The Uttam Galva Steels Ltd, Khopoli, Raigad, is the largest manufacturer and global supplier of steel products to various industries worldwide. The company manufacturescolour coated coils, cold rolled steel, galvanized coils and sheets.In 2011, Uttam Galva Steels Ltd decided to upgrade the plant to automate the process of monitoring the fly ash silos. Fly ash is a byproduct of energy generation in the plant, stored and monitored in silos.

Challenges Faced In Monitoring Fly Ash

There was a need of upgrading the plant as the fly ash silos have extreme environments with formation of heavy dust clouds of fly ash during filling and emptying cycles. The challenges with manual level measurement were the frequentdata losses and errors in measurement. To eliminate the manual errors occurring in the process, need for process automation was realized at Khopoli plant.

The requirement of process automation was for the continuous level measurement in the silos of 9 meters and 12 meters depth.

Providing Reliable Solutions

Developing innovative solutions for the particular problem oflevel measurement, Pune Techtrol has provided theultrasonic transmitter Microflex LRwith the sealed IP68 enclosure for automating the process of monitoring silos at The Uttam Galva Steels Ltd.Microflex LR is a non-contact technology transmitter emits high energysignal to determine the distance of the fly ash and measures it.

Microflex LRuses low frequencies for reliable level measurements in hot and dusty conditionswhere traditional ultrasonic transmitters fail.Microflex LR has beeninstalled in the planton top of the silos. It has chemical resistant transducer.

The transmitter output range is from 4 to 20 mA, DC, HART, and communicates via MODBUS serial communication. It has advanced echo extraction system to avoid spurious signals and dust issues. The instrument programming is user-friendly with trouble-free setup and simple commissioning using vision system software. The transmitter has an integral display and is and transmits the data for remote indication & monitoring.

Advantages

Microflex LR is suitable for fly ash level measurements as its performance is not affected by the hot and dusty environment.The fly ash generation and its handling arecontinuous and the monitoring the levels accurately canprove helpful in planning the further processes efficiently. Microflex LR is reliable and maintenance-free, ensuring the safety of the operators by eliminating the traditional and tedious measurements from the tops of the silos.

The Microflex LR has proved to be a problem solver for measuring level in the dusty environment, of fly ash in silos by providing aneconomical and effective solution. The lightweight and compact design of the transmitter has reduced the installation efforts and costs while providing real-time results to the customers’ needs.

The Uttam Galva Steels Ltd, Khopoli, Raigad, is the largest manufacturer and global supplier of steel products to various industries worldwide. The company manufacturescolour coated coils, cold rolled steel, galvanized coils and sheets.In 2011, Uttam Galva Steels Ltd decided to upgrade the plant to automate the process of monitoring the fly ash silos. Fly ash is a byproduct of energy generation in the plant, stored and monitored in silos.