Monitoring Water

[Encap1]

Hello all,

I've just been promoted to Process Engineer and my first task is to get control of our cooling rates. We currently have nothing in place to monitor our water other than the setpoints on the thermulators/chillers. I would like some advice on what style of flowmeters I should get, where they should be mounted and what type of data should be collected. I want to know for sure that we're getting turbulent flow through the molds. Is it worth getting a flow meter that tells you if your getting turbulent flow? I also want know that what the delta T is coming and going from the mold. Another thing is that some of our thermulators are sitting on the back side of the presses, so I would like to know how much of a pressure drop we're getting between the thermulator and the mold. Any feedback or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks

[brentb]

Get a Burger "Smart Flow" meter, and check flow out of ( or in also) of mold circuits. Get a meter incorporating pressure indicator if you want to know psi at inlet and outlet of each circuit. Get a thermometer on the gauge if you want delta T. Or buy each device separately. Look up flow rate for turbulent flow thread on this site.
Though if you have good flow, pressure should be good.

Keep on Molding

brent

[rickbatey]

Be careful as flow meters aren't cheap and going from 180*F to 60*F causes them to warp and leak. IFM Effector has some great temp and flow rate sensors. Check them out.
I bet if you dig a little deeper, you'll find other issues are bigger than where you're looking; like too small a unit (pump HP), hoses to/from mold, to/from plant water to units, and varying water connections-circuits-jumpers.
Rick.

[Encap1]

Thanks for the info

[brentb]

They have them now for hot oil too!

[Encap1]

Here's another question. How important is water pressure? If I get a Dr. Eddy that tells me whether or not I'm getting turbulent flow, do I really need to know the water pressure. My thinking is that I was going to take a pressure reading at the thermulator and then again at the mold to see how much of a pressure drop there is due to the long distance between the 2. If I'm getting turbulent flow at the mold, does it matter what the pressure is. Or, would the pressure drop be a good thing to know as a troubleshooting tool in case I'm not getting turbulent flow.

[Pilot]

For good cooling you need a surface for heat transfer, flowrate, delta of temperatures and water press.
Surface for heat transfer is a constant. If you will increase another parameter, your heat transfer will be faster.
The turbulent vs. laminar flow is a cherry pick.

[Polyshot]

Brent,

There are many styles of flow meters available to purchase. At least, a simple one will show you how good the flow is through the tool.

These should be mounted to observe water going in & out of the mold. You can see lack of flow on the out side. This will indicate problems.

All this in formation is good to know, but the basics should be addressed first.

A) Look at the tool design to be sure that there is cooling everywhere that heat needs to be controlled.

B) Do you have adequate size hoses and connectors to allow good water flow? Often times this is not looked at closely. Shut off style quick connects can really reduce water flow.

C) Is there enough water source to put the necessary water through the tool? Don’t “jump” too many lines, use water manifolds.

D) Are you doing anything to monitor steel temperature? This is of course the most important thing to know. People use thermolater settings as mold temp. This is not actual.

Controlling steel temperature is the reason we are introducing water into a mold. Do not overlook this.