Level Measurement & Control


Underwater sludge blanket level monitor

April 2005 Level Measurement & Control

Dupleix Liquid Meters (DLM) recently supplied and installed the sludge blanket level monitor in a Cape Town-based sewage works. The requirement was accurate and repeatable control of its sludge blanket. DLM's Cape Town-based representative, Warren Koen, knew that he had a product suitable for the requested application. Koen says: "The sewage works wanted to measure the sludge in their clarifier and to control the slurry of the discharge, although we are still busy fine tuning certain parameters, we are confident that the sludge blanket controller will give the desired result."

The MSL600 sludge blanket monitor is a microprocessor-based system, with many built-in, display, control and alarm features. The easy-to-use menu driven programming allows complete configuration of the unit while local programming is carried out via a membrane keyboard.

The MSL600 uses the sonar principle, with an ultrasonic pulse transmitted underwater. Sophisticated echo processing allows the MSL600 to analyse the returning pulse of ultrasound that is reflected from the surface of the sludge blanket. The system captures the ultrasonic echoes reflected from the blanket interface.

Knowing the speed of sound in the supernatant the depth of the sludge blanket is then determined from the time of flight of the echo. The system comprises an ultrasonic transducer and a bridge mounted control unit. These are specially designed for easy installation on a clarifier tank bridge using a mounting bracket, supplied with the system. The system is optimised for use with clarifiers and thickeners containing municipal and industrial wastewater treatment sludge. The MSL600 provides a means of sensing the presence of the sludge blanket and measuring its depth in the clarifier. It also provides a range of current and relay outputs to the user for control and alarm purposes.

The bridge mounted MSL600 is a standalone unit, which can also communicate to an optional remote mounted unit situated off the clarifier bridge, via an integral radio telemetry link with a 500 m range. The radio telemetry option is made available to cater for applications both with and without moving bridges, where transmitting small signals through slip rings or over long distances via expensive cable runs may be problematic.

Applications

* Primary and secondary clarifiers in waste water applications.

* Circular rotating or static clarifiers.

* Rectangular clarifiers with moving or static bridges.

* Most lamella clarifiers.

* Picket fence thickener sludge blanket level.

Features include human machine interface, 7 m range limit, integral radio link and an automatic sensor cleaning system that uses an air blast. Benefits include low maintenance, savings in cabling, remote communications, and ease of calibration.

For more information contact Dave Rosser, DLM, 011 457 0500, [email protected], www.dlm.co.za



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