Non-contacting ultrasonic level measurement equipment to monitor stock levels

At Lafarge’s Barnstone Cement plant, in Nottinghamshire, Pulsar Process Measurement have supplied eight points of non-contacting ultrasonic level measurement equipment to monitor stock levels, replacing unreliable contacting probes and solving both measurement and safety headaches for the site.

Barnstone’s main product is a quick dry mortar, a mixture of sand and cement particularly aimed at the maintenance and post fixing market. Batches of sand and cement are mixed before being delivered to a high-speed bagging line to be packed off. It is therefore vital that stocks in the large silos are known and maintained so that the bagging process can be continuously fed.

Before the Pulsar equipment was installed, contacting probes were used, but these were subject to wear and were unreliable. That meant that an operator had to go to the top of the 10m silos to check on level, a potentially hazardous operation and unpleasant too, as the silos are open to the elements. Replacing the ineffective probes with a reliable system was not only a priority for the process, then, but  also fulfilled the important condition under the Work at Height regulations of avoiding an operator being exposed to the risk of a serious fall.

After discussions with Pulsar, a Blackbox non-contacting ultrasonic measurement system featuring a 25m range dB25 transducer was selected and installed onto eight silos. As the  Plant Maintenance Engineer explained, ‘We were very pleased with the equipment right from the start. We were able to run the signal from the Pulsar equipment into the plant mimic to give us a good indication of stock level, and nobody has to climb to the top of the silo to check levels.’