Dairy Cow Dung Sump Radar Level Measurement

When a Wisconsin dairy needed reliable level measurement of their manure waste sumps, they turned to Flowline. Lactating cows produce about 18 gallons of manure a day, including their time in the milk parlor. Between milking rotations, the staff scrapes the bulk manure into troughs that transfer the material via augers into piles outside the barn. Then they pressure wash the remaining manure into grated sumps that pump transfer the waste to settling ponds. There the maintenance technician said, “We’ve tried lots of different level sensors in these sumps, but they’ve all failed due to material build-up, foaming or spray. I need something that just works.” For these reasons, Flowline suggested our non-contact 80-GHz radar level sensors that are unaffected by foam or periodic spray, and are robustly packaged in a sealed IP68 enclosure. The radar sensors provide reliable level data to the PLC, which monitors the sumps and controls the manure pump transfer. Flowline is reliable level measurement.