Johanson Innovations Indicizer
Challenge
Johanson Innovations was developing a next generation bulk solids indicizer for their product line. Past indicizers products were speed and power limited. It was desired to have a single, modern control board which could change modes based on which of three different model / type of indicizers it was assembled into.
The indicizers measure bulk solid flow properties so a proper hopper design was required. The challenges of most traditional hoppers is caking of material on the sides of the hopper resulting in unpredictable flow of the material. When the material flow is unpredictable old, not fresh material can suddenly sluff off the side of the hopper and make itself into the powder on the manufacturing line. If the material is an ingredient for food, or a pharmaceutical drug this old powder will likely result in an inconsistent end product or in the case of pharmaceutical’s, a product which does not do what it was intended to do. For medical or food industries, an indicizer that protects and upholds 100% pure quality is essential.
Solution
Trust Automation designed and manufactured a universal hardware controller with supporting software which was configured to run any of three next generation indicizer products. The new product incorporated a universal power input for both domestic and international power input, a simple user interface and a PC interface for large laboratory implementations for more detailed control of the system.
The hardware and software solution used advanced motion control algorithms to support non-traditional control systems. Instead of motors for some of the axes, airflow and pressure were controlled with PID control and exact flow or pressure set points were maintained through a 15 minute to 24 hour test cycle.
Easy integration and wiring with debug information on the user interface improved productivity of the indicizers and improved field support efforts.
Trust Automation designed and manufactured a flexible base hardware controller system used to manipulate bulk solids for the pharmaceutical industry.
Results
The Indicizer product line improved overall testing accuracy and time while improving manufacturability and customer satisfaction.
