Mount the silo on load cells? ■

Hello Ioan,

I can give you a few suggestions based upon what I have seen in the US.

Alot of the application depends on how accurate of a value you need. The most accurate application would be to mount the silo on load cells and turn your silo into a scale. This would also require that you isolate the silo so that the weight of the material is not influenced by the support structure and infeed conveyor. It may also require check rods and in most applications a complete rework of the silo.

There is also a method of installing force sensors ( loadcells) into the existing support legs or skirting. These systems are normally used to give a 0-100% range of values.

The last suggestion would be to use an level measuring device that uses utra sonic or radar to shoot for level from the top of the silo. The major problems with the level measurement from the top are the change of the profile of the material in the silo. The profile changes depending on if you are filling or discharging. The other concern in the top down systems are the influence of dust to the measuring signal.

If you are looking for just a full or empty signal, then I would suggest a level switches that alarm when the cement reaches different hieghts in the silo. These are usually hard to maintain as the switches tend to fail only when the silo is full. ■