Flowmeters monitor coal at test facility
A facility that develops and tests a new method for generating electricity chose flowmeters with capacitive sensors to monitor the flow of pulverized coal.
Operated for the US Department of Energy [DOE] by MSE, Inc., the Component Development and Integration Facility in Butte, Mont., develops and tests magnetohydrodynamics [MHD]. MHD generates direct current per Faraday's law by moving a conductor -- a hot gas stream created by burning coal and potassium -- through a magnetic field. MHD is the facility's first step in a two-step system for generating electricity.