Printing Industry

Solvents

There are many types of solvents used in the printing industry, and M-Series meters have been successfully used in this application for many years. Typically the application dispenses solvents used in the control of printing ink viscosity. As we know, solvents evaporate rapidly and the viscosity of the ink delivered to the press has to be at a precise viscosity.

In the more sophisticated systems, the use of automatic viscosity measuring equipment is utilized and will either display the viscosity so that the printer can manually add solvent, or the equipment will send a signal to a PLC and call for the automatic delivery of solvent.

In the latter system, the signal provided to the PLC is generally an analog signal utilizing a PI loop to control the addition. This is done to avoid problems with over or under dispensing of the solvent. With the manual system, a mechanical display flow meter is utilized for this application and the operator measures in the appropriate quantity needed.

Many of these applications involve very low flow rates and M-Series meters are ideally suited for low-flow environments.

We should also remember that this application is typically in a hazardous area and the use of mechanical or flameproof approved flow meters is normally required.

It is also important to ensure that the correct seal materials are used in the flow meter along with compatible rotor material. A number of solvents, e.g. MEK, Acetone, and Xylene, have a tendency to swell the PPS rotor material and it is recommended that we use stainless steel rotors with these materials.

Inks

Another application where we have enjoyed good success is in the measurement of the inks themselves. Inks are generally of very high viscosity and are pumped at high pressure to accommodate the high line pressure losses. It is therefore required to select a meter with high viscosity rotors, or use a larger meter size as the maximum flow rate will be lower due to the pressure drop.

A further issue with this application is the use of piston type pumps that can cause pulsating flows. M-Series meters offer significant advantages in accuracy over other technologies as pulsating flow will not effect accuracy.

Meter Models

In order to properly select the meter size and materials, we recommend you use our online sizing and selection program. This is a step by step program that will allow you to specify your fluid, flow rate, operating conditions, and outputs and ensure you choose exactly the right meter for your specific flow conditions.

To start the program, Click Here or you can Contact Us and speak to one of our application Engineers.