Laser vs. Radar Technology
Modern laser technology offers a plethora of useful applications in many industrial, medicinal and even private scenarios. At the same time, laser is a very vulnerable technology, as the hardware comes with many moving parts and is highly susceptible to dirt or mishandling. Also, though conditions frequently encountered in the mining industry - such as heavy fog, rain, snow, dirt or high dust concentrations - virtually kill the laser's performance by shattering of light or simple malfunctions.
However, it is precisely under these tough conditions when machine operatorsneed electronic assistance most to steer clear off collision objects, position machinery or need consistent reliable stockpile data, collected in all weathers and conditions. Radar, as a highly robust and weather-proof technology, is perfectly suited to fill this gap and to raise your overall productivity, plant availability and security.
The simple reason for this advantage of radar in rough conditions is rooted in the physical qualities of radar beams. Other than laser light with its wave length of 4 µm, radar beams with 4 mm travel around dust particles in the air and detects objects lying behind this virtual "curtain of dirt" in the atmosphere. The graphic below illustrates this significant difference in performance.
Provided that the environmental conditions for a specific project are good enough, indurad may as well use laser technology as an add-up or even stand-alone technology. For all other, more demanding scenarios, the iDRR™ technology has proven to be the most reliable and enduring solution!
Level Gauge Radar vs. iDRR™ Technology
Level gauge radars are becoming more and more popular in the mining industry for simple bin level gauge applications. These reliable sensors bring significant advantages compared to other measurement principles, such as ultrasonic devices, for instance. They are on offer by several highly renowned companies like Endress+Hauser, Vega, Siemens, Honeywell and Krohne.
However these sensors have some restrictions when used in dynamic or narrow environments for the detection of fine bulk material or for application in non-circular bins. The 3D iDRR™ sensor was especially designed for these highly demanding conditions. The following figure displays the core-differences between level gauge radars and the indurad iDRR™ Radar Scanner:
1D/Point Volume Measurement vs. 2D iDRR™ Technology
A filling level measurement based on an iDRR™ (2D measurement) offers several significant advantages over 1D spot measurements using established radar sensors (for example Vegapuls 68, Endress+Hauser E+H FMR250) or ultrasonic sensors (e.g. Sick, APM Level Scanner), as visualized in the following figure:
