Output Mode 79
User Guide v 2.0 — March 2023 Making Adjustments
7.8.6 Output Mode
In hot runner temperature control systems, there are two different methods used to switch
the power output to the heaters: Zero Cross Control or Phase Angle Control. Each method
has its own set of advantages, but usually they have almost the same results.
The Altanium system lets you run each zone in one or the other mode. The default mode is
Zero Cross for all zones.
To change the Output Mode for a zone, do the steps that follow:
1. On the Quick Set screen, touch the zone to be changed.
2. Touch the Advanced Settings drop-down tab.
3. Touch the Output Mode field to toggle between the Zero Cross and Phase Angle
modes.
7.8.7 Zone Follow
The components that are the most sensitive to damage in the mold are the thermocouples.
A thermocouple failure in a zone causes an alarm and shows an error on the Alarm screen for
that zone. When this occurs, one of three operations can be done:
• Stop the mold operation, remove the mold, and repair the fault. This may not be
necessary or possible to do during an injection operation.
• Change the zone to Manual control mode and continue the injection operation. This has
its limits, because Manual mode cannot compensate for changes in the process that
have an effect on the heater's power requirements (example: shear heat).
• Assign the defective zone (as a follower) to a different zone (leader). Because of the
symmetrical operation in the design of hot runner molds, frequently there are other
zones that have almost the same thermal characteristics as the defective zone. The
Altanium system can apply the power output from a fully functional zone to the zone
with the defective thermocouple. Process changes that have an effect on the power
requirements of the heaters are automatically applied to the defective zone. This can be
a temporary repair of the defective thermocouple/zone when it is not necessary to open
the mold immediately.
7.8.7.1 Automatic Follow Function
If a thermocouple has a malfunction during the operation of the mold, the Altanium
automatic follow function will take over. The Altanium system constantly monitors the
heaters in the mold and stores the data. A zone’s data is compared with other zones in the
mold. This is used to select a Leader/Follower relation between two zones that are almost the
same. This occurs for every zone in the mold. If a thermocouple fails, it will cause an alarm and
show an error on the Alarm screen.
With the use of the compared data that the Altanium has stored, the system knows which
zone to assign the defective zone to as its leader, so that it continues to operate in a closed
loop control mode.
The only requirement is to see the error, then clear and reset the alarm. On the Neo View,
Multi Group View, Graphical View, and Text View screens, the number toggles between the
original zone number and the zone to which it follows.
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