Burkert exhibits ‘industry-improver’ products and provides didactic seminars at Sensors + Systems (Oct 2011)
Global fluid control specialist Burkert recently supported the new Sensors + Systems show. The company participated both as an exhibitor – showing the Element range of hygienic and process control products, and mass flow controllers – and as an information provider via the exhibition’s Workshop and Seminar programme.
The varied programme of free workshops and seminars at Sensors + Systems is designed to be relevant to today’s industry issues regarding process measurement and control. As an integral part of the programme Burkert's global gas handling segment manager, Dr. Jan Schlander, delivered a talk, about flow sensors for gases based on the thermal measurement principle.
Burkert’s stand C6 at Sensors and Systems featured the company’s latest products for achieving higher performance, accuracy and reliability in hygienic processing and general process control applications. Principal among the exhibits was the stainless steel Element clean line system.
The Element system sets a high benchmark in process measurement and control. It is claimed to provide a complete systems approach, linking clean line valves, sensors, positioners and valve actuators in a simple architecture to solve total control loop processes. With what Burkert describes as unlimited modularity, Element saves processing time by offering total control solutions for media from slurries to steam, and from de-ionised water to hydrochloric acid.
Element proves the adage that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, providing a modular programme of process control products that combine effortlessly to deliver solutions to specific process requirements, whether they be in environmentally aggressive or hygienic areas.
The products include valves for on/off and modulating control, and sensors for pH/ORP, conductivity and level; plus digital positioners, control heads and actuators, all of which are designed for valve mounting, delivering maximum space saving and performance.
Burkert also highlighted the Type 8711 mass flow controller (MFC) for gases. The Type 8711 offers the crucial benefits of high accuracy and reproducibility for nominal flow rates, from 20 mlN/min to 80 lN/min (N2). Key to this performance is the unique CMOSens technology integrated into 8711 MFC. This operates according to a thermal principle that has the advantage of delivering the mass flow without any corrections for the required pressure or temperature. The actual flow rate is detected by a sensor embedded in the wall of a specifically designed bypass channel, into which a small part of the total gas stream is diverted, ensuring laminar flow conditions.
The sensor element, a CMOS chip, contains a heating resistor and two temperature sensors (thermopiles), which are arranged symmetrically upstream and downstream of the heater. The differential voltage of the thermopiles is a measure of the mass flow rate passing this bypass channel; the calibration procedure employed ensuring a unique assignment of the sensor signal to the total flow rate passing the device.
Bespoke MFC solutions
Burkert provides bespoke versions of the MFC to meet specific customer requirements. In one recent project, Burkert delivered the first prototype of a bespoke MFC design to the customer just 9 days after the initial customer visit.
The project was a plasma machine for surgical use. Burkert became involved due to lack of consistency in settling times from one MFC to another; and the ramifications this had on the correct operation of the plasma machine. For the system to work properly, the MFC first had to provide the high pressure / high flow rate required to ignite the plasma, & then ramp down to tenths of slpm. It was important that there was no over-shoot, otherwise the plasma beam was lost.
Burkert’s brief upon joining the project was to provide an MFC that would avoid this problem, controlling the extremely low flow rates with a repeatable accuracy of +/-0.01 slpm. In addition, other elements of the specification required that the MFC should be suitable for use in EMC noisy environments; that each MFC should be stable between 25 and 40degC; and that manufacturing tolerances should ensure each MFC had the same settling time.
Events
-
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING & ELECTRONICS SHOW 2025
04 February, 2025, 9:30 - 06 February, 2025, 15:30
Farnborough International Exhibition Centre, off Aerospace Boulevard, Farnborough GU14 6TQ -
SMART Manufacturing & Engineering Week
04 - 05 June, 2025
NEC, Birmingham UK -
PPMA 2025
23 September, 2025, 9:30 - 25 September, 2025, 16:00
NEC, Birmingham UK -
Advanced Engineering Show 2025
29 October, 2025, 9:00 - 30 October, 2025, 16:00
NEC, Birmingham UK
