bob Bourdon of CFT. “Our layer-to-thickness ratio control has resulted in consistent heat sealing and mechanical properties of the film – an achievement that proves invaluable in providing high-quality films for high-speed closures.â€
Raw materials have also been saved after enhanced control of the production line, and Bourdon estimates that a savings of approximately 12% is achieved. In addition, LineMaster software simplifies configuration preparation by downloading configuration methods and assembly settings, provides extensive documentation on raw material consumption for inventory control, cost accounting and quality assurance, and can remotely monitor the operation of the extrusion line.
Composite film technology company established in December 2000, dedicated to the development of professional multi-layer polyolefin film. “We built our own factory to maximize three capabilities: outstanding technological innovation, quality assurance for our customers, and effective and accurate control of all operations through management,†said Bourdon. “The equipment and system is The key to enhancing these three capabilities."
How the LineMaster System Works
Although controlled extrusion (weight per segment of extruded product) is the most direct and accurate method of ensuring product consistency and saving raw materials, traditional extrusion control systems with LIW loss-in-weight mixers are large and cumbersome. It is expensive and must also be equipped with extra components, such as a second hopper for reweighing the weight of the raw materials.
As a result, most processing plants that wish to improve raw material management have had to use extrusion control systems based on weight-increasing (GIW) blenders, such as the Majestic gravity metering compounder. This system is limited to controlling the output by adjusting the speed of the extruder. More advanced models can manually set two parameters to calculate the target extrusion volume: the target line speed (the length of the product per unit time) and the target extrusion volume.
Compared with the old extrusion control system, the LineMaster system can simultaneously adjust the extrusion volume and line speed to achieve the target extrusion control. And unlike extrusion control with loss-in-weight mixers, the only major hardware required to run the LineMaster software is a standard Majestic gravity-type metering compounder - or a combined compounder (coextrusion case). under). As a result, LineMaster systems can reduce costs by at least 50% over those of older systems.
A processing plant already using a Majestic gravity metering mixer will clearly understand its simplicity, ease of operation, reliability, and low cost, but users may not know much about the use of weight-based metering mixers that can pass existing ones. Some data eventually achieve precise control of extrusion. The mixer starts processing each batch by sorting the raw materials into a weigh bin, and the subsequent batches undergo a small amount of automatic correction. In addition to this precise information on the weight of each batch (in grams), it is also possible to know the exact time (in 1/10th of a second) necessary to complete the processing of each batch of raw materials.
The mixer can use this data to adjust the extrusion speed of the extruder to balance the set extrusion volume. In order to coordinate and simultaneously adjust the line speed and extrusion volume to ensure that the set extrusion control is maintained, the mixer must be used in conjunction with the G2 software.
Adding weightless hoppers brings benefits
The new LineMaster AC system is only slightly more expensive than the standard LineMaster yield control system, but can extract extruder raw material consumption data every 0.5 seconds. To date, extruders with such high speed feedback have been required to use expensive and cumbersome loss-in-weight mixer control systems. For example, these conventional systems require loss-in-weight type mixers and weightless hoppers with their own controllers.
On the LineMaster AC system, each batch of the mixer is fed through a loss-in-weight hopper placed on the feed inlet of the extruder. The weighing sensor in the hopper conveys the updated data of the consumption of raw materials to the gravity type mixer installed on the top of the hopper or on the floor bracket at a rate of once every 0.5 seconds. The LineMaster yield control software is installed in the controller of the gravity mixer and can adjust the extruder and draw speed according to the amount of raw material consumed.
Maguire offers the LineMaster AC system as an alternative to the standard LineMaster yield control. The hopper models provided for the LineMaster AC system are:
XC-LIW5: 0.3 cubic feet (8.5 liters) capacity; output, 2 to 135 kg/hour (5 to 300 pounds)
XC-LIW10: 0.6 cubic feet (17.0 liters) capacity; yield, 45 to 275 kilograms per hour (100 to 600 pounds)
XC-LIW25: 1.6 cubic feet (45.3 liters) capacity; output, 225 to 675 kilograms per hour (500 to 1,500 pounds)
XC-LIW40: 2.5 cubic feet (70.8 liters) capacity; output, 450 to 1,350 kg/hour (1,000 to 3,000 pounds)
The XC-LIW10 adds LineMaster Extrusion Control for $3,000, depending on the level of control required by the processing plant, and the total cost is between $5,000 and $8,500 (including hardware and software costs). In contrast, traditional yield control systems cost between $12,000 and $50,000. 
In the first year after a single blown film processing machine in the United Kingdom used a single production line, it was able to save nearly $51,000 in costs. Ensure quality, save raw materials, shorten downtime
The control system based on gravity metering mixers can truly reduce the cost and increase productivity for any extrusion operation by automatically adjusting the extruder throughput and line speed, and ultimately controlling the weight of the material actually entering each stage of the product. Moreover, by rapidly adjusting the machining parameters set to achieve the target product tolerances, the control system can reduce configuration preparation time, save startup time, and reduce waste generated by au pairing. The system allows manufacturers to save 4% of their raw materials, and the blown film manufacturer can recover the investment of the LineMasterTM extrusion control system within six months.
30,000 units are used for extrusion processing in 60% of Macquarie gravity mixers. LineMaster technology can be easily deployed to suit the various settings of these mixers, including processing and producing films, sheets, coatings, conduits, profiles, wires, cables, and composite machining.
a: 4% raw material can be saved by reducing the average film thickness from 103.81% of the target value to 99.14%. The approximately $14,000 investment includes a Maguire gravity mixer, LineMaster extrusion control software, and a PC. With a savings of US$50,741, it takes only 5 months to recover the investment.
b: Calculated as follows: 0.96 ($0.85) + 0.03 ($3.50) + 0.01 ($4.00) = $0.961.
Source: "China Plastics & Rubber"
Precise extrusion control reduces raw material consumption
Magequi recently developed a simple and inexpensive extension product using LineMasterTM technology, called LineMaster AC. This product, combined with the precision weighing of Maguire® Weigh Scale Blender, can be used in the standard LineMaster system to provide super-precise feedback of raw material consumption data through weightless (LIW) hoppers .