A MASS FLOW TOTALIZER FOR LINT CLEANER WASTE

摘要

As more modern ginning plants become receptive to process control and automation technology, online measurement of process variables is becoming more prevalent and important to the optimization of the ginning process. In this research, an electronic hopper weight scale was designed and built to measure and record the mass flow of lint cleaner waste. The measurement could be incorporated into a ginning process control system for process improvement and optimization. The electronic hopper scale included a 35.6 × 35.6 × 35.6 cm hopper with pneumatically controlled bottom doors to collect and dispose of the cleaner waste, two strain gauges and associated signal conditioning circuitry, an AID converter, a laptop PC, and an in-house developed data acquisition and control application. Results of two selected tests are presented to illustrate the functionality and performance of the electronic hopper. The final design achieved a target accuracy of ±5%.