There’s no doubt about technology having a massive and positive impact on the future of automation and manufacturing. However, there are some industries like farming and typical agriculture that have benefited from the safety-assuring and more accurate reads being found with remote tank monitoring. With industries and offices being separated more and more as technology grows, there stands to reason that the old-school days of manual monitoring of stock and inventory are coming to an end.
While reducing labor costs as well as improving the general safety of many workplaces where danger is rife – like manufacturing factories as well as the ultimate test of bravery – oil rigs. Remote tank monitoring is making a positive impact in a variety of industries.
Remote tank monitoring businesses like Rugged Telemetry have already seen this trend, and are finding themselves in the right place at the right time when it comes to being on the forefront of technologies that are fast becoming adopted by companies across industries at a healthy rate. One of the more fascinating aspects to this new technology is the innovation surrounding the sensor measuring systems that are the core of the whole affair.
1. Hyrdrostatic Pressure
The most common method of measurement in modern sensors for tanks is the hydrostatic pressure sensor method. This typically involves the use of a sensor to monitor pressure at the bottom of the tank and correlating that reading with the height of the liquid (known as the static head pressure). This relatively simple methodology has been tried and true for water tanks around the world to great success and accuracy, it has also been optimized for oil and chemical readings also.
2. Ultrasonic Level
The Ultrasonic level measurement is another common sensor for liquids especially. It uses the principles of science and physics to calculate an accurate reading of a liquid level by using the ‘time of flight’ principle used in traditional ultrasonic guiding systems. By using soundwaves beamed at the liquid, there is a measurement that is taken from the time it takes to travel to the surface of the liquid and back again.
Considered an advantageous one due to the notion of it not ever touching the liquid directly which is very good for food manufacturers looking to keep contaminating risks to a minimum.
3. Guided Wave Radar
Guided wave radar is one of the more expensive ends of the spectrum of sensors for tank monitoring. While delivering the most accurate results, it can be costly but worthwhile if absolute precision is the intention, especially in environments with dust or foam particles as well as heavy vapors without any degradation to the readings.
4. Radar
Expensive, yes – accurate, absolutely. The radar sensor is one of the more principally used due to its resilience in a variety of conditions without any loss of accuracy as a result, longer lasting and efficient in a range of environments and substances, the radar is certainly expensive but worthwhile.