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Availability & Acceptance Through Basis Weight Control

Stabilized Basis Weight Control Reduces Breaks and Lost Paper

Greater than 3:1 return-on-investment demonstrated replacing the mag meter with a clamp-on SONARtrac flowmeter!
Benefits
  • Conservative customer estimates show the SONARtrac flowmeter resulted in $150,000/yr savings in availability & acceptance rates
  • Stabilized basis weight on 150,000 t/yr multiply bag machine
  • Reduced amount of off-quality production
  • Clamp-on SONARtrac flowmeter provides accurate, repeatable flow measurement immune to entrained air and non-conductive flow properties
  • Installation and service without process downtimes
Challenge

The SONARtrac meter was compared to the existing magmeter for a four-week period. The existing magmeter on the line was spiking. Mill personnel suspected the problem was due to either entrained air or conductive and/or non-conductive chemicals inconsistently passing the magmeter electrodes. The conductivity changes may have originated from chemical injection before the magmeter location.

The spiking magmeter, when left unfiltered, caused occasional breaks on the board machine. When filtering was implemented to shield from the spiking, the quality of the board was negatively affected leading to "off standard" quality production.


SONARtrac Meter installed On Basis Weight Line

SONARtrac System Performance Summary

The control of this line was turned over to the SONARtrac meter. The measurement principle of the SONARtrac meter is immune to entrained air and unmixed chemicals passing through the sensing zone. The break time and lost paper associated with spiking magmeter signal were eliminated. Customer estimates that the SONARtrac meter resulted in a savings in excess of $150,000 annually.



Opportunities exist for any system with any entrained air or for those who now inject or wish to inject strength or other chemicals before the basis weight valve!!