Keeping Your Temperature in Check

Remote infrared thermometer allows workers to focus on more important tasks

temp gauge 1 56e9adc045619

When we think of products that can make your asphalt operation more efficient, we often think of the bigger pieces of equipment. But often it's the little tools that matter.

For example, imagine this scenario. Your asphalt plant operator is starting up his plant. The ground man is moving around checking things to be sure there are no problems.

As the aggregate begins to emerge from the drum, the operator calls the ground man and instructs him to take his hand-held infrared thermometer to the boot of the drag and start relaying on-going temperatures. While doing this menial job, the ground man is unable to carry out the important task of keeping an eye on the rest of the plant looking for potential problems.

Not too long ago, I decided that this is a waste of the ground man’s valuable time. To address this situation, I built a remote infrared thermometer package that fits any and all plants - batch or drum. The IR-TC01 infrared thermometer package is designed to give more freedom to the man standing at the bottom of the drag relaying temperatures, allowing him to worry about much more important tasks around the plant.

On drum plants, the IR-TC01 unit mounts on the drum frame and the sensor goes on the drag chute focusing on the emerging hot mix. It provides a direct real-time temperature reading of your hot mix to your existing temperature meter mounted in your control room. No more wondering if your thermocouple is reading correctly. And no more having a man at the boot of the drag with a hand-held infrared thermometer relaying temperatures by hand signals to the operator.

The temperature readings are extremely accurate (when set up correctly) and reaction time is measured in milliseconds compared to minutes with a traditional system. Conventional systems, which usually have a thick metal covering, can take minutes to heat up and transfer an accurate reading.

The IR-TC01 unit allows instant reading of the discharge temperature using an air-cooled Ray-Tek IR sensor. The IR-TC01 unit hooks directly to any Type J display instrument like a Honeywell UDC-3200 or UDC-2500 among many others. If desired, this unit may even be hooked to a stand alone Type J meter for an additional charge.

These units are pre-wired with wiring diagram and require 2 to 4 lbs. of air pressure for cleaning and cooling of the sensor. Other than some air line and some Type J T/C wire, all hardware is included.

Page 1 of 749
Next Page