Level Measurement & Control


Reliable level measurement in the steam drum

December 2014 Level Measurement & Control

If the water level is too low, overheating of the water wall tubes may cause serious accidents, resulting in downtime, expensive repairs and injury or death to personnel. If the level is too high, boiler water carry-over into the superheater or turbine may cause damage resulting in extensive maintenance costs or outages of the turbine or boiler. Controlling the water level requires sophisticated techniques as the level measurement must be accurately transmitted to the control system.

Higher availability with an innovative alternative

This is why Endress+Hauser offers integrated guided-wave radar transmitters (Levelflex) as an alternative to differential pressure. These transmitters ensure higher plant availability by offering more reliable level detection capabilities, even under harsh conditions. Levelflex offers the following benefits:

• Compact design.

• Easy installation and operation.

• Better reliability measurements and higher performance.

• Fast response time.

• Improved control, analysis and communication.

Furthermore, Levelflex can be offered as a complete quality bypass solution which reduces costs by approximately 25% when designing a new plant or modernising one. As the Levelflex guided radar device can also be pre-mounted in the bypass and preconfigured when delivered, users can minimise the loading and mounting costs. Also, the Levelflex guided radar is practically maintenance-free as it has no mechanical moving parts.

The Levelflex M as well as the new Levelflex FMP 54 are T&220;V certified according to the standards EN 12952 and EN 12953. This means that constructors of steam vessels can install the Levelflex in a redundant combination (1oo2 or 2oo3) as a low water level (LWL) or high water level (HWL) protection together with either the universal transmitter with control function RMA42 or a safety PLC.

Differential pressure level measurement can be tricky

Plant personnel are quite familiar with dp transmitters as they have a long operation history. On the other hand, they do have boundaries. The output of a conventional dp transmitter has inaccuracies mainly caused by changes of static pressure and water density in each leg, and in the steam and water inside the drum. Water at high pressures experiences density changes, independent of those caused by temperature variations.

For more information contact Jan Gerritsen, Endress+Hauser, +27 (0)11 262 8000, info@za.endress.com, www.za.endress.com



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