Process monitoring is becoming a more absolute requirement due to increased demand from quality control and management information systems. Measuring the temperature of moving products with conventional temperature devices like thermocouples and PT100s has never been easy.
Today’s modern conveyor systems transfer hot and unstable product from one area to another far more easily than in the past. The problems of drag, friction and static generation rule out conventional contact measurement in most cases. Also response time is critical on fast moving conveying systems. Slow response can allow large volumes of out of spec or dangerous product to flow past the detector before an alarm can be generated.
The solution: non-contact infrared thermometers
Infrared technology is not new and it has been utilised successfully in industrial and research applications for decades. Now, new innovations have reduced cost, increased reliability and resulted in smaller non-contact infrared units suitable for demanding applications.
The advantages of non-contact temperature measurement are:
* Fast response to temperature changes in the millisecond range.
* Measurement of small areas of hot product can be detected on open conveyors moving at speed.
* Corrosive products can be measured.
* Measurement is possible from -50 to 3000°C with correct product choice.
* Signal processing.
* No contact = no product contamination.
With many different models of infrared units available in the Raytek and Ircon ranges it is easy to select the correct unit for an application. The application will determine the temperature range; the distance from the sensor to the product will determine the optical resolution, and the product velocity will determine response of the instrument required. Factors like the presence of smoke, dust and adverse weather conditions, will determine IP rating and whether air purge collars for the lenses are required.
In South Africa Raytek TX and MID systems have been used on large coal and coke conveyors, on smaller packaging plants the Raytek CM range fits the requirement for compact units with processing power.
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