January 20, 2017, 4 minute read
Allengra GmbH, a developer and producer of customer-specific ultrasonic flow sensors, inaugurated a new production facility in Oradea, Romania. At the end of December 2016 in order to meet the needs of its customers from the heating, sanitary and air-conditioning technology as well as from the food industry - and cleaning industry to satisfy higher quantities. With additional lines available and less set-up effort, Allengra is pursuing the goal of being able to develop and produce its ultrasonic flow meters more cost efficient.
In the future, up to one million sensors will be able to roll off the assembly line in the new production facility each year.
Development in close proximity to production
Raul Junker, founder and managing director of Allengra, explains the expansion strategy:
“Our customers depend on lower unit prices for ultrasonic sensors. This is the only way they can remain competitive and open new markets worldwide with their products. At the same time, we are getting more and more inquiries from other industries that require higher unit capacity and additional production lines. We are now well prepared for that.”
On a total area of 1,600 m², Allengra can produce up to eight different products in series on a total of eight lines at the same time and set up additional test bench capacities. If required, up to 120 employees work in the new production facility.
It is important to us that our customers have direct access to production and that our development team is in the immediate vicinity of production. We have achieved this with the new production facility,” says Junker. The facility is located close to the Hungarian border in western Romania and is therefore in a good transport location for European customers.
Precise and inexpensive alternative to mechanical meters
Allengra has been exclusively producing flow sensors with ultrasonic measurement technology since 2005 and is thus responding to the increasing demand for a precise and inexpensive alternative to mechanical meters. Global heating and air conditioning companies are already using Allengra ultrasonic sensors as standard. As a non-invasive method, ultrasonic flow measurement is particularly suitable for billing monthly drinking water consumption, but also for use in heating systems and in industry, for example to determine consumed volumes or with the help of control technology to optimize entire processes. The sensors do not use mechanical counters. As a result, there is no mechanical wear and the precision of the measurement is retained until the end of the service life. Depending on the application, Allengra manufactures the measuring units almost entirely from plastic. In addition, the ultrasonic flow sensors are very well suited for use in the food industry, as the hygienic requirements can easily be met due to the lack of dead spaces.
Large dynamic range thanks to the "Time of Flight" principle (TOF)
Because there are no mechanical parts in Allengra sensors, no particles, dirt or sand affect the long-term stability and accuracy of the measurement. The ultrasonic sensors work according to the high-precision "Time of Flight" principle (TOF), which offers a very large dynamic range and easily measures the smallest flows from 0 liters per hour up to 3,000 liters (by scaling the sensors significantly higher flow rates are also possible possible).
ISH 2017: Allengra presents the first ultrasonic-based control valve
Control valves are required wherever high pressure fluctuations have to be compensated in order to meter liquids evenly. As a new combination of ultrasonic flow meters and valve, the "DN ¾ Smart Valve" from Allengra is particularly interesting for the heating and cleaning domains, but also for the food and pharmaceutical industries. As the first control valve on the market presented at ISH 2017 that works based on the ultrasonic measurement technology, it is a volume flow sensor and controller in one, simultaneously measuring flow, temperature and pressure and controlling the flow.