USE OF PROCESS DATA OBTAINED FROM A DATA-ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR OPTIMIZING AND DEBUGGING EXTRUSION PROCESSES

Debugging and optimization of extruder performances are often complica ted by the lack of transient process data. Most production extruders h ave excellent process controllers, but they generally lack data acquis ition systems. Because of these equipment limitations, all transient, unsteady-state data for a process are unavailable for analysis. Highli ghted in this article are four case studies where transient data were collected and used (1) for the diagnosis and elimination of extrusion instabilities; (2) to show differences between competing resin process ability; and (3) in extrusion research. In all cases, a portable data acquisition system was temporarily connected to the extruder control p anel and was used to collect transient process data. For extruder inst ability problems, the data collected were used to help diagnose and el iminate the problems quickly, bringing the extrusion lines up to stand ard production in the shortest possible time, minimizing costly recycl e, and maximizing the profits for the processors. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.