FlowSlide

Balancing material flows, truck loading, process control, dosing, continuous precision mixing processes

Products with very good flow behaviour, such as plastic granules, many types of pellets or cereals are always suitable for FlowSlide.

If they have good free-flowing behaviour, powders can also be measured.

In the case of critical products, a test run with 3 – 5 litres of material will give the answer. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information!

The smallest device, the Baby-FlowSlide 05, can measure with precision from 100 l/h.

The largest device, the Maxi-FlowSlide 300 measures up to 300 m³/h.

You select your equipment based on the maximum volume flow. The flow stream is measured in kg/h or t/h and the quantity of the material in kg or t.

The important thing is that the product flows freely and does not stick together or to the sides of equipment.

The FlowSlide offers precision recording of products with a product density of from 0.03 to 4 kg/litre.

When designing the measuring point the type of feeding (rotary valve, screw or belt conveyor) must be taken into account. It is important that no strong air flows blow through the equipment.

Conversely, positive or negative pressure is not a problem. We will be pleased to send you mounting instructions in the preliminary stages.

In the case of strongly adhesive materials or materials which are not free flowing and liquids in general, FlowSlide is not suitable as a flow meter.

Cases with volume streams lower than 100 l/h or with very low dosing amounts must be individually tested.

There is no limit on life expectancy. The components which feed through the products are made from high-quality stainless steel.

With normal products (flue ash, cement, cereals, plastic granules, and many more) the measuring slide has a lifetime of more than 5 years.

In the case of abrasive products, such as rapeseed or cocoa beans, the components which are in contact with the product are manufactured in Hardox.

In order to reach the high level of accuracy of 0.5% measurements must be made 250 – 500 times/second. Therefore, only one system can be connected to the electronics.

The electronics system is part of the standard scope of delivery of the system.

All current interfaces, such as Profibus, Profinet, analogue outputs, impulse signals, Ethernet, serial RS232/485, etc. are available.

Depending on the interface, the flow (kg/h or t/h), transported quantity (kg or t), meter readings, reference values, state and status of the measurement system are transmitted.

The electronic system has three quantity counters. These store the absolute flow, until they are reset. The throughput graph (kg/h or t/h) displays for 30 minutes.

The graphic display visualises kg/h or t/h, absolute kg or t (3 counters), the load cell signal (mV/V) and the status of the dust removal system.

Errors are also shown in the display. Flow and absolute quantities can be saved in the long term on a USB key.

As a standard feature the electronics system offers as output 4–20 mA, an impulse output, Modbus TCP. As an option Profibus, Profinet and other interfaces are available.

Since there are no movable components in the device, the FlowSlide is practically maintenance-free.

Only the parts in contact with the product need to be replaced as required in the case of highly abrasive media.

There is the option for abrasive products of manufacturing the parts in contact with the product in Hardox plate or of processing these parts with hard chromium plating.

The measuring principle is suitable for an extremely wide variety of products and therefore for nearly all sectors. To date the only industry which does not use FlowSlide is the pharmaceutical industry.

As a matter of principle every device is pre-calibrated ex works.

The devices are manufactured on 5-axis machines which allows them to be manufactured to a mechanical accuracy such that even a mathematical calibration on the size of the load cell is sufficient.

Nevertheless, it is recommended that they are calibrated after installation, since this compensates differences in the inlet geometry.

System accuracy of less than 1% can be obtained only by calibration on site.

FlowSlide uses the centripetal force to record the throughput. This is directly proportional to the flow stream. Therefore, when you measure with FlowSlide, the product density, grain size and friction have only a very slight influence on the accuracy of measurement.

An impact weigher uses a deflector plate to detect the impact pulse through the product. This is heavily dependent on the characteristics of the product.

Slight differences in density, humidity or elasticity, even in the same products, can falsify the measuring result to a considerable extent.

When the product characteristics change, the impact weigher inevitably has to be re-calibrated. Fluidized powders cannot be measured with an impact weigher to give sensible results.

The selection of the size of the equipment depends on the flow stream. Moreover, there are various options (Hardox models, pneumatic dust removal, etc.), which may be suitable for your application.

Therefore, we will be pleased to advise you personally and to send you a quotation tailored to your application.

The installation heights are 400 mm for the Baby-FlowSlides, 700 mm for the FlowSlides and 1,050 mm for the Maxi-FlowSlides.

The individual installation height for a feed and discharge hopper as a transition point, to connect the upstream and downstream sections of the plant, must be additionally calculated.