The chemical industry knows better than most that accurate measurement and monitoring of materials is not just a matter of efficiency; it’s a matter of safety, quality and compliance. There are so many types of measurement, Column Load Cells are the most reliable instruments for industrial tank weighing in the chemical industry. It doesn’t matter if you’re tracking bulk liquids, hazardous substances or volatiles—your operations will stay dialed in thanks to the appropriately installed column load cell system.
In this post, we will be taking a look at what Column Load Cells for tank weighing in chemical plants offer, how they operate, the advantages that they provide and what to look out for when installing them into your process.
A Column Load Cell is a large capacity compression load cell with the ability to measure the tension or compression load at 7.5~500t. It usually is a cylindrical column like structure, that bends easily under pressure. Such a strain is sensed by internal strain gauges that transform mechanical force into electrical signal that can be subsequently processed by a control system.
Compared to other types of load cells (i.e., single-point and shear beam), column-type load cells are designed from the ground up to take big loads, often vertical ones—which means they are great for heavy-duty applications, such as weighing tanks, in sectors like chemical processing, oil and gas and pharmaceuticals.
In the chemical industry tanks are used for cisterns, reactors, dosing tanks and possibly also as liquid storage. The substances that they contain — liquids, powders or gases — must be closely regulated to guarantee:
Accurate inventory control
Accuracy in dosing for lot production
Consistent product quality
Operational safety under pressure or temperature fluctuations
Environmental and safety regulations observervenance
And unlike level sensors that can be incompatible with foam, turbulence or odd shapes, tanks with Column Load Cells on the other hand, provide a nonintrusive and accurate means of calculating the actual weight of the contents – irrespective of the materials behavior or condition within the tank.
C420 Tension Column Force Sensor
Normally, 3-4 Column Load Cells (dependent upon size and design) are used to Balance the tank. These load cells are typically installed into weighing modules that supply the necessary support, centering and overload protection. The sum signal of all load cells is transmitted to a weighing transmitter or PLC to monitor and control in real time.
Common use cases include:
Raw Material Storage
Chemical plants can contain yards of raw materials — acids, solvents or concoctions for special uses — which are kept in aboveground or belowground tanks. Column Load Cells can be used to monitor the amount of material being added or taken away in real time, this can be used for:
Inventory management
Automated reordering
Theft or leakage detection
Mixing and Batch Reactors
Specific proportions of ingredients are necessary for batch processes. Plants can minimize this by weighing the reactor on Column Load Cells and:
Pan Tilt added by high accuracy monitoring
Set alarms on overdosing or underdosing
Filling and Dosing
It even allows for automated filling and dispensing using weight instead of time or volume, for better accuracy and ease of use in a dosing system when combined with a tank as an intermediate container.
LCC410 Column Force Sensor 100 ton
Column Load Cells can carry extremely heavy loads, so they are perfect for large tanks with thousands of liters of liquid inside.
With vertical symmetry and a load bearing design, column load cells can reach accuracies as high as 0.05% of full scale, an essential element in high stakes chemical dosing.
Many of the Column Load Cells in Chemical plants constructed of stainless steel with no visible welding are also hermitically sealed to protect against corrosive vapors, chemical splashes or humidity encroachments.
Atex-zone In the hazardous area an explosion proof Column Load Cell can be installed in safe way. These are approved for use in hazardous locations where flammable gas or vapor is present.
Because the material is not passing through moving parts or exposed to any internal moving components, Column Load Cell systems are maintenance free and have a very long service life.
When it comes to the installation of Column Load Cell units for tank weighing in a chemical plant, there are several things that must be considered:
Tank Design and Support
Make certain that the tank design can accept load cells on critical locations without creating any off-center stress or twisting. Correctly designed weighing modules can compensate for misalignments, virtually eliminating such inaccuracies.
Environmental Protection
Choose load cells with an IP67 or IP68 rating for protection from washdowns, rain, and more.
Signal Conditioning
Select load cells with either analog outputs (mV/V, 4-20 mA) or digital outputs, based on your control system, to guarantee easy integration.
Temperature Compensation
For tanks with contents changing in temperature, or which are mounted outside, be certain the load cell is equipped with temperature compensation to prevent measurement drift.