Berthold measurement solutions for the dairy industry

Using the latest microwave technology, it is possible to monitor the water or solid content of dairy products during production in real time, which enables early detection of deviations.

The Berthold measuring system provides continuous and real-time information on the current water content or dry matter of a wide range of dairy products. The measurement can be applied directly in the main stream, therefore a bypass is not required. The materials used, which are FDA and EHEDG approved, allow easy cleaning and are resistant to high temperatures, acids and bases. Furthermore, performance is not affected by colour, viscosity or inhomogeneity of the product.

Typical applications include: butter, cream cheese, margarine, yoghurt, curd and non-dairy plant-based alternatives.

Benefits include: multi-frequency technology for dynamic plausibility control of the raw signal; representative microwave measurement captures the entire pipeline cross-section; measurement <0.2 wt.% (standard deviation); online monitoring of the water or solids content during production; CIP- and SIP-resistant materials; low-wear and maintenance-free.

The measurement system generates microwaves that interact with the water molecules due to their high dielectric constant. This interaction causes an attenuation of the microwave energy, which can be detected as phase shift and attenuation. Since the phase shift and attenuation change are directly proportional to the water content in the product, the concentration or solids content in the medium can be determined. The multi-frequency technology from Berthold is designed to ensure stable measurements, unaffected by interfering reflections or resonances from the measuring environment.