Liquid dosing is critical in the food and beverage industry

It requires highly-accurate flowmeters to accurately dose ingredients and solutions into containers or additional processing equipment for mixing and blending processes. This must be carried out with high degrees of precision and repeatability for batch-to-batch manufacturing of consumer products.

Both electromagnetic flowmeters and mass flowmeters are used at different stages of food and beverage dosing. This blog post will explore the use of both systems for dosing processes:

 

Electromagnetic flowmeters for batch dosing

The flow of electrically-conductive fluids is typically monitored using a hygienic flowmeter such as the HygienicMaster FEH500 which can be integrated into a processing system for direct batch dosing. An internal counter monitors the flow of liquid according to electromagnetic principles with a measuring value error of as low as 0.2% of the system’s flow rate. This enables the device to operate with automatic correction for overrun and improve the dosage accuracy for filling procedures at reduced volumes. This can significantly improve the cost-efficiency of dosing electrically-conductive liquids for mixing, blending, and filling processes.

Electromagnetic flowmeters assess the volume and flow of a liquid as a product of the material’s sample voltage. This is unsuitable for measuring materials with low electrical conductivity or other electrically-conflicting properties. Solutions with high alcohol contents, elevated sugar contents, or emulsions with suspended fatty particles must be dosed according to alternative principles.

 

Mass flowmeters for batch dosing

A mass flowmeter measures the flow of a liquid as a quantity of mass travelling through a detector over time. This value is acquired by introducing Coriolis acceleration to the liquid flow and assessing the inertial force generated by the liquid’s angular momentum. Mass flow is advantageous over electromagnetic flow as measurements do not depend on the conductivity of the liquid media. It can also be used to determine the volumetric flow, density, and concentration of fluids being pumped through a process system.

ABB’s CoriolisMaster series of mass flowmeters are ideal for dosing applications in the food and beverage sector. The FCB100 mass flowmeter with an AC500-eCo controller provides multivariable flow measurements of dosage fluids with simplified installation requirements and a reduced component footprint. This arrangement is capable of correcting for trace gas inclusions that can arise in complex suspensions and reduce the dosage efficiency and repeatability.

There are multiple ColiolisMaster combinations suitable for food and beverage dosing, including additional considerations for hygiene requirements.

 

Flowmeters from ABB

ABB provides high precision flow measurements for a broad range of industrial processing requirements. ABB electromagnetic and mass flowmeters are suitable for comprehensive food and beverage dosing applications, with considerations for complicated and expensive filling media.