Houston, TX – In the October meeting of the Houston Material Handling Society, Joe Lewis of Monitor Technologies LLC spoke about “Recent Directions in Level Monitoring & Measurement for Bulk Solids” and reminded the group of approximately 40 area engineers, representing nearly 1,000 years of material handling expertise, that while their companies may see them simply as a cost of doing business, they must take the initiative to show their employers that they indeed drive business performance improvements through process optimization. Quoting from a recent editorial in a key automation magazine Mr. Lewis said that “engineers must step up and assume a leadership role within their companies by helping drive new levels of business performance”. He further stated that the reason many companies don’t understand the true value of engineering is “because most financial systems cannot measure the improvements you generate”.
In the talk that Mr. Lewis presented to the HMHS group of engineers he discussed two directions in level measurement and monitoring of bulk solids where engineers can demonstrate the type of value they bring to their employers. These include the use of “self-validating bin level monitors” to prevent silo spills due to unknown high level indicator failures, and tips to ensure successful use and installation the most popular continuous level measurement technology for bulk solids, the guided wave radar level sensor. For more information please download the Word document and PowerPoint presentation from Mr. Lewis’s Level Measurement blog post at www.monitortech.typepad.com or contact Mr. Lewis at jlewis@monitortech.com or 1-800-766-6486.
SiloPatrol® SE Measuring coal powder levels when nothing else will work ….
Coal-fired power plants are commonplace around the
world. In order for these power generating stations to create
huge amounts of electricity the turbines need to be feed with steam
and the steam created by boilers that are fired by … yep,
coal. But coal as it comes from the mining operations is not
what is fed to the burners. First it is ground or pulverized
into powder. It is not unusual for the coal powder to be stored
in silos awaiting the demand for it to be fed to the burners. The
inventory of coal powder in these silos needs to be monitored to
allow for efficient operation of the power plant.
So, how do we monitor the inventory of coal powder in a silo? Not
easily. In one typical application the power plant personnel
found that the only technology that would work reliably is the modern
smart weight & cable system from Monitor Technologies LLC, the
SiloPatrol® SE.
Anhui Tongling power plant in Anhui province in China had tried
almost ever technology possible to get a reliable level measurement
in their 5 coal powder silos. Radar, ultrasonic and others
were tried, but none worked reliably. It wasn’t until
Beijing Conasen walked in and proposed that the Tongling plant use
the SiloPatrol SE smart cable-based inventory monitoring system that
the power plant personnel found a reliable solution.
Mr. William Yuan, sales manager for Beijing Conasen indicates that
the power plant tried many major brands of ultrasonic, radar, and
other technologies but that due to good relations with the Tongling
plant personnel he was able to sell three SiloPatrol SE model SMU
sensors and an HMI operator interface to them. The units were
installed by plant personnel. Because of the heavy amount of
coal dust in the silos an air purge using dry compressed air was
used. The SiloPatrol sensor incorporates the patent-pending
use of Hall-effect sensor technology, a split-compartment enclosure,
microcontroller, redundant optics and many other valuable features
and technology to ensure reliable measurement even in challenging
dust applications like coal powder.
The SiloPatrol SE system has been working reliably and the plant
has since purchased two additional sensors and connected them into
the same HMI operator interface. This same sensor technology
is working reliably at other coal-fired power stations in China as
well.
For more information on the SiloPatrol SE click
here or contact Monitor Technologies LLC at 800-766-6486 in
the USA and 630-365-9403 worldwide.
CLICK HERE TO SEND
PAGE TO A FRIEND