Accurate level measurement of strongly foaming liquids in filling and bottling processes can now be achieved more reliably with the latest version of Sick’s LFP Inox probe. The LFP Inox is a hygiene-compliant level probe that uses guided radar technology, so it’s largely unaffected by a liquid’s density or conductivity.
The new guided-radar probe incorporates a patented Sick algorithm in its firmware that discounts the false signals caused by foam. Trials of the updated LFP Inox with UK food and beverage processors have shown that excellent success rates are possible for measuring levels accurately in the presence of wet, dense foams such as sauces or edible oils in vessel filling and bottling applications. The results show significant cost savings are likely for vessel level measurement and bottle filling applications.
“Trials of the LFP Inox unique foam algorithm on high-speed milk bottle filling lines, for example, have shown that wastage caused by under- or over-filled bottles and line downtime due to false head tank level readings can be significantly reduced,” said industrial sensor specialist Darren Pratt. “Conventional level sensors are often unable to distinguish between foam and liquid, hence bottles are frequently under-filled resulting in a high percentage of rejects. By using the LFP Inox level sensor, the bottling line tank levels were kept consistently topped up to enable gravity feed of the bottles on the 100+ unit-per-minute lines. The filling unit operators were very pleased, as the efficiency of their production lines has been significantly improved. We would be very interested to conduct trials with other processors encountering difficulty determining fluid level in the presence of foam.”
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