Lenterra has been issued a patent entitled “Shear Stress Measurement Apparatus” (U.S. Pat. No. 8,276,463). The patent protects Lenterra’s design for a sensor that measures fluid shear stress at a wall utilizing a Fiber Bragg Grating. This is the fourth patent awarded to the company.
Lenterra’s Pillar sensors were featured in the Products section of Pharmaceutical Processing Magazine.
Newark, NJ – July 16, 2012 – Lenterra, Inc. today announced the addition of a drag force pillar sensor to its RealShear™ line of sensors. Just as Lenterra’s wall shear stress sensors provide direct, continuous, real-time measurement of the shear forces exerted on vessel walls by fluids, the pillar sensor is the first commercial system of its kind to provide continuous, real-time measurements from which flow velocity, flow rate and viscosity can be derived.
The pillar sensor will, for the first time, provide visibility into, and real time information on processing conditions inside high shear wet granulators. The pillar sensor can be placed anywhere within the processor (with no disruption to process flow), and provides continuous monitoring of mixing operations to prevent under/overprocessing, and assist in scale up.
Lenterra’s sensors are opto-mechanical, explosion proof, chemically resistant, operate over wide ranges of temperatures (-30 to 200 °C), and offer high measurement rates (up to 10 kHz with LOC-F controller).
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Newark, NJ – Mar. 7, 2012 – Lenterra, Inc. today announced the release of the new M-Series line of RealShear™ sensors. A follow-up to the flagship F-Series sensor, the M-Series line features sensors with a substantially smaller footprint. The more miniature design allows installation into equipment with tighter clearances. They are also available with much larger measurement ranges (up to 1 MPa) compared with previous sensors. Like their F-Series cousins, M-Series in-line sensors provide continuous, real-time measurement of wall shear stress at rates of up to 1,000 samples per second with no disruption of process flow. They can also be used to calculate viscosity in combination with known flow parameters. Application areas include industrial mixing, extrusion, and pipelines.
The original F-Series sensors possess a 1/4”-80 (6.4 mm diameter) threaded cylindrical housing. The M-Series housing is almost half that diameter, with a 6-80 thread (0.135 inch [3.4 mm] diameter). This smaller form factor is particularly useful when the radius of curvature of a pipe or mixer stator is small (1 inch [25 mm] diameter or less), or when the mounting location simply can’t accommodate a wider sensor. Models with large measurement ranges are well suited for high-shear mixers. M-Series sensors are offered with the same rugged design as their predecessors, and are available in both standard and high-temperature models, with maximum operating temperatures of 100°C/200°F and 200°C/400°F, respectively.
“This new form factor will give customers greater flexibility in sensor placement,” says Valery Sheverev, President and CEO of Lenterra Inc. “Measurement locations that weren’t accessible before are now possible.”
Lenterra’s novel RealShear™ sensors make it possible to measure the wall shear stress in mixers and extruders in real time. This insight can help process engineers carefully control conditions to consistently produce product with desired properties. Throughput can also be improved by ensuring that no extra or unnecessary mixing is performed. Armed with wall shear stress measurements, engineers can rapidly replicate processes developed in the laboratory on an industrial scale (scale up), thus bringing new products to market faster. The sensors can also be used in pipeline monitoring applications, where knowledge of the wall shear stress induced on the inner surface of a pipe by liquids or gases passing through it can help flow assurance engineers determine what types of components are present in the flow and also the nature of the flow dynamics. This information can be important in crude oil extraction, helping to estimate the relative amounts of hydrocarbons, water, sand, etc., present, and to predict when it is necessary to replace aging pipelines due to corrosion.
RealShear™ sensors work by using micro-optical resonators to detect minute lateral displacements at the face of the sensor when it experiences shear stress from particles/fluids with which it is in contact. These displacements cause the resonant spectrum of the micro-optical resonators to shift, which can be detected by interrogating them with light. Optical controllers that perform the interrogation and communicate measurements with a user’s computer are also available from Lenterra.
The development of wall shear sensors has been supported by the National Science Foundation under the Small Business Innovation Research program.
