New applications for ultrasonic sensors in process industries

Today, sophisticated instruments and algorithms used for process control allow the efficient production of substances with the quality guaranteed to the customer. However, production and management techniques are changing. This article aims to analyze trends resulting from those changes from the point of view of ultrasonic sensors. The focus will be on plant asset management. One part of plant asset management is maintenance management. Its goal is cost saving by avoiding unexpected shutdowns of single components or the complete plant. However, new maintenance concepts like condition-based or predictive maintenance require reliable methods of condition monitoring. This article will discuss these new applications for ultrasonic sensors. A new ultrasonic measurement based on acoustic emission analyses for condition monitoring of high pressure process pumps is introduced and economic benefits for the user are discussed.