PiloTREK Compact Series, Microwave Level Transmitter

• Plastic, aluminum or stainless steel housing
• Stainless steel parabolic, horn, or plastic-coated antenna
• Plug-in graphic display module
• High-temperature variant
• 2-wire transmitters
• 25 GHz (K-band) measuring signal
• Non-contact level metering
• Accuracy up to ±0.12 inch
• Measuring range up to 75 feet
• 99-point linearization
• Explosion-proof variants available
• 5 year warranty

Applications

• Level measurement of liquids, emulsions, slurries, and other chemicals
• Level measurement through plastic tank wall
• Agriculture
• Construction materials
• Chemical industry, for mid to large size vessels or chemical tanks
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Food and beverage
• Power plants
• Oil industry
• Water and wastewater industry

Linearly Polarized Microwave Impulses

The PiloTREK Compact Series pulse burst radar level transmitters emit linearly polarized microwave impulses. The polarization plane of the emitted impulses can be rotated fully in some PiloTREK models. The rotation of the polarization plane can minimize unwanted false reflections from disturbing objects or from the tank wall. The orientation of the polarization plane coincides with the line drawn between the cable glands.

Pulse Radar Level Transmitter Operations

The operation of the non-contact microwave level transmitters is based on the measurement of the time of flight of the microwave burst. The propagation speed of microwave impulses is practically the same in air, gases and in vacuum, independently from the process temperature and pressure, so the measured distance is not affected by the physical parameters of medium to be measured.

The level transmitter induces microwave impulses a few nanosecond long in the antenna and a part of the energy of the emitted signals is bounced (reflected) back from the measurement surface depending on the measured media. The time of flight of the reflected signal is measured and processed by the electronics, and then this is converted to distance, level or volume proportional data. The measurability of the level of a specific medium is depending on the signal strength of the reflected microwave impulses.

The signal strength of the reflected impulses is considerably depending on the distance to be measured, the relative dielectric constant of the measured medium and the turbulence of the surface. The relative dielectric constant (εr) of the medium should be more than 1.4 in case of parabolic design, or it should be more than 1.9 with horn antenna types.

Programming with Echo Map

With the help of the SAP-300 plug-in display, a simplified full-parameter programming can be accomplished. The parameters of measurement and output can be set using the text-based menu system. The large LCD dot-matrix display displays the measured values in numerical and bar graph form. The Echo Map feature helps to detect false reflections and aids the optimization of the measurement configuration.

The background mapping feature provides excellent solution to ignore unwanted false reflections coming from (not-moving) disturbing objects. For this purpose the instrument needs to map the totally empty tank to create a ”background image”. Then the measurement evaluation software of PiloTREK Compact Series will automatically recognize and ignore the false reflections coming from the disturbing objects inside the tank.

PiloTREK Compact Series Microwave / Radar Level Transmitter

PiloTREK Microwave Level Transmitter Model Line-Up

*Under reference conditions of reflection and stabilized temperature

Ex Certified PiloTREK Compact Series Microwave Level Transmitters