Planar Sensor Branch Measuring Tube for Hygienic Flow Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing measuring tube systems with integrated sensors often create gaps and dead spaces that are not acceptable in sterile processes, such as those in the pharmaceutical and food industries, as these areas can harbor germs and facilitate biofilm formation, making them difficult to clean and sterilize.
Innovation Solution
A measuring tube design with a tubular section and branch where the inner surface of the wall defining the opening is planar, allowing for a gap- and dead space-free transition with the sensor component, eliminating the need for additional modifications to the sensor and ensuring compliance with hygiene regulations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a sensor is introduced into the measuring tube by means of sealing mechanisms (form-interlocking, force-interlocking, frictional interlocking, welding, or adhesion), then the sensor can be integrated into the measuring tube, but gaps and dead spaces are created between the sensor and the measuring tube wall
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of modifying the sensor to achieve flush termination (as done in prior art), the invention inverts the approach by modifying the measuring tube wall to be planar in the opening region. This allows any sensor shape to be introduced without creating gaps, as the planar wall surface ensures gap-free contact regardless of the sensor's termination geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The measuring tube wall is given a special local property: the region defining the opening has a planar inner surface, while the rest of the tube maintains its normal cylindrical geometry. This localized planar section ensures gap-free sensor integration only where needed, without affecting the overall tube structure or requiring sensor modifications.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the sensor component is modified to terminate flushly with the inner surface of the measuring tube, then gap formation is prevented, but additional modifications to the sensor are required
Solution Approach 1:
The invention reverses the modification burden from the sensor to the measuring tube. Instead of requiring the sensor to be specially shaped or trimmed to achieve flush termination, the measuring tube wall is made planar in the opening region, allowing standard sensors to be installed without any modifications while still preventing gap formation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a planar wall section is created in the measuring tube to ensure gap-free sensor integration, then hygiene requirements are met, but the manufacturing of the measuring tube becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Only the specific region of the measuring tube wall where the opening is located is made planar, while the rest of the tube maintains its standard cylindrical geometry. This localized modification minimizes the impact on manufacturing processes, as only a small section of the tube requires special attention during fabrication or finishing.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a measuring tube for conveying a liquid, comprising a tubular section and at least one tubular branch for accommodating at least one component of a measuring device. A first end region of the tubular branch is arranged at or in an opening in a wall along a longitudinal axis of the tubular section. According to the disclosure all points of at least a first portion of the wall, such as an inner surface of the wall, of the tubular section, which first portion defines the opening, are located in a plane. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to an arrangement for determining or monitoring at least one process variable of a liquid in a pipeline, comprising a measuring device and a measuring tube of the disclosure.