By measurement principle

Concentration Meter

inline concentration meter · online concentration meter · slurry concentration meter · non-nuclear concentration meter · acid concentration meter · Brix concentration analyzer

One measurement target — concentration — reached by several principles. Ultrasonic acoustic impedance handles opaque, abrasive, bubbly slurry; sound velocity and refractive index suit clean binary liquids and Brix ranges; spectroscopic covers multi-component baths; microwave penetrates moist, high-solids material. All non-nuclear, all inline.

9Models

Common questions

How is dredge production (dry solids per hour) measured?
You cannot get it from density alone. Dry-solids production P_dry (t/h) = Q x Cv x rho_s, where Q is the volumetric flow (from a flow meter), Cv = (rho_m - rho_w)/(rho_s - rho_w) is the volumetric concentration from the mixture density rho_m (from an inline density meter such as the PS7000), and rho_s is the dry-solids density. The Pisonics Dredge Production Monitor reads the density and flow meters over Modbus and computes this every second, with dashboard and shift totals. See /guides/dredge-production-calculation-density-flow.
Can I measure dredge slurry density without a radioactive source?
Yes. An ultrasonic acoustic-impedance meter (PS7000) reads discharge-line slurry density inline (accuracy ±1 % by mass concentration, calibrated on the dredged material) with no radioactive source, so there is no shipboard radiation licence, no port-inspection delay and no radiation-safety officer. A clamp-on option (PS7010) allows no-hot-work retrofit, but it needs low gas content and is ruled out on lines that draw in air. See /guides/non-nuclear-density-meter-for-dredgers.
What density meter should go on a cutter-suction dredger discharge line?
A PS7000 ultrasonic acoustic-impedance meter suits CSD discharge lines (DN50-DN1000): flush sapphire window for abrasion, Chirp wideband to reject entrained air, non-nuclear. For no-cut retrofit use the clamp-on PS7010. Pair with a flow meter and the Dredge Production Monitor to also get dry-solids t/h. See /industries/dredging.
Is the PS7000 ultrasonic density meter a radiometric device? Does it need a radiation license?

The PS7000 is an acoustic-impedance ultrasonic density meter with no radioactive source whatsoever. No radiation license is required. It uses only piezoelectric transducers to send and receive ultrasonic signals — the same physical principle as medical and NDT ultrasound.

If you're currently using a Cs-137 / Co-60 source-based meter and want to remove the regulatory burden, PS7000 is a practical alternative; it installs differently, so check straight run and spool fit before a retrofit. A gamma gauge with an exempt-activity Na-22 source (< 1000 KBq) also needs no radiation license, but we no longer supply that class of instrument.

Can an ultrasonic concentration meter measure mine backfill slurry?
It can, depending on the slurry. The PS7000 acoustic-impedance meter covers 0–80 % by mass and its window sits flush with the pipe wall, so it suits fine-grained backfill slurry on a full pumped line (the datasheet recommends at least 65 % by mass finer than 75 μm). Paste close to the 80 % limit, slurry carrying coarse aggregate or coarse waste rock, and scaling cemented mixes need window wear, scaling and representativeness assessed first; the standard pressure rating is 1.6 MPa, and higher-pressure sections such as backfill pump discharges are rated case by case. It is a non-nuclear alternative to Cs-137 gauges — see /industries/mining.
Can PS7000 really measure stably in bubbly mining slurries?

Yes, with one distinction.

The PS7000 employs a linear frequency-modulated (Chirp) acoustic impedance algorithm: after transmitting a broadband ultrasonic pulse, the host unit analyzes the echo in the frequency domain, and multiple-reflection interference from fine, dispersed bubbles is identified and suppressed. That is the main difference from conventional single-frequency reflective meters. The meter also outputs a 0–100 gas index and a bubble flag, so the DCS can tell a real change in concentration from a bubble-driven high reading.

Heavy free gas (pump suction drawing air, a falling stream entraining it, a point directly above an aeration header) or a continuous gas film over the sensor face pushes the reading high or stops it altogether. That is a limit of acoustic measurement: it is avoided by where the sensor goes, not corrected in calibration.

At the gypsum discharge line of an absorption tower in a thermal power plant in Inner Mongolia (under conditions of continuous air oxidation that generate dense bubbles), the PS7000 has been operating stably for several years after replacing the original tuning fork concentration meter.

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