Company: Dynisco Instruments, Plastics Division, Franklin, MA
Company Description: Dynisco is the leading provider of accurate, robust and reliable measurement and control solutions for extrusion and other plastics processes where pressure and temperature are critical. For 60 years, the Company has supplied customers around the world with sensors, controls, and analytical instruments that offer better control, reduced downtime, minimum scrap, and unmatched reliability.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: New Product or Service of the Year - Industrial Products & Services

Nomination Title: Vertex™ Mercury-Free Pressure Sensor

Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 525 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and performance to date:

The Vertex™ Mercury-Free Pressure Sensor from Dynisco sets a new, higher standard of control for melt pressure in plastics extruders. A radically different approach to high-temperature pressure sensing requires no mercury, or any other fill medium, which means Vertex™ is significantly friendlier to the environment than other sensors on the market. The design is exceptionally robust – as evidenced by an unprecedented 4-year warranty – so Vertex™ easily withstands the high temperatures, pressures and other stresses that define this industrial application.  The sensor is a drop-in replacement for existing devices. Performance, durability, environmental safety and service longevity create a unique value proposition that includes reduced cost of ownership.   

Every pound of plastic in the world today has gone through an extruder at least once, and more likely several times, before becoming a finished product. Pressure sensing is critical to the precision and safety of this ubiquitous process and is complicated by operating temperatures as high as 660°F. For years, the design of pressure sensors changed only incrementally. Pressure, sensed at the diaphragm tip of the sensor, was transmitted by a fill medium (usually mercury, but sometimes oil or proprietary fluids) to a strain gauge and the sensitive electronics that provide the pressure reading. While mercury is considered an environmental hazard, attempts to eliminate it in pressure sensors has been limited because most non-mercury technologies result in less-than-ideal performance. Lacking a viable alternative, the industry has resisted efforts to ban mercury outright and mercury-filled sensors continued to dominate the market.    

The challenge, then, was to develop a game-changing solution… a precision non-mercury sensor rugged and heat-resistant enough to replace existing technology. Market acceptance would require the new sensor to be a drop-in replacement for mercury-filled sensors with comparable or better performance.    

The Vertex™ design breakthrough is evident at the tip of the sensor, where patent-pending capacitance technology registers pressure directly. Direct sensing is more reflective of the true process pressure and provides faster response for better control in precision extrusion systems. At the sensor tip, the diaphragm is 6 times thicker than in other sensors. It is made of Inconel 718 alloy and coated for abrasion resistance, so service longevity under heat and pressure is increased. The wall structure is fortified to handle side stresses. Thus, Vertex™ is significantly more robust than other sensors, as evidenced by the standard 4-year warranty.  
 
Eliminating hazardous fill material (even non-mercury fluids can be toxic), Vertex™ is a safer product to own and use, and it eliminates hazardous waste and related costs for both users and the manufacturer. RoHS-compliant solder further reduces the sensor’s environmental footprint. 
  
The Vertex™ sensor has been on the market less than a year and sales are exceeding expectations. This is not too surprising, however, since Dynisco began engaging potential customers well before the sensors were introduced. Users of conventional sensors were invited via the company website and at major North American tradeshows to share their needs and expectations for pressure sensors. Several global-scale users voluntarily subjected prototypes to rigorous testing that validated their performance and value, and these same companies are phasing in the finished product. Response from the plastics press has been extremely positive.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

The innovative design, production platform, and market positioning of Vertex spring from the unique structure of its development team. Instead of the typical development-in-sequence by department-focused leaders, the Vertex process involved, from the beginning, representatives from four functional specialties: Product Management, Engineering, Operations/Continuous Improvement and Marketing.  While there was a team leader, his role was less about leading the team through development and more about managing the chaos of parallel multitasking.  The team’s success was due its diversity and its depth of experience. Collectively, the team has held titles from Specialists to Presidents to Business Owners; they have earned twelve college and post-graduate degrees in nine distinctly different areas; and their careers span a total of 140 years in thirty-one different industries.

.

.