ColloidTek offers new measuring technology and machine intelligence for analysing liquids

ColloidTek helps its customers develop more efficient processes for analysing liquids. The company innovates, together with its customers, new monitoring methods for the process industry. ColloidTek has developed, for the process industry, a new kind of solution for analysing liquids.

The innovativeness of the solution is based on two things: firstly the measuring technology where the electrical properties of the studied liquid are observed by means of a radio frequency sensor and secondly the analysis developed by ColloidTek that uses machine learning to analyse the measuring data.  Collo® also enables the online analysis of very thick liquids, which has not previously been possible. The sensor is available as a rod-shaped ColloProbe, which can be immersed directly into the liquid tank. The company is currently developing ColloPlate, which can be mounted onto the wall of the tank or inside a pipe.

Diversity is among the strengths of the solution developed by ColloidTek. It can be used to identify the relative volumes of phases and their mutual reactions, regardless of whether the phases are liquid, gaseous, oily, or solid. In addition, the dissolution of chemicals into a phase or separation (crystallisation) from a phase can be identified. The technology enables identifying, for example, changes in the volume of oil in water or the adsorption of microscopic solid matter within a liquid, which is utilised e.g. in the mining industry or purification of water.

In the process industry, laboratory and shunt samples are time-consuming and the results represent the analysis of the process at a certain moment. Collo® technology enables an exact measurement result in real time and directly from the process, i.e. the measuring results always correspond to the actual situation. The solution’s tolerance of accumulated product is good, in other words, the impact of dirt that gathers on top of the sensor over time on the measurement result is minor.

The benefits of Collo® technology:

• Enhanced production
• Enhanced quality
• Saving raw materials, time, and energy

ColloidTek has unique expertise in sensors and analysis, but the company needed a partner to commercialise the innovation. Huld had extensive special expertise in the implementation of industrial measuring devices and insight in the commercialisation of innovations.

“The undisputed strengths of Huld include systems design, open communication, and problem-solving skills”, says CTO Teemu Yli-Hallila from ColloidTek, who led the product development project. “In addition, Huld has reacted quickly and provided assistance in customisation needs that arose in customer projects”, continues Yli-Hallila.

The environmental requirements of the process industry were observed in the design, mechanics, and electronics of the product. The real-time operation was a key requirement in the electronics and software sector and was reflected e.g. in the planning of circuit solutions and data transfer protocols. Huld’s diverse expertise in various areas speeded up the successful completion of the project.

“Commercialisation enabled us to create a Collo® solution package that is easy to deliver to the customers and suited to their processes. The solution package includes a sensor, data analysis, and integration with the systems needed by the customer”, explains Yli-Hallila.