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Beta LaserMike Inc.
8001 Technology Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45424
937-233-9935

Wall thickness of plastic pipe, hose and tube is an important parameter. Making measurement during start up and production is one of a few ways to save money. Non-contact measurement is reliable and non-intrusive way to make on line measurement. Ultrasonic technology is one of ways of making non-contact wall measurement during production. Ultrasonic measurement solutions have been available for many years.

Along with typical non-contact wall measurement, Beta LaserMike also offers High Speed Tolerance (HST) checking, to detect sudden changes in wall thickness. Ultrasonic DSP Module with its high speed processing capability and patented “Snap Technology” is capable of making very accurate measurements at every sample taken. With the sampling rate of close to 2000 samples per second, it can take wall measurements in short distances along the product. Comparing each sample to nominal it can determine whether the wall thickness is exceeding upper and lower tolerance levels. This information is accumulated in a HST Report and sent out in short intervals, via various communication methods.

Using HST information along with average wall, minimum wall and maximum wall measurements, DataPro 5000 controller can display product cross section up to three layers. As displayed in the “CrossSection” screen shot below, individual transducer measurement is displayed for each layer. In addition to size information, any time there is a sudden change in wall size exceeding HST settings, a red arrow indicating presence of HST condition appears next to the size reading. A down-pointing-arrow will indicate that the lower threshold is exceeded. An up-pointing-arrow will indicate that the upper threshold is exceeded. These arrows will not appear if the averaged wall measurement is exceeding the standard out of tolerances which are separate then the threshold settings of HST. In this case the background color on measurement tiles will change color, indicating the averaged wall thickness is out of tolerance.

HST is configurable for different modes of operation, Preset Mode (Fixed Tolerance Bands) and Measured Wall Mode (Moving Tolerance Bands).

In Preset Mode, HST will operate like the traditional tolerance checking, triggering if wall is outside of configured offset. This is best used when small variations are acceptable, but absolute limits must not be crossed.

In Measured Wall Mode, HST will use current averaged wall size as nominal, allowing for slow growth or shrinkage. It will trigger if the wall size is outside of configured offsets. This mode is recommended when fast variations are biggest concern and typically used in conjunction with standard tolerance checking.

Result of Highs Speed Tolerance checking is kept as Error Report which tracks, total number and type of errors, minimum and maximum wall sizes during error, which transducers detected the error and which layer or layers contain the error. Additionally, DataPro 5000 provides ability to interface with a cutter or a marker to identify and remove bad product.