APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR USER-SPECIFIC PRODUCTION MONITORING AND REGULATION

摘要

The invention relates to an apparatus, particularly a extruder or injection molding machine, for user-specifically monitoring and preferably regulating the processing of plastic materials. Said apparatus comprises a material feeding mechanism (1) that delivers the plastic as a raw material, a plasticizing device (2) which plasticizes/homogenizes the raw material, and a molding device (3) that shapes the plasticized/homogenized raw material into a product. A data link can be established between a control device (5) and an input device (130) via which at least one value of a process input variable, such as the cost of the apparatus, the raw material, power, and processed quantity, can be input. At least one process monitoring variable, e.g. the duration of a product cycle, product cost, raw material used/power consumed per product cycle, expected purchase price for a given quantity of a product, and number of product cycles until maintenance, can be determined essentially in real time from at least one process control variable and/or process input variable by means of a processor device (14). A data link can be established between the control device (5) and an output device (16) via which at least one value of at least one process monitoring variable, such as the actual desired, or mean value, the value integrated since starting, the history or tendency of said value, can be output and can be represented, preferably with the aid of a characteristic diagram.