Company Name:

Plastic Pressure Ltd.

Project Title:

1. Investigation of the Required Specification, Hardware Selection and Potential Development of a Precision Energy Meter for Machine Performance Monitoring 2. Evaluation of Internet of Things embedded system hardware module for application to plastic injection moulding systems

Profile Of Company:

Plastic Pressure Ltd is an Irish SME based in the Munster region providing consultation services to facilitate the manufacture of plastic components using injection molding systems. Plastic Pressures long term focus is the developing of smart injection moulding systems with zero PPM quality issues.

Problem To Be Solved:

To achieve high level of precision for manufacture delicate parts a closed loop control system is required with high performance sensors to measure process quality attributes. Plastic Pressure had a requirement to develop the specification outline of the design and manufacture of a high-precision power/energy measurement/monitoring system, which could be retrofitted to a plastic molding machine and subsequently source or develop a state of the art power sensor to meet these specifications. Follow this function Plastic Pressure required the investigation of the potential of a “new to market” IoT module system which would be capable of providing the connectivity to the sourced sensors required for Industrial Internet of Things implementation. The investigation was geared towards the usability and understanding the requirements of the Plastic injection moulding.

How IMaR plan to Deliver a Solution For Industry:

A review of available standards and technologies in the area of current/power measurement was carried out to suit the needs of the company. The latest standard was chosen which complies to minimize part to part variability at a known standard and a specification and state-of-the-art review of available ‘off-the-shelf’ technology was conducted. The potential for the development of a bespoke system was also investigated with associated component costings. Later with the ‘new to market’ IoT module the team at IMaR gauged the specifications for high speed data capture and on-board memory consumptions, followed by an assessment of support for Open communication architecture for devices in Plastic injection moulding process.

Impact For Company:

IMaR delivered detailed reports of the research conducted along with the selection of appropriate current sensor technologies which can be integrated on a plastic injection moulding system. The project enabled the company to progress their development of an IIoT based solution for the monitoring of quality attribute in the plastic injection molding process.  

“IMaR provides a professional service to a tricky set of questions. During the project I was asked relevant questions which had positive effect on the outcome. The final report was well laid out with all the work packages completed. Conclusions and options that were not obvious during the project were presented in a logical fashion. The options presented gave impetus to other avenues of investigation. I was very pleased with the outcome of the project to the extent that a second project is in the works. I have recommended IMaR to other business owners and am happy to be contacted by prospective customers to share my experience.” – John Ryan, Plastic Pressure Ltd