On-line bed thickness measurement of self clearing continuous centrifuge using laser application

Abstract

The Self Clearing Continuous Centrifuges (SCCC) are mainly used in sugar factories for the separation of sugar crystals from molasses. Variation of bed thickness in a SCCC is expected to play an important role in the quality of sugar crystals. However since baskets are normally rotating at a speed of more than 1000 rpm, measuring the bed thickness is a difficult task which is tackled as a part of this research. This paper describes and discusses the design and development of an optical method based on laser technology application to measure the bed thickness on-line on a (SCCC) which does not interfere with flow behavior in the basket