AW-Lake Flow Meters Verify Resin Amounts to Ensure Proper Curing of Molded Parts

OAK CREEK, Wis. - March 11, 2024 - PRLog -- uring the manufacturing process, fixed-ratio pumps are used to dispense a specified ratio of resin to catalyst to ensure accurate curing of the molded panels. Without a verification method, production lines were forced to stop when pumps were not on ratio, resulting in downtime and lost yields.

AW-Lake worked with the OEM and the PLC integrator to solve the off-ratio issue. The solution is our  TRICOR Coriolis Flow Meter (https://aw-lake.com/product/classic-series-tcm-coriolis-meters/). One Coriolis meter monitors the amount of the four resin colors and another meter is used to monitor the catalyst.  Each meter was networked into a multi-drop Modbus network, which was connected to a PLC. The PLC-based monitoring system utilizes the pulse output from the Coriolis Flow Meters to calculate flow for monitoring the resin-to-catalyst ratios in real time.

When identifying an off-ratio event, the line is stopped for quick issue resolution. Depending on the specific fault, manual intervention can often "save" a part that would otherwise be scrapped if action is taken right away.

As AW-Lake's TRICOR Coriolis meters have no internal mechanical components that interact with the materials, they will continue to operate maintenance-free for years, ensuring continuous operations and reduced maintenance costs.   The flow meters are ideal for similar applications with boats, bathtubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic and water tanks, surfboards, snow skis, aircraft and automotive carbon fiber, and external door skins.