Machine speed increases 25% in PENKO’s new FLEX weighing instrument range

Machine speed increases 25% thanks to the revolutionary digital filtering technique in PENKO's new FLEX weighing instrument range.

A key factor affecting any weighing system is the strategy adopted to cope with variant digital readings caused by A-D settling, signal interference or vibration, and for high-speed weighing experts PENKO Engineering, this is a crucial issue. With the continual demand for process speeds to increase to improve efficiency, the shorter dwell time available for accurate measurement prompted Penko's designers to look for a more effective method of fast signal processing.

Standard methods of digital filtering, designed to average out a series of recorded measurements during the update period, rely on computational analysis using up to ten pre-set parameters. Setting up a digital filter can be a complex process, following a detailed list of step-by-step instructions and relying on trial and error - often with just the assistance of a flickering digital indicator. Rarely, if ever, are tools incorporated within the instrumentation to help set the digital filters. Although crude techniques are sometimes offered to simplify the process, such as providing course, medium and fine settings - this serial adjustment process takes valuable time. When the flickering numbers appear to stabilize on the display, the filter is at the optimum setting… or is it? According to PENKO, although some experts quote high sampling rates at source, the actual measurement rate can reduce dramatically when an additional software program is used in the system, sometimes reducing the rate from 1,000 to just 50 samples/sec.

PENKO Engineering's new range of FLEX™ weighing instrumentation includes a revolutionary approach to digital filtering that is simple to set up, easy to visualize, and has been proven to dramatically increase measurement speed. When activated, the filter embodied within FLEX provides just two settings: for either static or dynamic measurement applications. A 'scope' display is incorporated in both the FLEX instrument itself and PENKO's free 'PI' software, that shows the result of the measurement system visually in real-time. By simply looking at the analogue graph displayed on either the FLEX's own touch screen display or the PC screen, while adjusting the cut-off frequency of the digital filter, the optimum setting can be reached quickly and accurately.

For one of PENKO Engineering's recent clients that replaced an older instrument with a FLEX, this new digital filtering method enabled one machine to increase speed by 25% resulting in a very fast payback too!