A midwest-based grain elevator and storage company had four receiver hoppers that they were interested in having level sensors installed in. When they first get in a load of grain or soybean, they place it in the receiver bins while a sample of the load is being tested (for moisture content, etc.). Once the product is cleared it then gets placed in their regular storage silos. As you may imagine, during peak times product is going in and out of these receiver bins at a rapid pace. Some type of level measurement system that could keep up with this dynamic situation would be most useful. Plus, the soybean and grain being moved around so quickly caused some highly dusty conditions which needed to be taken into consideration.
For the rest of their storage bins they were already using SiloPatrol® cable-based level sensors linked to SiloTrackTM inventory management software. Since they have two locations, they were able to monitor the inventory the silos for both locations from the main office using the SiloTrack software. The SiloPatrol sensors worked well for their regular grain storage silos; however, for the receiver bins they needed something that could provide “real-time” measurements besides work with their inventory software and be reliable in extremely dusty surroundings.
The Flexar® guided wave radar system was suggested to them because it matched all of the criteria. To make sure that everything was going to function properly, the company tested out one Flexar unit at first. After a period of time, they determined that the Flexar sensor was able to reliably do everything they needed so the company purchased Flexar sensors for the rest of their receiver bins.
The Flexar® guided wave radar sensor is a continuous level measurement system using TDR (time domain reflectometry) principles where radar pulses are focused down to the material surface by the unit’s wave guide (a heavy duty cable) and the time-of-flight of the pulse reflection back to the instrument electronics is directly related to the empty distance in the vessel and the material level. Guided wave radar technology has proven successful and an excellent choice for most powder and bulk solids applications as well as a multitude of liquids applications.
Benefits of Flexar® include no moving parts for less wear and tear; the employed technology allows the sensor to be virtually unaffected by and reliable in dusty conditions; no field calibration is required to provide easy installation and setup; and a universal power supply for high or low voltage options.
The Flexar sensor can also be supplied with a choice of outputs. The analog 4-20mA output version can be interfaced to your existing PLC or DCS and the “Smart” RS-485 output version is compatible with the PC-based SiloTrackTM Inventory Management software. The SiloTrack software automates level monitoring and report generation, sends email notifications to suppliers or corporate locations and allows remote viewing of material level inventory.
For more information, please visit
www.monitortech.com/product_c_f_flexar.shtml
or www.flexar.info or call us in the USA at 800-766-6486 or from anywhere at 630-365-9403. Also, check out our Level Measurement blog at http://monitortech.typepad.com