On the Level

Super Products’ load sensor technology for vacuum and hydroexcavation trucks excites Expo visitors.
On the Level
Mike Vanden Heuvel, president and chief executive officer for Super Products, describes the features of the Acculevel load sensor system to an Expo visitor.

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Expo visitors looking for an accurate way to measure industrial vacuum and hydroexcavating waste found it in the Acculevel load sensor system from Super Products. “A lot of visitors came in excited about the technology,” says Mike Vanden Heuvel, president and chief executive officer for Super Products. “We have several subsequent follow-ups with customers who want to utilize the system, not necessarily to go with our truck but as a standalone system that they could incorporate in their own design. And we had some conversations with other companies that want to investigate if it was appropriate for them.”

Vanden Heuvel says Expo interest came from industrial cleaning and hauling contractors as well as tanker owners.

“We have to go through a state of discovery and find out exactly how the system can interface with their electronics and controls,” he says. “It’s a direction we didn’t anticipate, but the level of interest in the device — overflows, shutdowns, those kinds of things — was high.”

The sensor system continuously monitors and displays the debris levels of both liquid and solids on Mud Dog hydroexcavators and the Supersucker HDX, performing in vacuum pressures up to 28 inches Hg and temperatures from -40 to 176 degrees F.

“One of the industry’s largest problems is carryover, whether it’s dry vacuuming or slurry; it’s difficult to tell,” Vanden Heuvel says. “Most trucks have visual indicators when the debris body is full, and that works to a degree. But lesser experienced operators can fill the truck too much and have carryover into your bags and ultimately into your blower, which you certainly want to protect.”

Vanden Heuvel says that while there are many visual indicators available — float balls and such — if the operator is 200 feet away from the truck, it’s difficult to see the arrow or indicator that’s attached to the debris body.

“People are more often vacuuming a distance away from the truck,” he says. “When you’re vacuuming, your attention is on your work. You don’t want your attention divided where you have to be checking the truck for too many things too often because there’s safety involved. This way you can continue to focus on your work and not have to worry about overfilling the debris tank.”

The radar-sensing system, in development for two years, tells the operator when the truck is one-quarter full, half full and three-quarters full. Unaffected by air flow, noises, vibration, dust and humidity, a warning light flashes when the truck is 90 percent full to allow time to finish working and clear the hose prior to automatic vacuum shutoff at full capacity. This alert helps with preventing whatever debris is in the hose from falling back out.

“The vent doors open and the vacuum is broken,” Vanden Heuvel says. “You cannot vacuum any more material in the debris body; therefore you cannot have carryover.”

The sensor can be wired into the truck’s electronic control system during manufacture or retrofitted later. 800/837-9711; www.superproductsllc.com.



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