Innovation is never far from the lips of any Welsh manufacturer and this is never more true than a recent world class innovation that has been developed by Port Talbot based, global precision engineering company Rototherm Group.
The Managing Director and Owner Oliver Conger explains more “we've been involved in ultrasonic technology for our sensors for over 30 years. They are used for a variety of industry applications in the energy, beverage, refrigeration and transport industries.
However, we have ramped up our innovation over the last three years to upgrade our range of sensors for measuring level and density. I am so pleased to say that we are launching a product that will specifically support the control of inventory in commercial storage tanks. For is particularly suited to applications in LPG, Chemicals or beverage (such as beer or spirits). Using our ultrasonic technology we have developed a solution that can measure not just the level of a storage tank, but also the pressure, temperature and density to an exceptional accuracy level and without any downtime for installation since they are non-invasive. That data from our sensors is then sent through our certified telemetry system and is available to our customers via their smartphone or computer. The analytics are not only detailed, but real time and easily trackable.
What we are aiming to showcase is that Wales has some world beating technology and innovation. This product is absolutely unique and world leading in terms of using ultrasonic technology to provide an inventory control solution to the customer. There is no other product like this in the marketplace and it’s been developed here in Wales together with our team in USA and Mexico where we have offices.”
We asked Oliver “In that marketplace why is this such a benefit?” His answer : That using ultrasound is about 25% of the price of a comparable system, such as a radar system, and significantly more accurate and reliable than a mechanical system. This is using cutting edge technology to give real time diagnostics, and accuracy within +/- 0.25% tolerance. The fact that the entire solution is designed and manufactured by a single company ensures it seamlessly works together without the hassle of trying to get different products and technologies to integrate together. The fact that it can then be installed without any downtime on the tanks ensures our customers don’t lose a single minute in their operational activity.
Oliver explained that the applications for this are not hard to see, there are significant markets for example, in LPG, in the US, Japan, India, Mexico. As countries who are big users of LPG, the system is very well suited to that marketplace. So much so, that after a soft launch Rototherm already have a full order book for the next 6 months, and there is no reason to suspect that will change. As a great export story for Wales because 95% of the product will be sold overseas. Oliver explained that they had checked with the markets and there has been a very warm welcome. The expectation is that after we formally launch in November it will enable Rototherm to increase the footprint in the USA, Mexico and Ireland where we have our own offices and we are now looking at where our next overseas office expansion could be.
For more information, visit www.rototechnology.com (RotoTechnology is a brand of Rototherm Group Ltd).
