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An application report from a satisfied customer:

Our customer produces flexible packaging material at his location. Solvent-based inks, varnishes and adhesives are used in the printing and lamination production steps; the drying process takes place in encapsulated dryers, the exhaust air of which is fed to a recovery system for solvents; In this, the recovered solvents are then processed by rectification to the extent that they can be returned to the production process. An evaporative cooling system with an open cooling circuit is assigned to the operation of the rectification system. The cooling water must be treated with various liquid conditioning agents for safe operation. These are stored in 200l containers, from which pumps are then used for dosing.

The fill level in the containers must be checked regularly to assess the correct dosage. The classification of some conditioning agents as harmful and corrosive led, after a risk analysis was carried out, to the wish that this level measurement should be carried out without contact. In addition, the level measurement had to be sufficiently resistant to the conditioning agent, which meant that no weighing system could be used (small leakage quantities, sensitive measuring system). Since the containers are changed regularly, a permanent installation was also ruled out. All previous experiments with measuring systems in contact with the product, for example tank level measurements according to the differential pressure measuring principle, had to be terminated after a short duration of the experiment.

The choice was therefore made for the LC 100 measuring system from Secu-Tech (Security & Electronic Technologies GmbH, Austria), as according to the product description, this meets all the requirements for the desired level measurement.

In April 2020, the customer made an initial request to Secu-Tech; They offered to initially make a device available for testing purposes in order to test its suitability for the application.

Test procedure

• April 21, 2020 request
• 22 April 2020 offer for test device
• April 29, 2020 Delivery and installation of the test device with measuring tube; Additional sealing of the housing all around with silicone to protect the electronics against product vapors.
• June 23, 2020 Report on the first test result; the level measurements did not decrease, although the product was removed from the container (check with a folding rule). Repeated recalibrations of the device were unsuccessful. Probable cause of reflections of the ultrasonic measuring signal on the measuring tube wall. Re-installation without a measuring tube directly inserted into the container opening show better results. The test will continue under the changed conditions
• July 16, 2020 Positive completion of the test phase;

Conclusion:

The LC100 non-contact level measuring device is very well suited for the application described. The resistance to the cooling water conditioning agents has been sufficiently proven. The level in the containers can be determined easily and with sufficient accuracy.