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 the content of 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 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, optimising the use of both energy and materials.
The system uses a 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, analyse 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 chemicals, oil & gas and food industries, in the UK, Norway, Germany, Spain and North America are now rapidly heading towards completion.
Dr Francesco Colacino, Rheality co-Founder and executive director, said: “These trials revealed immediate benefits for our customers, ranging from product quality monitoring to process optimisation. Reducing energy consumption is only the first step in this revolution in fluid production efficiency. Our self-calibrating machine-learning algorithm allows bespoke measurements which respond to our client’s specific needs. Not only does data analysis get better over time - and processes can be controlled at more granular level -- but customers can also choose what to measure wherever they want along their piping systems. Driving efficiencies in, for instance, end-point mixing, will steadily reduce costs while increasing productivity even further with longer use.”
The Rheality system is fluid-agnostic, so can be deployed in production that includes single phase or multiphase environments such as emulsions, oils, gases, slurries, or water, and where the fluid flow is laminar, turbulent or transient. It can be used with any pipe size and even in the most demanding working conditions, such as high acidity or pressure. It is therefore suitable for critical parts of manufacturing processes that have historically proved difficult to monitor.
Colacino added: “We have a streamlined and simplified process for installation that will offer a major benefit to future customers. This was developed and tested in trials that ran through periods of COVID travel restrictions and prolonged shut-downs, proving that the system can be installed quickly and operated remotely.”
Rheality is based at the Proving Factory in Coventry. The company’s founders include co-inventors Prof Federico Alberini, Daniel Hefft, Dr Giuseppe Forte from the University’s School of Chemical Engineering, and innovation and technology transfer specialist Dr Francesco Colacino.