Consumables
PRESSURE INDICATOR
Wednesday 19. May 2010 - Why estimate blanket height ...when interested in pressure?
Today offset blankets are installed and monitored through measuring the height of the blanket in millimeters. However, this is a non-exact way of estimating the pressure level between the plate and the blanket cylinder, says Stefan Wegdell, Managing Director of Swedish Nip Control AB.
Besides the height of the blanket over bearer, the pressure inside the cylinder nip is also influenced by the blankets surface hardness and structure, the compressibility of the blanket, the fabric properties, the underpacking and the tightening of the blanket.
New PRESSURE INDICATORTM from Nip Control instead measures digitally what the pressman is interested in – the true pressure level between the cylinders. The result is shown in Newton/cm2. This is done by inserting a thin nano-technology sensor blade into the nip.
Using the Pressure Indicator, it is easy to monitor how the nip pressure repeatedly changes as the blanket is being compressed – and then expands.
The Pressure Indicator system consists of an instrument, an extra-thin sensor blade and a calibration tool. A trend analysis software – hanssonnips – makes it visually easy to monitor trends and to detect when the print quality is at risk.
At the IPEX 2010 Exhibition, Nip Control will be showing the Pressure Indicator in the booth of ContiTech and Phoenix Xtra Blankets (Booth 20-D630).