WATER MONITORING FEATURE
This results in excess water continually overflowing out to effluent treatment, so this incurs additional operational and environmental costs. Suddenly this ‘simple’ water level application is now looking a little more complex. The original plant was supplied with ‘Guided Wave Radars’ for the level control. While they are very good in extreme conditions, they can struggle to work reliably over very short ranges, especially when heavy coating of the guide rod element is factored in. They suffered both with signal loss and ‘run time’ error, believed to be caused by the combination of build up, rapid level change, condensation and foaming surfaces. These errors caused the water replenishment system to run the fresh mains water ‘emergency top-up’ almost continually. Ongoing maintenance and cleaning on the devices was high too. When a new 80GHz contactless
liquid level radar from VEGA was launched and demonstrated it could work with millimeter resolution in a vessel as small as a 250ml water bottle, Cory Riverside Energy engineers took notice - this could be a solution. Especially as it was claimed the radar could cope with condensation and build up on the sensor face too. After a
successful on site demonstration test with a battery-powered unit, they installed a trial device on an existing nozzle. The VEGAPULS 64 worked very well, but it was soon discovered that sublimation deposits carried by foam was blocking the mounting nozzle and would soon become a problem. It was easy to monitor and diagnose via the echo curve available in the VEGATOOLS Bluetooth App. As a result a small low pressure purge was introduced inside the nozzle, which has cured this problem. Even though there is still some condensation and sublimation of the sensor face, it copes with this. The before and after trend of the
water valve operation tells the story. Cory now has reduced usage of mains water, saving on operational costs and reducing their environmental impact. The radar has been installed and working reliably for a year and the other two ash expellers are also scheduled to be fitted with the new devices. The new radars are also being used in other applications, including measuring through plastic chemical tanks elsewhere on the site.
VEGA Controls
www.vega.com/uk T: 01444 870055
Top trend shows the very high rate of mains water top up valve operations before with the guided wave radar system, the lower graph since the contactless 80GHz level radar was fitted. Now water is only being used when needed
VEGAPULS 64 80GHz radar mounted on the quench tank (cover removed) now working reliably
INSTRUMENTATION | APRIL 2018
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