TechArchive

Original article date: July 2000

Coriolis flowmeters are adding flexibility to fluid weigh platforms

For many years, manufacturers of industrial liquids have used weigh-filling systems to monitor the quantity of product delivered into the final drum or container. A recent design from RCS Filling Machines monitors the weight of fluid dispensed using a Coriolis Mass flowmeter from Micro Motion, a division of Fisher-Rosemount: this meter replaces the normal cumbersome static weigh platform, allowing the whole machine to become a mobile manoeuvrable unit.

There are growing numbers of applications like this where the Coriolis meter is displacing old-established flow or weigh measurement techniques. They all involve close co-operation between the meter manufacturer and the special purpose machine builder.

The new RCS Filling Machine incorporates a number of features: lance retraction and wiping systems as the container fills; an automatic two-stage valve closure as the end point approaches, to improve fill accuracy and reduce batch overrun; and drip tray insertion under the nozzle after closure. The electronic logic system is intelligent, learning the effects of flow rates and delivery pressures, by monitoring the overfill at the end of each cycle, and reducing such overshoot on subsequent deliveries.

The whole system has achieved full Weights and Measures Approval, and one such system is in operation with Polartech in Manchester.

Polartech manufactures additives for metal working fluids, and supplies these globally to lubricant blenders and marketing companies. Consignments can be in 20 or 25 litre packs, 205 litre drums, or 1000 litre IBC containers.

The new portable filling system has been a joint development effort between RCS and Micro Motion engineers. “The major advantage we are able to offer our customers is that multiple drums can be filled on a pallet, or even on stacked pallets, eliminating the need for individual drum handling,” says Ross Gammon, the MD of RCS Filling Machines. “By avoiding the requirement for the conventional static weigh platform, pre-adjusted for level, the flowmeter based fill system can be made portable: the operator can simply move from pallet to pallet around the warehouse.”

By using the Coriolis meter sizes now available, the volume dispensed from these RCS machines can range from as low as 50g, up to in excess of 1000kg. Fisher-Rosemount sees this co-operation with specialist companies and systems integrators like RCS as important in providing the best service and support to industries requiring detailed application expertise. Recent similar distribution agreements have been made for Micro Motion flowmeters to be sold through Fluid Management Technology, of Oxford, where a recent project involved edible oil measurement in an ice-cream factory, and Industrial Flow Control (IFC) of Essex, who specialise in road and rail tanker loading systems.

• Micro Motion
• Fisher-Rosemount

July 2000