Film sensors confirm animal feed safety

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 15, 2005

Canada-based Green Prairie International needed a way to measure the pressure magnitude in the compression chamber of its hay presses.

Canada-based Green Prairie International is well-known throughout the forage industry for following rigorous quality control regimens.

Recently, in an effort to pass Japanese import standards for compressed timothy hay, the company turned to Sensor Products for assistance.

The Hessian fly is a banned insect in Japan, and the company was in need of a reliable testing tool to ensure that all the pupae would be destroyed by its double-compression unit.

Brand Beekman, Operations Manager for the company, was urged by colleagues to try Pressurex, a tactile pressure indicating film offered by Sensor Products.

Pressurex was used to measure the pressure magnitude of the compression chamber on the hay and to verify that the pressure was evenly distributed across the press surface once the hay was fully compressed.

Because of previous research conducted in 1993, engineers at Green Prairie needed at least 20kPa of compression to ensure the demise of all of the pupae.

"The film helped us confirm that double compression is a valid method of destroying the Hessian fly pupae", said Beekman.

He added: "The method is cost efficient, potentially saving the forage industry about $2 million annually and is environmentally friendly, because pesticides will become obsolete".

Vadim Shalyt, Technical Sales Engineer for Sensor Products said: "This is certainly an unusual application that reaffirms the broad range of applications for which Pressurex can be used".

"It was a pleasure working on such a unique project with Green Prairie so they could perform this industry-changing research".

Pressurex sensor film is an easy to employ NDT tool that quickly and accurately maps and measures pressure distribution and magnitude between any mating, contacting or impacting surfaces.

Able to detect pressure from 14kPa to 298MPa, Pressurex is ideal for assessing surface contact inconsistencies in gaskets, clamps, bolted joints, heat sealing elements, lamination presses, nip rolls, welding heads, clutch and brake assemblies, tire treads, connectors, heatsinks, as well as many other industrial and medical applications.

Pressurex comes in the form of a large, thin, clear Mylar sheet, physically similar in appearance to a sheet of paper.

When placed between contacting surfaces, the film instantaneously and permanently changes colour.

This colour change is directly correlated to the specific amount of pressure applied.

Precise pressure magnitude can easily be determined by comparing colour variations to a colour correlation chart, conceptually similar to interpreting Litmus paper.

Sensor Products is able to customise Pressurex for any application by laser cutting the film for small or precision areas and provides encasement services allowing for use in environments where water, oil or other liquids might be present.

The company also provides enhanced optical imaging services for greater detail and comparative evaluation performed with their analysis system Topaq, which is also available for lease or purchase.