Diseño e implementación de un sistema de monitoreo de temperatura para el reactor de polímeros del Centro de Investigación Aplicada a Polímeros

Abstract

In the Research Center Applied to Polymers (CIAP) of the National Polytechnic School there is a polymer reactor, which is used to perform emulsion polymerization processes, with the aim of obtaining new materials such as vinyl, agglomerates and latex. In emulsion polymerization processes the temperature at which the reaction happens determinate characteristics of the polymer to be obtained, such as viscosity, flexibility and molecular weight, characteristics that decide the quality of the product obtained. From the beginning of this process it is necessary to know the temperature inside the reactor, since the reagents to be used react optimally to a certain temperature, this temperature is estimated by the time the reactor has been warming up. Another important event of the reaction is when the temperature suddenly reaches its maximum value, this indicates the moment when the polymer begins to gain viscosity and become whitish. Knowing the temperature in these events allows changes in the reagent dosage in order to obtain a flexible material with high molecular weights. Previously, the temperature measurement was performed manually, which limited the amount of data that could be acquired, resulting in no repetitiveness and the polymerization process has been affected. There for a temperature monitoring system that uses an infrared thermometer and an electronic data acquisition and processing system has been implemented. The information can be displayed on an LCD screen, stored in a text file and the temperature curve can be observed using an interface developed in Labview and using an application developed in Python.