SENDING OUT THE RIGHT SIGNAL
September 1st 2005

Guided wave radar level probes from Flowserve Gestra have enabled a large chemical plant in Cheshire to overcome problems with modulating boiler level controls.

In most boiler installations the ability to monitor and regulate water level is adequately achieved with conventional capacitance level probes.

However, conditions such as foaming may cause the probes to detect a false level. In most cases this is not enough to cause a problem but, for boilers feeding temperature critical processes or where the purity of steam might compromise batch quality, it may be necessary to eliminate such factors.

Gestra proposed the use of guided wave radar level probes. Instead of relying on capacitance, the probes guide radar waves that are bounced off the surface of the water. Using apertures in the boiler shell, the 4/20mA probes are rated to 135bar and ‘see’ through surface disturbance to establish the true water level in the boiler.

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