Sugar-water Mixer Pump Control

Liquiphant with open bent fork prevents solid particles from sticking between tines

Processing vats

Mixing sugar the old way

Checking vats today

Two Liquiphants are used to control a pump in a sugar-water mixer. To prevent agglomerated sugar from sticking between the tines and blocking fork vibration, the tines have been bent open with a special tool. Company profile Major food manufacturer Description of application The pump control is installed in a batch control continuous system. Granular sugar is conveyed by an auger from a rail car. The sugar is mixed with water by a propeller mixer in a small hopper. After several minutes of mixing, the pump is activated and the product is pumped to a storage tank.

Problem The product is very difficult to measure. The sugar will float and agglomerate when it enters the water. The propeller mixer provides a violent mix action and the surface of the liquid is extremely turbulent The customer requires two measuring sensors. The first sensor is a low point level switch that stops the pump and re-starts the filling process. The customer also requires a high point level switch that prevents the hopper from over filling. Rejected alternative measurement principles Almost every type of level sensor was tried. Floats failed due to sticking Capacitive switches and gap switches failed due to build-up The violent agitation prevented measurement by ToF (Time of Flight) radar sensors The customer resorted to timed filling, which worked, but would result in smaller batches and slower processing time.

Solution The first trial to solve this application was done with two Liquiphants; one as a high level switch and the other as a low level switch. Initially, this solution did not work because the undissolved granular sugar would wedge between the Liquiphant tines. To avoid this problem, a modified Liquiphant was used, which required the tines to be bent outward. This is accomplished using a special tool that avoids any damage to the crystal inside the Liquiphant and without affecting performance. When the modified Liquiphants were placed back into operation, the modification was a complete success. As soon as the sugar-liquid mix hit the high level sensor, the filling stopped (the mixer was running continuously). After a few minutes, the discharge pump would start and drain the solution. When the mix level reached the bottom sensor, the pump would stop and refilling would start. Batch times decreased, the pump was protected and overfilling stopped.

Solenoid valve Water line Propeller mixer Liquiphants Sugar conveyor

For more information contact: Larry Kubacki Antel Corporation Willowbrook, IL 60527 Bending tool information, contact: Christoph Rompf Endress+Hauser, Inc. Greenwood, IN 46143

Discharge pump
Schematic of the sugar-water mixer indicating location of Liquiphants

Procedure for bending tines Liquiphants with bent forks can be ordered via TSP (modification no. MVT2L0866). In cases where forks have to be bent after the customer has received the Liquiphant, a service tool is available. This tool ensures that the tines are bent symmetrically and that the piezo drive is not damaged during the bending process.

02.04/SCUSA

USA Endress+Hauser, Inc. 2350 Endress Place Greenwood, IN 46143 Tel. 317-535-7138 Sales 888-ENDRESS Service 800-642-8737 Fax 317-535-8498 inquiry@us.endress.com www.us.endress.com

Canada Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd. 1440 Grahams Lane Unit 1, Burlington ON, L7S 1W3 Tel. 905-681-9292 800-668-3199 Fax 905-681-9444 www.ca.endress.com

Mexico Endress+Hauser Paseo del Pedregal No. 610 Col. Jardines del Pedregal 01900, Mexico D.F. MEXICO Tel. 525-568-2405 Fax 525-568-7459

CS 0137/24/ae/02.04 AE/INDD 2.0