Upgrades to Food Processing Boilers Worth Their Salt: a Steam Flowmeter Case Study

When the operations staff at a large food processing plant wanted to reduce utility costs and better analyze boiler performance, they chose to retrofit their 35-year-old boilers with new electronic controls, as well as several of our Innova-Mass® Model 241 immersible multivariable mass vortex flow meters to accurately measure steam discharge. Previously run by old pneumatic control systems, these boilers produce steam that is piped to various sites within the plant and used to power equipment and processes.

The Innova-Mass unit, a steam flow meter that’s won an innovation award, allowed them to troubleshoot their boilers and diagnose several unsuspected problems. The principal engineer told me our meter saved him a great deal of time in several ways, not the least of which was the time required to install, commission and configure the meter.

Plus, during the installation, they discovered that they had ordered the wrong range setting. However, they were able to quickly and easily reconfigure the flowmeter, saving them several weeks of time because they did not have to return equipment to the us.

They also found the multivariable mass vortex steam flowmeter meter’s interface to be very intuitive and easy to use. The meter’s electronics are accessed locally via six buttons that can be operated either directly, on the display panel or with a handheld magnet through the explosion-proof enclosure. Using this method allowed the customer to configure the device without compromising its hazardous location integrity.

Thanks to the Innova-Mass Model 241, this food manufacturer is really cooking – and saving money, too!