Rheality to commercialise AI-based fluid probe

By measuring how fluids flow and mix through production lines, Rheality’s intelligent sensing system aims to replace process control techniques that have remained unchanged for decades, whereby food, oil and gas, FMCG and chemicals manufacturers can only test what’s in their pipes by halting production.

When traditional test results reveal inadequate processing or substandard products, batches may need to be re-worked or scrapped, resulting in waste of raw materials and energy expenditure to prepare a new batch.

Rheality’s technology allows manufacturers to monitor what is going on inside production pipes in real-time, without having to halt production. This previously inaccessible real-time information allows them to continuously fine tune their production processes, optimising the use of energy and materials.

The system uses a retrofitted passive probe inside the pipe that vibrates according to the fluid flowing around it and generates a fluid ‘fingerprint’. A sensor converts these vibrations into an electrical signal and machine learning algorithms acquire, analyse and convert the signal into a continuous feed of actionable information.