England's University of Birmingham spinout Rheality is partnering with Clean Engineering to commercialize a “smart” AI-based system that will significantly optimize fluid production by reducing power consumption and raw material waste while maximizing throughput and product quality in the food, oil and gas, FMCG and chemicals sectors, according to the university.
By measuring how fluids flow and mix through production lines, Rheality’s intelligent sensing system aims to replace process control techniques that have remained unchanged for decades, whereby manufacturing plants can only test what’s in their pipes by halting production, which leaves production lines idling while testing takes place. Moreover, when traditional test results reveal inadequate processing or substandard products, batches may need to be re-worked or even scrapped, resulting in waste of raw materials and yet more energy used to prepare a new batch.
Rheality’s technology reportedly allows manufacturers to monitor what is going on inside production pipes in real-time, without having to halt production. This hitherto inaccessible real-time information allows them to continuously fine tune their production processes, optimizing the use of both energy and materials.
The system uses an easily retrofitted passive probe, located inside the pipe, that vibrates according to the fluid flowing around it and generates a fluid “fingerprint.” A sensor then converts these vibrations into an electrical signal and machine learning intelligent algorithms acquire, analyze and convert the signal into a continuous feed of actionable information.
The technology was first presented to industry in a series of webinars in 2020, prior to the company spinning out from the University of Birmingham. This initial publicity resulted in several multinational companies requesting technology trials, allowing Rheality to choose which companies to partner with for proof-of-concept studies. Trials in large-scale manufacturing plants in the U.K., Norway, Germany, Spain and North America are now rapidly heading towards completion, according to the university.
For more information, visit: www.rheality.co.uk
