There are two kinds of fill level monitors available today: radiation-based systems and vision and infrared systems. But most customers prefer radiation-based systems because they let you see the fill level even if there’s labeling or seals blocking the view.
This blog post will cover fill level monitoring systems – one of the inspection requirements asked about the most.
There are two kinds of fill level monitors available today:
- Radiation-based systems, which are great for opaque glass
- Vision and infrared systems, which are good for transparent containers – like PET or clear glass
However, the reason a lot of customers prefer a radiation-based system is because there’s often label tampering. So even though you can see into the bottle, you can’t see how far the fill level is because of the label around or at the top. The gamma rays are necessary to have enough energy to see through the thick labels – making radiation-based systems superior.
(Fun fact: a gamma photon is about 10-times more energetic than a X-photon: that means its got a huge amount of energy and able to see through thick blocks of solid steel! No wonder it’s so easy to see through a plastic label.)
“Radiation” may have negative connotations, but these devices use low-energy radiation: about 0.05 mrem/hour. The legal exposure of radiation to the public is 2 mrem/hour – that’s 40 times greater!
Another way to look at it: Americans receive a radiation dose of 620 mrem per year from natural exposure (meaning cosmic rays or radon in the air). So the radiation exposure we receive naturally is 1,200 times greater than what a radiation-based system puts out in 1 hour.
Today’s radiation-based inspection systems are so easy to own and maintain, they can be seamlessly integrated into inspection operations. They’re the easiest way to check fill levels.
So if you’re overfilling your water or glass containers because you have a vision-based system that can’t see through the labels, give Peco InspX a call. We’ll get you hooked up with a radiation-based X-ray or Gamma system that’s inexpensive to own and operate. All of them come with our unique remote-access platform that lets us fix almost all potential problems over the internet.
To learn more, please contact Peco InspX.
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