In the building materials industry, especially in companies that produce powders such as cement plants, the loading process is the last key step before the product leaves the factory. Accurate and efficient measurement of the material level inside the transport vehicle is essential to ensure smooth production, improve production efficiency and control costs. In the past, manual monitoring and laser ranging equipment was the main means of measurement, however, they have many disadvantages, it is difficult to meet the needs of modern building materials factory for automated production management. Nowadays, radar level meter with its unique advantages has gradually become the ideal choice for level measurement of loading system in building materials factories.

During the loading process in a building materials plant, there is a loading lane under each finished goods bin that can be accessed by a transport truck. Once the truck is parked at the designated location, the material in the silo is released from the bottom outlet and put into the truck. However, this process presents a number of challenges: the very high discharge rate and the forward movement of the truck require fast and accurate monitoring of the material level, otherwise the powder can easily overflow and block the loading lane, or the loading efficiency can be affected by a low material level. The feeding process generates a lot of dust, which not only affects the accuracy of the measurement, but also may cause damage to the measuring equipment. The antenna of the measuring equipment is easily adhered to by the dust, which further interferes with the measurement results. In the past, the site mainly relied on workers to monitor with their naked eyes in the observation room above the loading aisle. Later, although laser ranging equipment was introduced, neither manual nor laser ranging equipment can effectively overcome the influence of dust, resulting in limited measurement accuracy and making it difficult to meet the growing demand for automated production management.

With the continuous development of science and technology, the emergence of radar level meter for building materials factory loading system level measurement has brought a new solution. Take a building materials factory as an example, the factory has adopted high-quality radar level meter to replace the traditional manual and laser rangefinder, and achieved remarkable results. The radar level meter works on the principle of transmitting and receiving microwave signals. The internal microwave source transmits microwave signals to the surface of the target material, and when the signals meet the surface of the material, they are reflected back and captured by the radar receiving antenna. By calculating the time difference between the transmitting signal and the receiving signal, combined with the propagation speed of the microwave, the distance between the material and the radar can be accurately determined, thus obtaining the height information of the material. This non-contact measurement avoids the pollution or damage that may be caused to the material by the traditional contact measurement, which is especially suitable for the complex and corrosive, high humidity and other characteristics of the building materials plant material measurement. Moreover, radar material level meter has many advantages such as high precision, high stability, strong reliability and wide range of application, which can operate stably for a long time under the harsh environment and provide accurate and reliable data support for production.

For the loading system of a building materials factory, a cost-effective radar level meter with a plastic flare antenna was selected and installed next to the discharge opening. 3° emission angle ensures that the measurement is not affected by the material flow. Thanks to the strong 80 GHz signal, the radar level meter is able to easily penetrate dust and achieve accurate level monitoring. At the same time, it has a faster response time, so that the radar is able to feed the measurement data back to the control system at the first time during the rapid feeding process. Even when the transport vehicle is moving forward while feeding, it still fulfils its measuring task with a clear return curve.

The radar level meter has demonstrated excellent performance and great value in the application of the truck loading system in the building materials factory. By monitoring the material level in the transport vehicle in real time and accurately, it ensures that the loading process is carried out efficiently. Frequent manual intervention and adjustments are no longer required, which greatly shortens the loading time and improves the turnover efficiency of the vehicles, thus enhancing the productivity of the plant as a whole. On the one hand, the accurate level measurement avoids the waste caused by powder overflow and reduces the loss of raw materials; on the other hand, the reasonable loading level control reduces the number of transport vehicles used and lowers the transport cost. In addition, due to the high reliability and low maintenance requirements of the radar level meter, it also reduces the repair and replacement cost of the equipment. It avoids the occurrence of safety accidents such as powder slipping due to high material level, and also reduces the safety hazard of frequent stopping for loading due to low material level, which creates a safer working environment for the employees.