Use cases

Monitoring steam sterilization and CIP

The Quality Control department of a European dairy producer identified several critical control points where prior temperature instruments failed due to excessive vibration (g-forces): steam sterilization of piping between process steps and CIP of the maturation tanks.

Steam sterilizaton

The steam temperature is 80...140 °C and the TCC monitors this range to ensure safe sterilization. The customer wanted to place the temperature measuring point very close to the steam injector. Because of the location, the instruments were subjected to very high vibration. The extent of the vibration level was previously unknown, but with the help of ifm's vibration monitoring equipment, they measured spikes up to 360 g! Because the TCC was designed to withstand high shock and vibration conditions, it performed flawlessly in this application.

CIP system

Pipes and tanks are cleaned with alkalis and acids using heating and cooling cycles. Thermal shock is often a cause of failure for instruments.  However, the TCC endures the thermal shock without an effect on accuracy or measurement certainty.

Cheese pasteurization

A major manufacturer of pasteurized cheese products uses process equipment for cooking and dispensing their products. Maintaining a specified critical temperature is necessary for proper pasteurization. Their procedures require weekly verification of temperature instruments for calibrated accuracy. At one point, a human error resulted in a substantial loss of product and a national recall.

The TCC provides a unique solution utilizing dual temperature elements. When used with an IO-Link master, both elements are continuously monitoring for drift of measurement uncertainty via the plant's EtherNet IP control network.