Intro
Basically a producer of bio-diesel had to weigh their reactor vessel. Their preference was for a remote display, which would be positioned outside of the hazardous zone.
The Application
In addition, the company also wished to log the weight of the vessel as they added ingredients. One ingredient to the transesterification process is Ethanol, a highly volatile, flammable liquid.
The Solution
ATEX approved strain gauges were, on this occasion, already fitted to the reactor vessel support structure. Technicians connected these in-line to an ATEX 4-20mA load cell amplifier (ALA5). The 4 to 20mA current loop output then passed through a barrier to the safe area. One of Mantracourt’s panel instruments was fitted with a current input module and RS232 serial communications module. Finally, these allowed the connection to a PC where engineering units logged the reactor weight values.
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