Troubleshooting - Problems and Solutions

Troubleshooting - Problems and Solutions 141 5.2.2 Part Sticking in Core... 

Tricks of the Trade This troubleshooting archive offers problems and solutions to common molding problems. 

Much useful information on problems and solutions in extrusion is available from material and equipment suppliers. Trade journals publish special issues on this subject with very useful tables, and industrial literature includes practical guides with helpful details (see reference 2 and Chapter 18). The size of this book does not permit such treatment, but an excellent summary of troubleshooting is given in Table 3-11, from Plastics World (185). 

In retrospect, it may seem ludicrous to have cut back production because of a limited range on an unimportant flow recorder. Both the problem and solution seem to be the sort of thing local supervision should have handled. Perhaps troubleshooting of this type is too trivial for the trained chemical engineer. 

Success of troubleshooting is to understand the correct situation of the problems and solution to achieve and maintain processing operation. 

With the plant interview information, verification of the data, and the completion of the simple calculations, an experienced troubleshooter will develop a set of hypotheses for the root cause of the defect. After the hypotheses are established, a series of experiments need to be developed that accept or reject the hypotheses. Once a hypothesis is accepted via experimentation, then the next step is to develop a technical solution to remove the defect. Often more than one technical solution Is possible. The best technical solution will depend on the cost and time to implement the solution, machine owner acceptance, and the risk associated with the modified process. An accepted hypothesis must drive the technical solution. If a hypothesis is not accepted prior to developing a technical solution, then the troubleshooter may be working on the wrong problem and the defect may not be eliminated from the process. 

The first major resource that you can use for troubleshooting a problem is your own brain. Your brain can hold lots of information. We remember almost everything we re exposed to. For this reason, the best troubleshooters are usually the people who have been exposed to the most problems. They have seen several different types of problems and their solutions. If they run into a particular problem, they may have seen it before and can quickly fix the problem. 

In the next section, you learned how to troubleshoot file-related problems. You learned some of the more common file-related problems and their solutions. Some of the problems you learned about include missing or corrupt system files, missing application DLL files, Windows NT boot problems, and swap file issues. 

With its wealth of information and rare focus solely on the subject, this book provides practical tools to help readers better understand these and other problems and then develop optimal solutions and strategies. It discusses mechanisms of organic acid antimicrobial action and facilitates troubleshooting techniques regarding problems with preservatives and microorganisms. It also shows how to predict the effectiveness of a preservation method or application. 

The scope of this chapter is limited to troubleshooting HPLC systems using predeveloped and validated methods of analysis. We will focus on some of the most commonly encountered problems and the possible solutions. 

Different authors approach troubleshooting in different ways. Some prefer to present symptoms and solutions and others prefer to look at component-related problems and provide solutions. It is difficult to know which way is better, but we have always felt that the best source of information in relation to what is going on is the chromatogram. The chromatogram is the pictorial representation of what has happened in the system and therefore is a measure of what is right and what is wrong—for example ... 

These questions should provide a starting point for any troubleshooting activity and should be a matter of course when assessing any chromatographic procedure. Taking the symptom/solution approach, we can look at each of the questions and assess where problems might arise, how they can be diagnosed, and how they can be solved. 

As described in Chapters 2, 3, and 10, there is a logical approach to setting up a troubleshooting guide. Details reviewed in those chapters concerning the approach to be used are applicable to BM and other processes. Table 4-14 lists some of the common BM problems with information on causes and solutions (192). 

The first of the troubleshooting problems the CWS dealt with in the Mediterranean area was that of item overages and shortages. The second was the fact. that the condition of some material on reaching the theater was such that extensive repair, renovation, or adaptation was required—this was the maintenance problem. There were many other troubleshooting problems, but, examples of the overages and shortages and of maintenance problems not only demonstrate solutions but also show how the practice of impetus from the front operated. 

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