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Pressure transducer for use on Extruder

Pressure transducer for use on Extruder

Precious Plastic Melbourne
preciousplasticmelbourne
Started 1y. Edited 1mo.Started almost 2 years ago. Last edit about 2 months ago.
Machines
Completed
Goal: Enhance user safety and recycling machinery (Extruder) longevity by developing a pressure transducer for precise monitoring of mould fullness. Challenges: Inexperienced and experienced users often damage equipment due to excessive pressure from overfilled or cold moulds. Current lack of clear visual cues exacerbates this issue. Solution: Design and prototype a universal pressure transducer that easily attaches to an Extruder barrel. This will provide real-time, user-friendly digital pressure readings for optimal mould filling. Impact: Our innovation goes beyond a technical advancement. It aims to make micro-recycling safer and more user-friendly for a wider audience by facilitating better machine operation and fostering a more inclusive learning environment. This translates to error minimisation, reduced downtime, and a more robust global Precious Plastic community.
researchother machineextrusion

More Information
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1

V1 technical drawings

Published 1y.Published almost 2 years ago.
Initial round of Pressure Transducer technical drawings
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2

Update 1

Published 1y.Published over 1 year ago.
We've been progressively upgrading our hand-cranked Zephyr Bros. Benchtop Extruder to accept a detachable motor for new + existing customers. A key concern was providing operators a way to monitor for full moulds or blockages in order to safely produce parts with their machine. The solution: To install a melt pressure sensor/transducer, however we needed to make changes to our existing nozzle. Since the nozzles needed to fit machines with differing internal thread starting points (machines of new and existing clients), we designed them with 2 mounting positions. This ensures the pressure sensor can always be installed correctly, regardless of thread location. The success of this pressure monitoring system on the Benchtop Extruder has led us to develop a similar solution for larger Precious Plastic extruders. Facing the same challenge of diverse thread starting points, we're creating a slightly larger nozzle, maintaining the same versatile mounting style as the Benchtop version.
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Transducer testing

Published 1y.Published over 1 year ago.
Testing the transducer on a large (beam) mould, and small (carabiner) mould

4

Final update

Published 1y.Published over 1 year ago.
Universal Nozzle R&D Resource
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5

File supply

Published 1y. Edited 1mo.Published over 1 year ago. Last edit 2 months ago.
In the folder you will find: 1. Data Sheet - MELT PRESSURE TRANSDUCERS 2. Interactive BOM 3. Schematics 4. Transducer Nozzle files; - NOZZLE, TRANSDUCER_.step - TRANSDUCER NOZZLE.pdf - PLUG TRANSDUCER NOZZLE_.step - PLUG, TRANSDUCER NOZZLE.pdf)
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Download files
6 downloads

6

How to monitor extrusion pressure

Published 1mo. Edited 1mo.Published 2 months ago. Last edit about 2 months ago.
This guide covers the steps required to install a hot melt pressure transducer onto your Precious Plastic Extruder, to enhance it's safety and performance. The guide is based off our research project, and is broken down into easy-to-follow steps. See it here: https://community.preciousplastic.com/library/how-to-monitor-extrusion-pressure
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