Extrusion International 5-2024

57 Extrusion International 5/2024 In 2010, KCS introduced the KNC- 400 film thickness sensor, which works according to the above princi - ple, to the global market. For the first two years, this sensor was mounted on a reversing device with telescopic radial adjustment and sold as a film thickness gauge with the designa - tion KNC-400 Rotomat Synchro and KNC-400 Rotomat Vario. Since 2012, it has been mounted on the revers- ing devicewith articulated arm cross - beam with the model designations KNC-400 Rotomat KT 2G and KNC- 400 Rotomat KT 3G. Since the market launch of the KNC-400, the feedback from the hundreds of thickness sensors in daily production use have been in- corporated into change requests for product improvements. Most of these have been implemented, but the KNC-400 still corresponds con - ceptually to the original develop - ment ideas. Over the last decade, the output rates of blown film lines have multi - plied and the demands on film qual - ity – also for the reason to reduce the amount of raw materials used – have increased enormously. KCS's mission is to enable the global film extrusion industry to a high qual- ity, resource-saving and reliable production. This mission statement obliges KCS to adapt its product range to the new customer require - ments and five years ago launched the project for the newdevelopment of all thickness sensors based on the capacitive measuring method. The first step was to meticulously analyze the service and repair cases associated with the KNC-400 sen - sor over the past few years and incorporate these findings into the specifications for the new de - velopment of the successor sensor with the designation KNC-401. A great deal of attention was paid to improvements in terms of robust- ness, electromagnetic compatibil - ity, modularity, reduction of com - pressed air consumption and the manufacturing and testing process. During the entire development cy - cle, the newly evaluated, externally procured components were sub- jected to various stress tests and, if necessary, replaced with other, more robust components. Prototypes were tested in the best possible way on our in-house fa- cilities and then handed over to se- lected end customers and OEMs for use on blown film lines. Based on the in-depth prototype tests, a pilot series of KNC-401 sensors was pro - duced. Devices from the pilot series production were then put into daily production use at various film man - ufacturers and this experience was in turn incorporated into the series production of the KNC-401 sensors. The market launch of this new generation of capacitive thickness gauges has been delayed due to the pandemic and the subsequent procurement crisis. However, the time has now come and the KNC- 401 sensor will be the first product available to the global market from the end of 2024 and will be sold as a new device with the designation KNC-401 Rotomat KT 3G. Thanks to its backwards compatibility, the KNC-401 sensor can also replace the predecessor model on existing mea - suring systems. The vision of KCS is to be the world's most trusted gauge manu- facturer for filmextrusion. The com- pany firmly believes that with the market launch of the KNC-401 sen - sor they are contributing to achiev - ing this vision. KCS will also bring the remaining capacitive thickness sensors of the latest generation to production maturity as quickly as possible and distribute them to the global customer base. KÜNDIG CONTROL SYSTEMS (KCS), HCH. KÜNDIG & CIE. AG Joweid Zentrum 11, 8630 Rüti ZH, Switzerland www.gauge.ch KNC-401 Rotomat KT 2G (Source: Goglio S.p.A., Daverio, Italy)