Humidity measurement is key to process control
A
Michell Instruments product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Nov 10, 2006
Cooled mirror instruments use a fundamental humidity measurement technique that is ideal for the accurate measurement of humidity in process control applications.
Coating processes are widely used in the pharmaceutical and confectionary industries for tablets, pills and sweets.
Michell Instruments' cooled mirror range of instruments uses a fundamental humidity measurement technique, making their products the ideal solution for the accurate measurement of humidity in process control applications.
Most tablets consist of a product core and a coated cover.
The coating can be a variety of proprietary compounds or various forms of sugar.
Coating of the product core is used for several reasons including, preventing discolouration of the core, to counteract an unpleasant or bitter taste and to prevent the core from degrading when exposed to the ambient atmosphere.
There are two aspects to tablet coating.
The generation of inlet air of a known humidity and the monitoring of the drying process itself.
In order to ensure a high quality product is maintained it is important that the humidity of the air fed to the drier is validated.
The fundamental cooled mirror principle, in products like Michell's Optidew provide the control signal for the generation of an inlet air with known humidity.
This is passed over the product during the spray coating process to guarantee that the tablets, or sweets have a consistent, smooth, high finish outer coating.
The monitoring of the drying process avoids excessive or under drying of the product.
Excessive drying will incur additional costs and time in manufacturing, as well as possibly causing negative effects to the product itself.
Equally under-drying will result in product spoiling and poor aesthetic qualities.
Therefore, determining the 'ideal' drying cycle is the key to this application.
Cooled mirror dew point sensors are used in the coating process to measure the dew point or absolute humidity of the inlet and exhaust of the drier.
This type of humidity sensor, such as the one used in the Optidew, is typically used because of the fundamental nature of the measurement and its drift free characteristics.
The high performance optical dew point transmitter works on the proven dew point measurement principle offering the user unmatched performance, ease of maintenance and zero drift.
This has led to a number of world leaders in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical and confectionary products moving over to this technology.
The Optidew offers a wide measurement range from the equivalent of below 0.5 to 100% relative humidity at ambient temperatures and from -40 to +90C.
The Cooled Mirror instrument also provides two linear 4-20mA outputs in addition to serial communications, allowing set-up and monitoring by a suitable computer or PLC system via specific Optidew logging software.
An adjustable volt-free contact alarm means Optidew can be used for direct process control.
An optional high definition alphanumeric display provides local indication of the measured humidity.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact Michell Instruments
Tel +44 1353 658000
Other Michell Instruments stories
-
Michell unveils hygrometer for anti-icing systems
The new generation of the Optidew Hygrometer from Michell Instruments is designed for applications in anti-icing systems for stationary gas turbines. -
Extra-long cable eases dew point measurement
A precision PT100 is used to measure the dew point temperature with a standard accuracy of 0.2C and the resultant humidity level is displayed on the instrument front panel. -
Dewpoint meter verifies engine emissions data
The measurement of humidity plays an important role in measuring the efficiency, power output and emissions of internal combustion engines. -
Sensors watch over environmental tests
Optidew is a complete solution for the monitoring and control of dew point and/or humidity within a climatic environmental test chamber. -
Dew point meter provides stability
Precision dew point meter in bench-top format, combined with sensor probe design and cable length up to 30m, is suitable for laboratory humidity or moisture measurement.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,533)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (546)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,142)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,210)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,450)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,293)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,096)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,327)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (588)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (724)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (652)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (830)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,388)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (168)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (340)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (965)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,633)
-
Materials and Processing (3,041)
- Materials and components (2,272)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,681)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (766)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,276)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,319)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (650)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (294)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (417)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (732)
- Pressure sensors (643)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (565)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (624)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,417)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,057)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,732)
