Endress+Hauser acquires concentration measurement company SensAction

March 17, 2017
The acquisition is meant to strengthen its quality measurement portfolio and will be effective retroactively from January 1.

Endress+Hauser (EH) has acquired SensAction AG, a manufacturer of systems for measuring the concentration of liquids. According to EH, the acquisition is meant to strengthen its quality measurement portfolio. SensAction will remain headquartered in Coburg, Germany and maintain its staff of thirteen.

SensAction will become a division of the EH center of competence for flow measurement technology in Reinach, Switzerland. Coriolis flow measurement devices from EH can already determine mass flow and density and electromagnetic instruments are capable of measuring conductivity parallel to the volume flow. The Swiss company plans to eventually combine SensAction technology directly with its own flow instruments.

According to a EH press release, the systems from SensAction measure the concentration of liquids with the help of surface acoustic waves, which are high frequency sound waves comparable to seismic waves created by earthquakes. By analyzing the transmission time and amplitude, the acoustic parameters of the liquid, such as sound wave velocity, impedance and density, can be measured in order to determine the concentration. Because they contain no moving parts, the systems allegedly do not suffer from wear-and-tear.

The acquisition will be effective retroactively from January 1.