Prev: Will heating the platters beyond curie temp make disk-splicing impossible?
Next: madell px3700
From: Glen Walpert on 18 Apr 2010 07:10
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:13:48 -0700, lektric.dan(a)gmail.com wrote:

> Thanks to everyone that's replied. Each idea gave inspiration. I just
> don't see how I can implement most of them, though. Here's a picture,
> perhaps this will make the situation a little clearer. The hopper is on
> the left. Twin augers feed horizontally. The vertical cylinder and
> funnel are where the blockages occur, the augers go almost all the way
> across cylinder. I can add on a very small piece of tubung below the
> funnel, perhaps 1/2 - 1". Everything is rigid plumbing, and because of
> the relationships between parts, just can't be moved much.
>
> picture: http://sites.google.com/site/lektricdan/home/feeder.jpg
>
> I don't know if a single sensor will work. At high feed rates, the free
> optical path (a clear shot across the tube) goes away. We would like to
> run at as high a feed rate as possible. At lower feed rates, where
> material is just trickled down, the free optical path is intermittant,
> so a photo-type sensor and a missing pulse detector circuit would work.
> For the higher feed rates (where the light path would be blocked but
> material is flowing freely), I might need to add a differential pressure
> sensor. As I mentioned in the original post, the system is pressurized
> by from 5 to 10 psi, by nitrogen flowing from the fitting at the top
> (with white teflon tape at the joint where it fits into the top of the
> vertical section).

Does the torque on your existing augers increase when there is a jam?
Can you monitor the power required to turn the augers (power used by
drive motor)?
From: Jamie on 18 Apr 2010 21:40
lektric.dan(a)gmail.com wrote:
> Thanks to everyone that's replied. Each idea gave inspiration. I
> just don't see how I can implement most of them, though. Here's a
> picture, perhaps this will make the situation a little clearer. The
> hopper is on the left. Twin augers feed horizontally. The vertical
> cylinder and funnel are where the blockages occur, the augers go
> almost all the way across cylinder. I can add on a very small piece
> of tubung below the funnel, perhaps 1/2 - 1". Everything is rigid
> plumbing, and because of the relationships between parts, just can't
> be moved much.
>
> picture: http://sites.google.com/site/lektricdan/home/feeder.jpg
>
> I don't know if a single sensor will work. At high feed rates, the
> free optical path (a clear shot across the tube) goes away. We would
> like to run at as high a feed rate as possible. At lower feed rates,
> where material is just trickled down, the free optical path is
> intermittant, so a photo-type sensor and a missing pulse detector
> circuit would work. For the higher feed rates (where the light path
> would be blocked but material is flowing freely), I might need to add
> a differential pressure sensor. As I mentioned in the original post,
> the system is pressurized by from 5 to 10 psi, by nitrogen flowing
> from the fitting at the top (with white teflon tape at the joint where
> it fits into the top of the vertical section).
I haven't been following this thread too much and I don't know what kind
of material you're transporting in that funnel? We work at a wire and
cable facility where of course, have many hopper feeding systems.

Some of our systems employ vibrators on the funnels to keep the
compounds from sticking also, we use load cells to measure the container
for mixing and contents underweight warnings..

We also have one system that uses a capacitor sensor with analog
output. That not only measures the absence of material, it'll also show
material movement, because the analog output isn't steady and thus is
cap decoupled through an amp to generate a rectified DC reference as a
movement indicator..

I guess you have your choices..


From: Frnak McKenney on 18 Apr 2010 13:40
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:01:15 -0700 (PDT), lektric.dan(a)gmail.com <lektric.dan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Apr 17, 11:32�pm, "tm" <no...(a)msc.com> wrote:

[...]

>> I liked the idea of using an optical mouse. Can you put a small
>> window in? The optical mouse has a very small video camera
>> that looks at the texture to detect motion and output pulses
>> for xy motion.
>>
>> Cheap enough to try.
>>
> I just did some googling on hacking laser mouses. I may be able to
> look up the data sheets if I find identifiable ICs inside. ...

One source of datasheets:

Avago Technologies
http://www.avagotech.com/

Look under "Products -> Navigation Interface Devices"; you should
probably start with the "LED-based" sensors first.


Enjoy...


Frank McKenney
--
Politeness is a signal of readiness to meet someone half-way;
the question of whether politeness makes society cohere, or keeps
other people safely at arm's length, is actually a false
opposition. Politeness does both, and that is why it's so
frightening to contemplate losing it. Suddenly, the world seems
both alien and threatening -- and all because someone's mother
never taught him to say, "Excuse me" or "Please".
-- Lynne Truss / Talk to the Hand
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney ayut mined spring dawt cahm (y'all)
From: JosephKK on 21 Apr 2010 10:35
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:13:48 -0700 (PDT), "lektric.dan(a)gmail.com"
<lektric.dan(a)gmail.com> wrote:

>Thanks to everyone that's replied. Each idea gave inspiration. I
>just don't see how I can implement most of them, though. Here's a
>picture, perhaps this will make the situation a little clearer. The
>hopper is on the left. Twin augers feed horizontally. The vertical
>cylinder and funnel are where the blockages occur, the augers go
>almost all the way across cylinder. I can add on a very small piece
>of tubung below the funnel, perhaps 1/2 - 1". Everything is rigid
>plumbing, and because of the relationships between parts, just can't
>be moved much.
>
>picture: http://sites.google.com/site/lektricdan/home/feeder.jpg
>
>I don't know if a single sensor will work. At high feed rates, the
>free optical path (a clear shot across the tube) goes away. We would
>like to run at as high a feed rate as possible. At lower feed rates,
>where material is just trickled down, the free optical path is
>intermittant, so a photo-type sensor and a missing pulse detector
>circuit would work. For the higher feed rates (where the light path
>would be blocked but material is flowing freely), I might need to add
>a differential pressure sensor. As I mentioned in the original post,
>the system is pressurized by from 5 to 10 psi, by nitrogen flowing
>from the fitting at the top (with white teflon tape at the joint where
>it fits into the top of the vertical section).

In spite of drawbacks i still think a capacitance or permittivity type
sensor may work.
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2 3 4
Prev: Will heating the platters beyond curie temp make disk-splicing impossible?
Next: madell px3700