Level measurement and verification – Systems for liquids

Level measurement is ubiquitous in many industrial sectors as diverse as food processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, water treatment, energy and raw materials. Its complexity stems from the diversity of conditions of use, the physico-chemical properties of the products to be measured, and safety and, where applicable, legislative constraints (legal metrology for commercial transactions). Level measurement is used in automation management (process engineering), monitoring (water management, alarm triggering) and analysis of physico-chemical data during measurement campaigns.

In a first article [R 2 010] "Level measurement and control – Introduction", the basic concepts needed to understand level measurement were presented. Certain methods can be applied to the measurement of levels of liquids as well as solids; these are introduced in the article [R 2 011] "Level measurement and control – Systems for liquids or solids". Methods specific to liquid levels are presented here, followed by those applicable only to solid levels in article [R 2 013] "Level measurement and control – Systems specific to solids". Finally, article [R 2 014] "Comparison of level measurement and detection methods" includes comparative tables which bring together all the techniques presented in the other four articles. They provide a useful tool for selecting the most appropriate method(s) for each particular case.

The "For further information" section of [R 2 010] contains a comprehensive table of manufacturers of measurement and detection equipment.