From initial installation the difference in signal strength and reliability was clearly evident (refer to diagram).

Virtually no adjustment was required to the instrument other than full/empty settings and an initial silo mapping.

Golden Bay has also allowed EMC to install a Levelflex Guided Radar Level Transmitter on one of the problematic silos to allow comparison with the space-free radars.

Glen Lewis, instrument engineer at Golden Bay, is very impressed with the signal integrity and reliability of the Levelflex and can track the small level changes as the silo is filled and emptied.

Lewis says that along with the reliability of the FMR250 Solids Radar, this now gives Golden Bay two options for reliable level measurement – lower cost guided radar with Levelflex M FMP40 and reliable non-contact free space radar level measurement with Micropilot M FMR250.

"The support and commitment of EMC to ensure that the solutions they provide give the customer the required benefits and reliability have been excellent," comments Lewis.

The Micropilot M FMR250, as deployed at Golden Bay Cement, is designed to provide reliable continuous, non-contact level measurement in powdery to granular bulk solids. Dust, filling noises, temperature layers and gas stratification do not affect measurement.

Typical applications include level measurement in tall silos up to 70 metres with extremely dusty bulk solids (such as cement, raw meal, or animal feed); applications with high process temperature requirements up to 200 degrees Celsius (such as clinker of fly ash); and applications with highly abrasive bulk solids (for example, ferrite).

The FMR250 with DN200 parabolic antenna offers high beam focussing of four degrees and is therefore ideally suited to applications with many obstacles or with measuring ranges greater than 30 metres.

The FMR250 with DN80 or DN100 horn antenna is optimised for narrow openings, small bins, open stock piles, and the like.