Robern Menz’s production facility is located 15 minutes from Adelaide’s CBD, in Glynde, and is responsible for Australian favourites like Violet Crumble, Crown Mints, and FruChocs. The company recently upgraded its plant, which presented an opportunity to install new radar sensors in its chocolate holding tanks.
The need for an upgrade arose as there was no accurate way to measure chocolate levels in the tanks.
“The only way the company could check the levels was to physically look inside the tanks,” said Nick King, business development manager for VEGA in South Australia, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.
“That volume of chocolate is an expensive piece of inventory worth tens of thousands of dollars. The company wanted to get better inventory control.
“There was lost time, and there was no way of accurately tracking and accounting regarding the amount of product used or stock onsite.”
Robern Menz had previously used VEGA’s VEGAPULS 61 radar devices in its sucrose tanks. For the chocolate tanks, the VEGAPULS 64 radar sensor was the chosen solution.
“It was a bit of a challenge because there was not a lot of clearance in the tanks to put in the sensors,” said King.
“It was a fairly tight-fitting option. When they were upgrading the plant, they had a window of opportunity to install them.
“The tanks had existing connections we utilised. These were not in ideal positions, so we had to supply the radars with suitable process connections to fit the existing connections.”
The 80GHz radar technology was selected for its accuracy and higher repeatability compared to other sensor technologies available. Radar is unaffected by temperature or pressure and can penetrate most foams. In cases of uneven surfaces or pressurised tanks, technologies like ultrasonics prove more reliable.
“Radar, particularly the 80GHz radar, is solving problems that we couldn’t do reliably in the past,”
said King. “The VEGAPULS 64 is a narrow beam, 80GHz radar. This made it simple to install in this application where we were restricted for room and mounting position.
“It has a function called STC, which effectively helps it cope with build-up on the face of the sensor, so when the sensor is splashed with chocolate it still measures reliably.
“It has a high dynamic gain and the radar copes with an agitated surface. Even when the agitators pass in front of the radar, the setup procedure of the radar is able to tune them out. Imagine it’s like a fan running slowly passing through the sensor beam that goes on/off every time an agitator goes past.
“With functions like focus window and false signal suppression, these noise signals are ignored.”
The radar sends level data back to a PLC controller. The information is displayed on large screens using SCADA software, allowing the production team to monitor the process. These sensors were chosen for their reliability, measurement certainty, and national support, including stock holdings and technical backup, said King.
In addition to its primary function of measuring tank levels, the unit offers various other features. It can handle temperatures ranging from -40 °C to +150 °C in its base model, with options extending up to 200°C and 25 bar.
Other radars in the range are rated up to 160 bar and 400°C, with multiple process connection options, including bracket mount, hygienic, threaded, triclover, and flanged mounting. “Clients have told us how easy it is to use our sensors. This is made very easy with our app VEGA TOOLS via Bluetooth on your smart device,” said King.
For more information visit VEGA’s website at www.vega.com