Troubleshooting Challenge
A company had a problem with a coating and slitting line. The clamp function was slow and weak. The hydraulic power unit had two circuits, each with its own pump, and the pumps were identical. One pump could handle the load if the other one failed. The two circuits were not cycled at the same time. There was also an overheating problem with the oil.
What’s the solution? Match wits with Bob Sheaf, the founder of CFC Industrial Training and submit your solution to this month’s Troubleshooting Challenge. Submit your solution to [email protected], with “July Aug Hydraulic Solution” in the subject line. All correct answers submitted by Sept. 15, 2021 will be entered into a random drawing. The winner will be notified and their name will be published online and in a future issue of Hydraulic & Pneumatics.
Seeding the Future for Pneumatics
A pneumatics IoT project produced measurable improvements in an agricultural processing plant that was encountering some challenges in its packaging area. Rather than installing all-new machinery with a lot of capital investment, Emerson focused on key areas that could be improved using smart pneumatic components.
Throughout the plant, bags of seed were being filled inaccurately, often by more than 5 lb in each 75-lb bag. Product flow through the plant was uneven at best, as seeds with sticky surfaces would constantly clump together in the dispensing silo, causing inconsistent product flow and “traffic jams” that alternately flooded or starved downstream processing stations.
The plan was to migrate away from an current open-loop system to an intelligent, IIoT-based closed-loop layout that allowed the positions of the gates to vary. By permitting more than two gate positions—not just open or closed but varying the position from 0% to 100%—the system enabled better control for the flow of seeds entering the conveyor.
