Electrolab Level Sensors Eliminate the Issue of False Echoes

By: Electrolab Marketing |  April 16, 2020  |  Category: Blog

We are all familiar with the hot topic of “tuning out false echoes” within the guided wave radar sensor community. Numerous classes and webinars offer training on how to deal with false echoes. This topic strikes our Electrolab team as odd. We find it to be counterproductive to try and get the best resolution on signal, then spend time filtering out signal waves you didn’t want to measure. In this blog we will dig into guided wave radar technology and false echoes.

What Are False Echoes and Why Do They Happen?

Due to the nature of the technology, guided wave radar sensors produce false echoes— unwanted measurements recorded due to environmental variables in a tank. Tank conditions such as foam, condensate, basic sediment and water, as well as the interface emulsion are challenges that require technician time and talent to tune out to achieve the desired level measurement readings. Transition zones at the top and bottom of the tank are especially prone to producing false echoes.

Technicians that work on guided wave radar sensors work hard during an installation to achieve the best resolution signal for level measurement and equally as hard to filter out readings for tank variables unrelated to level measurement. This process requires valuable and expensive labor. Signal readings can require re-tuning over time due to changing characteristics of the fluid or outside environmental conditions. The initial and ongoing cost of managing false echoes with guided wave radar level measurement can be high and hard to justify.

Model 2100 DLS

Direct, In-Fluid Measurement

False echoes simply do not occur with Electrolab Digital Level Sensors (DLS). Electrolab DLS sensors provide direct, in-fluid measurement.

Using the principles of buoyancy, Electrolab sensors measure through foam, mist, and condensate. Signal conditions never change. During the initial installation, you simply find the bottom of the tank, set an offset and the sensor is ready to measure. The signal never changes. The switches never move, regardless of temperature, foam, mist, or outside temperature. There is no recalibration or re-tuning.

With Electrolab level sensors, there is no additional training or class required to filter out false echoes. Technicians do not need to periodically climb on top of tanks with a laptop to tune out undesirable signal waves. Keep your technicians safe, eliminate extra trips to a tank for tuning; instead, sign up for one-time calibration and low, on-going maintenance with Electrolab Digital Level Sensors.