Patent ID: 6892973

Claim:
A fiber refiner monitoring system comprising: (a) a plurality of fiber refiners that each refine fibrous stock comprising: (1) at least one pair of annular refiner disks that are opposed, that are spaced apart defining a refining zone therebetween containing fibrous stock during operation, that each have a fiber refining surface with the fiber refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the fiber refining surface of the other one of the refiner disks, each refining surface including a plurality of upraised refiner bars that each have an axial outer surface and a plurality of grooves that are each defined by a pair of adjacent refiner bars and a bottom surface, and that have one of the refiner disks rotatable relative to the other one of the refiner disks; (2) a plurality of spaced apart sensors each disposed in a bore in the refining surface of one of the refiner disks, each sensor comprising a metal tubular housing in which a temperature or pressure sensing element is disposed, the metal tubular housing having an end wall that is located adjacent to and below the axial outer surface of an adjacent refiner bar, and the sensing element disposed adjacent the end wall of the metal tubular housing; and (b) a processor linked to each sensing element of each one of the plurality of sensors of each one of the plurality of fiber refiners that is configured to interpret signals from the sensors as pertaining to a physical property of fibrous stock.