Measuring and testing – Inspecting
Patent
1994-06-13
1996-10-01
Raevis, Robert
Measuring and testing
Inspecting
3350103, G01N 2130
Patent
active
055612512
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a method for measuring the thickness of a layer of pasty or dough-like ground material on a moving surface and to an apparatus for measuring the thickness of a layer for carrying out the method.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method that is easy to carry out, allowing to determine the thickness of a layer of ground material without the grinding process being influenced, e.g. in a roller mill. To steadily obtain a product of a uniformly high quality, the working process, and within that process particularly the grinding of the pasty chocolate raw material, has to be carried out under predetermined and controlled conditions, with the determination of the thickness of a layer on a grinding surface, such as on a roller of the roller mill, representing an optimum criterium for quality ensurance.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for measuring the thickness of a layer, with the help of which the method can be carried out in a simple, fast and economical way.
In solving this problem, a first step resides in the recognition of the particular characteristics of pasty or dough-like material, which has the tendency to distribute on two rotational bodies pressed against each other over their surfaces. Now, a mechanical sensor must be pressed against the layer to be measured with a determined pressure to secure a predetermined bearing force of the sensor. But this must then necessarily result in that the roll, which is attached to the sensor, by way of example, and which engages the layer, rotates at about the speed of the surface carrying the ground material, that is to say, at about the circumferential speed of the roller of a roller mill carrying the ground material, whereat it is inevitable that a certain layer of ground material will build up on the measuring roll, which then falsifies the measuring result. Therefore, in a second step on the way to the invention, the task has to be solved how this detrimental phenomenon or this condition can be prevented.
According to the invention, there is suggested a method for measuring the thickness of a layer of pasty or dough-like material on a moving surface against which surface a movably supported measuring roll is contacted so that during the movement of the surface provided with the layer the deflection of the measuring roll crosswise to the moving direction of the surface is detected by a sensor generating an output signal, whereat one parameter of this output signal is in a functional relationship with the magnitude of the deflection of the measuring roll, or of the thickness of the layer, respectively.
By this surprisingly simple measure that effect will be avoided which so far has prevented the use of such apparatus for measuring the thickness of a layer in practice, i.e., the effect of the coiling up of the layer on the measuring roll. This solution is surprising because one would expect the layer to build up in front of the measuring roll, even more resulting in a falsification of the measuring results. However, practical tests have shown that such a fear is not justified, but that rather with such a measure a high measuring accuracy can be achieved while employing a most simple and cost-saving construction.
In principle, the braking could be achieved by the use of a frictional force. However, it has been found out that it is advantageous to assign a pretermined value to the braking force, which mostly cannot be achieved with mere friction, because the frictional force changes too strongly with the temperature, the humidity, etc. According to a further characteristic of the invention, the braking can be achieved to a predetermined extent also by having the measuring roll driven by a motor at a lower speed than the provision of the speed of motion of the layer or the surface. By the motor drive of the measuring roll, a predetermined speed of rotation adapted to the speed of motion of the layer can very easily be adjusted.
Another problem related to the precondition of the measuring accuracy is the pr
REFERENCES:
patent: 3525929 (1970-08-01), Mounce
patent: 3866115 (1975-02-01), Lewis
patent: 4060734 (1977-11-01), Tilley et al.
patent: 5284670 (1994-02-01), Hayashi
Greminger Hansueli
Schoenenberger Niklaus
Buhler AG
Farber Martin A.
Raevis Robert
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