Properly maintaining your weighing and batching system is crucial - not only for smooth production processes but also for the longevity of your equipment. Tom Rickenbach, Field Service Engineer - Technical Instructor, Coperion K-Tron, has collected our top five tips on how to maintain your system and thus avoid system failures.
Maintenance Checklist: Efficient Weighing and Batching Systems
- Make sure that the weighing system is performing to its’ factory specifications. It needs to be:
a. Repeatable – when applying a force or weight on the scale and letting off, the scale returns to its displayed weight within the allowable limits.
b. Accurate – after verifying that the scale is repeatable, make sure that it can weigh a known weight correctly within the tolerances the manufacturer states.
c. Validated - verify that the scale is repeatable and accurate throughout the usable range. For example, if the largest tank in your facility holds 100 kg, then use that as a benchmark and test the scale up to that point. - Verify that any motor drives or other vital instrumentation are working to factory standards.
- Periodically clean the machine you are conveying material from – product buildup inside hoppers and feed modules cause an erosion in feeding capability and performance.
- Take samples - Verify that the end batches or samples are coming in within expected limits. It is the only way you will know if the machine is reporting correctly what it is producing.
- Check the controller's programming parameters and look specifically at variables that indicate performance of the machine. Do the built-in diagnostics indicate an erosion of performance?
