Monitoring the particle size distribution of a powder mixing process with acoustic emissions: a review

Abstract

In mixing processes, the particle size distribution (PSD) is an important physical quality driver of these powders. In most production plants the current method of inspecting this PSD is by means of a manual reference sieve analysis, which is reliant on human effort, and it is slow and time consuming. With the current manufacturing flow, in-process optimisation is difficult to implement and this has caused final output quality to vary considerably per box. This has necessitated the need for real-time process monitoring sensors, to provide the online data needed for quality monitoring and produce opportunity for process optimisation. A summary of in-process sensing methods that can be used to monitor PSD are presented and reviewed. This is followed by a critical analysis of the related research where acoustic emissions have been used to monitor particle sizes.