Heater breakdown and thermal runaway due to a shorted heater, are two critical issues in most plastic processes.
A failure of the heater will cause a drop in temperature in the heating zone, thereby increasing friction on the screw, resulting in overheating and barrel wear.
If a heater shorts out, the temperature in that specific area cannot be controlled and can cause the plastic to overheat resulting in significant material scrap.
The RGC1S solid state relay and contactor series integrates current monitoring to detect total and partial heater failures.
Based on a "teach" function, the RGC1S compares the measured current to the one stored during the "teach" function and checks for current deviations for up to 6 heaters connected to the relay.