Monitoring the continuously changing level of corn in the surge hopper of an ethanol production facility can be challenging, since the material level may be continuously changing and the environment is very dusty. Unlike all other continuous level measurement technologies, guided wave radar is unaffected by dusty environments such as what occurs during the filling of corn surge bins.
FlexarTM guided wave radar continuous level measurement sensors from Monitor Technologies LLC are being used successfully in corn surge hopper applications, making reliable and accurate readings available to users every second. The Flexar guided wave radar unit uses time domain reflectometry (TDR) technology to make accurate measurements.
With TDR, microwave pulses are guided to the material surface along a continuous stainless steel cable of 0.31 in. diameter. The microwave pulses reflect off the material surface and the time of flight results in the distance measurement of empty space. The unit calculates the material level based on silo height information and transmits this data either through smart RS485 communications for use with the company’s SiloTrack inventory management system, or via a 4-20mA output signal to a remote receiving device such as a control system or digital display meter
Monitor Technologies LLC supplies level, flow, particle emission, and aeration instrumentation for the worldwide grain processing, storage, and handling industries.