Food and drink production represents the largest manufacturing sector in th
e UK economy and are among the largest UK exporters (pound 8.2 billion in 1
995). The industry makes essential contributions to UK wealth creation, to
the quality of life within the UK and is seen to add value at each of the m
ajor stages of the supply train. Around 45,000 companies are involved in fo
od processing and production in the UK, and 90% of these are classed as sma
ll to medium enterprises (SMEs) with less than 250 employees. Most of the S
MEs possess little, if any research facilities or research expertise. Food
processing represents a field of rapid development and implementation of ne
w approaches in process technology, in particular, automation systems, qual
ity procedures, efficiency improvements and sensor systems for on-line proc
ess monitoring and control. The current research programme has been set up
to develop an ultrasound monitoring system for container filling. For fluid
level measurements, most of the previous research has focused on developin
g ultrasound monitoring techniques with sensors positioned at the base of t
he container for ease of operation. The objective of the research described
herein was to explore various approaches to ultrasound monitoring to assis
t determination of the potential benefits of mounting the sensors on the si
de and top of containers. Three sensing techniques have been identified and
explored, and two methods of signal processing have been assessed to deter
mine the optimum approach. The central result of this work was the discover
y and utilisation of the non-contact air transmission approach to ultrasoun
d sensing. Ultrasound monitoring from the side or top of containers require
s a contact approach and therefore is seen as impractical for a high-speed
food processing situation. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.