DeltaSil measures the mass of cement directly on the silo legs, using strain sensors bolted to the structure. No crane, no emptying, no plant shutdown. You know what you hold — and you see exactly how much actually came off the tanker.
The core issue
The bulk density of Portland cement is not a constant. In practice it falls somewhere between 0.9 and 1.5 t/m³, depending on how recently and how hard the material was fluidised. Straight after pneumatic tanker discharge, cement is aerated and takes up noticeably more space than the same cement after a dozen hours of settling.
Any device that measures the height of the column — radar, capacitive, vibrating fork, rotary paddle — has to multiply that height by an assumed density to report tonnes. Assumed, meaning guessed.
DeltaSil does not calculate volume. It measures the force with which the silo presses on its own legs — which is mass, plainly. Aeration, angle of repose, rat-holing and build-up on the walls have no effect on that measurement.
How it works
Eight strain sensors bolted to the supports, in four independent channels — every leg measured separately. No welding, no cutting, no crane.
Five PT100 sensors: one at each leg plus an ambient reference in the shade. A sun-facing leg behaves differently from a shaded one — the system corrects for it.
Current compartment contents plus the exact increase during tanker discharge and the decrease during batching. History logged to the tonne.
The system learns from confirmed deliveries — no test weights and no periodic calibration service.
What you get
The mass increase in the silo during discharge, resolved to tens of kilograms. Given the price of cement per tonne, one shortfall caught per year is real money — and the mere fact that you measure changes delivery discipline.
A low-level alarm derived from real consumption rate, not from the calendar. A stopped plant means undelivered concrete, wasted truck mixer runs and a conversation nobody wants to have.
The balance: how much cement entered the silo, how much went to the mixer, how much concrete came out. The difference stops being an "inventory" line and becomes a figure with a date and a time.
A reading on screen instead of climbing the silo, tapping the shell and estimating from batch counts. Remotely too, if you run several plants.
Comparison
| Method | What it actually measures | Installation | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level probe (radar, capacitive, vibrating) |
Height of the material column. Converting to tonnes requires an assumed density — with cement, that is the dominant source of error. | An opening in the silo roof, work at height. | When a "full / low" signal is enough and nobody needs tonnes. |
| Load cell modules under the legs (classic silo scale) |
Mass, accurately. The reference solution. | Requires emptying and lifting the silo, or installation while the plant is being built. | On a new silo, designed from scratch. That is the right choice then, and we say so plainly. |
| DeltaSil — bolt-on retrofit | Mass — via micro-strain in the legs, across four independent channels, with temperature compensation. | Bolted to the legs of a standing, full silo. One day, no downtime. | On a silo that already stands and works — which in practice means every existing batching plant. |
The questions we get most often
No. The sensors are bolted to the legs of a standing, full silo. There is no crane, no cutting and no emptying. The plant keeps working during installation — that is the whole reason this system exists.
Radar measures the distance to the material surface, i.e. the height of the column. To get tonnes you have to assume a bulk density — and with cement that varies in practice from roughly 0.9 to 1.5 t/m³ depending on aeration. We measure the force on the legs, which is mass directly. Aeration, rat-holing and wall build-up are irrelevant.
No. The system is fully autonomous: its own controller, its own screen, its own wiring. We do not touch mixer or dosing control. Maintenance does not have to approve anything, reprogram anything or accept any risk.
The system is not a legal-for-trade instrument and does not replace commercial documents — just as on our asphalt plant installations, where settlement is done by the weighbridge. It does give you hard evidence that the mass increase differs from the delivery note: a basis for checking, for a conversation with the supplier, and for making the point that you are a plant that measures.
The design target is ±1–2% on a single operation (tanker discharge, a run of batches), achieved through differential measurement and continuous self-calibration. We do not quote field figures today, because the first reference installation is planned for winter 2026/27 — we will publish it as a case study with actual measurements, not as a promise. If anyone in this field quotes you an accuracy without saying on which silo it was measured, it is worth asking.
The controller and screen are shared across the plant — each additional silo needs only its sensors and measuring channels, not a second system. That is why the second and third silo cost significantly less than the first.
We measure each leg separately, in four independent channels. In a typical summing arrangement a failed sensor simply under-reads and nobody finds out. Here the system shows which leg deviates from the others — and flags it remotely to us, under the DeltaSil Care subscription, before you notice a problem.
Same system, other silos
DeltaSil works on any silo standing on steel legs — the hardware is the same, only the reason for measuring changes.
A 20-minute site survey: we check leg profiles, cable routes and where the screen goes, then you get a firm quotation. We demonstrate the system on a tablet — it runs even with no hardware installed.
contact@deltasil.eu +48 600 225 995