Lenterra’s RealShear™ sensors were featured in the Chementator section of the January 2012 issue of Chemical Engineering Magazine.
Lenterra will be exhibiting at booth #644 at the ChemShow Process Equipment and Technology Expo at the Javits Center in New York City November 1-3. Customers are invited to stop by to see a live demonstration of a RealShear sensor on an Arde Barinco benchtop high-shear mixer. A presentation will be given at 2:30 on Wed. Nov. 2 in the Exhibitor Product Technology Theater about the technology behind the sensors and applications for their use.
Lenterra’s President Valery Sheverev gave a presentation on the company’s shear stress sensor technology to the Advisory Board of the Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology at Ohio University on Oct. 11, 2011. The presentation is available for download. [Download Powerpoint]
Lenterra has been issued a patent entitled “Load Cell and System for Measuring Forces Based on Optical Spectra Shifts ” (U.S. Pat. No. 8028586). This is the third patent awarded to the company.
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Newark, NJ – Oct 1, 2011 – Lenterra, Inc. today announced the release of its RealShear™ line of sensors for the direct measurement of wall shear stress. These sensors represent the first commercially available system of their kind in the world. The in-line sensors provide continuous, real-time data measurement rates of up to 1,000 per second with no disruption of process flow. They can also be used to calculate viscosity in combination with known flow parameters. Application areas include industrial mixing, extrusion, and pipelines.
When fluids flow along boundaries, or components of mixers rotate inside a fluid, a force is induced between the fluid and the boundary wall that can be represented by two components, one perpendicular to the surface of the boundary and another tangential, or parallel to the surface. The former is known as pressure force, and the latter as shear force. While pressure transducers are readily available commercially for the measurement of the perpendicular force, no sensors for the direct measurement of the shear force, or wall shear stress, are commercially available. Lenterra’s novel RealShear™ sensors make it possible to measure the wall shear stress in mixers and extruders in real time. This insight can help process engineers carefully control conditions to consistently produce product with desired properties. Throughput can also be improved by ensuring that no extra or unnecessary mixing is performed. Armed with wall shear stress measurements, engineers can rapidly replicate processes developed in the laboratory on an industrial scale (scale up), thus bringing new products to market faster.
The sensors can also be used in pipeline monitoring applications, where knowledge of the wall shear stress induced on the inner surface of a pipe by liquids or gases passing through it can help flow assurance engineers determine what types of components are present in the flow and also the nature of the flow dynamics. This information can be important in crude oil extraction, helping to estimate the relative amounts of hydrocarbons, water, sand, etc., present, and to predict when it is necessary to replace aging pipelines due to corrosion.
“As a physicist with more than 30 years experience, I know first hand that wall shear stress has long been an elusive property to measure, and a long sought after problem in fluid mechanics and related applications.” says Valery Sheverev, President and CEO of Lenterra Inc. “We could estimate it, try to calculate it and make our best guesses, but we could not directly measure it — until now. After years of development efforts, we are proud to present the first commercially available solution to this problem, in the form of our line of RealShear™ sensors, which, in combination with known fluid parameters, also provide real time measurement of viscosity, another long-sought after property that, until now, has been difficult to measure in situ. Imagine being able to monitor the real time changes to the properties of a manufactured product – as it is being made. This is now possible with our new line of sensors.”
RealShear™ sensors work by using micro-optical resonators to detect minute lateral displacements at the face of the sensor when it experiences shear stress from particles/fluids with which it is in contact. These displacements cause the resonant spectrum of the micro-optical resonators to shift, which can be detected by interrogating them with light. Optical controllers that perform the interrogation and communicate measurements with a user’s computer are also available from Lenterra.
Since the RealShear™ sensor system is wholly optical, it is free from electro-magnetic interference, while still operating in a host of environments and particle flows (opaque and translucent, as well as transparent).
The development of wall shear sensors has been supported by the National Science Foundation under the Small Business Innovation Research program.
Lenterra has been issued a patent entitled “Shear Stress Measurement Apparatus” (U.S. Pat. No. 7770463). The patent protects Lenterra’s design for a sensor that measures fluid shear stress at a wall utilizing a micro-optical resonator. This is the second patent awarded to the company.