Measuring Material Level in Dusty Talc Applications for Luzenac
America
PROBLEM:
“Ultrasonic systems from two leading manufacturers don’t
work because of the heavy dust. The older weight and cable style
doesn’t work well because of high maintenance. I need a reliable
solution.”
EXPLANATION:
Luzenac supplies the pulp, paper and board industry with talc for
use as a pitch control agent and a runnability aid, a coating pigment
in both rotogravure and offset, and a functional filler. In certain
specialty papers, e.g. colored papers, labels, Luzenac talc’s
special properties help to improve quality and productivity. Talc
also has application as an additive to ceramic, rubber, plastics
and even roofing materials. Talc is about 50lbs/ft³ and very dusty.
Older electromechanical weight & cable devices couldn’t
live up to the rigors of the application, neither could ultrasonic
systems that were blinded by the heavy dust.
SOLUTION:
The Monitor Technologies SiloPatrol® smart cable-based sensor
system with 4-20mA output was being used successfully on this difficult
application at the Luzenac plant in Sappington, Montana. The Three
Forks plant needed a solution and decided to try the SiloPatrol inventory
monitoring system to reliably keep track of their finished goods
inventory. In this tough application the SiloPatrol proved to be
the best solution. The sensor is unaffected by the dust and internal
bin structures. The SiloPatrol sensor uses a powerful direct drive
motor and 270lb. tensile strength cable along with state-of-the-art
microcontroller based electronics.
Luzenac prefers the SiloPatrol
system to other equipment they have tried. This is evidenced by
their usage at the two plants in Montana
and one plant in Houston, TX. They have dozens of units in place
that continue to work reliably for them.
Give Monitor Technologies a call and let us put
our creative solutions to work for you!
Global Flour Processor Uses Flexar® Guided Wave Radar
A large global flour processor and food products company recently began using the Flexar® guided wave radar in a total of eighteen (18) silos and bins to manage their finished product inventory. Readings from these continuous level sensors is reported as being reliable and accurate, even during pneumatic filling, contrary to their previous measuring system. A previous non-performing ultrasonic system was replaced by the Flexar level sensors. Flexar guided wave radar level sensors were chosen as the best for pneumatically filled dust laden flour silos.
Eight (8) Flexar level sensors are installed in load-out silos that fill bulk trucks with processed and finished flour. These silos are 12ft in diameter and 35ft tall. The finished flour is pneumatically conveyed into these silos. During filling the internal environment of the silos is very dusty and turbulent. The finished flour in these silos is used for loading bulk transport trucks for distribution. In addition, ten (10) Flexar level sensors are installed in 40ft high bins that contain bran. This material is also sent by bulk transport to end users.
All of the Flexar level sensors are equipped with an RS485 digital communications output that is connected to a PC with a graphical user interface for inventory management purposes. Monitor’s SiloTrack™ inventory management software is used by the facility to monitor and manage material inventories of both the finished flour and the bran. SiloTrack allows for multiple user viewing and data access via LAN and this is how the facility will be using the software that provides a flexible, graphical user interface, alarms, report generation and history analysis functions.
Guided wave radar is especially well suited to level measurement applications of dusty powder materials even when measuring during pneumatic filling. Flexar guided wave radar utilizes TDR (time domain reflectometry) technology. Radar pulses are continuously transmitted down the sensor’s probe and guided to the material surface where they are reflected back to the electronics along the wave guide. The time-of-flight of the pulses is measured and directly related to the distance to the material surface and its level.
PROBLEM:
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