There's a question that practically every industrial process has to answer, dozens of times a day, across thousands of facilities around the world: how much material is in that vessel, and where exactly is the level? It sounds simple enough, but in reality, level measurement is one of the most technically demanding challenges in industrial instrumentation. Fluids foam. Solids bridge and coat. Temperatures spike and pressures fluctuate. Hazardous materials demand failsafe reliability. For engineers who live with these challenges every day, one name has stood out for decades as the company that genuinely gets it right —
AMETEK Drexelbrook.
Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, Drexelbrook built its reputation on a single, transformative idea: that there was a better way to measure level than the technologies available at the time. The company pioneered RF admittance level instrumentation, coining the very term "RF admittance" to describe an approach that went beyond simple capacitance measurement. By developing its proprietary Cote-Shield technology, Drexelbrook solved one of the industry's most persistent headaches — the problem of conductive material coating the sensor and causing false readings. That breakthrough alone set the company apart, and it's been setting the standard ever since.
Today, AMETEK Drexelbrook operates as part of AMETEK Level Measurement Solutions, a division of AMETEK, Inc., a global industrial technology leader with approximately $7.5 billion in annual sales. Being part of AMETEK gives Drexelbrook the engineering resources and global reach of a major corporation while maintaining the deep application expertise and product focus that made it great in the first place.
What Does Drexelbrook Actually Make?
Drexelbrook's product portfolio is genuinely comprehensive, which matters because no single measurement technology works well in every situation. The company offers point level switches and continuous level transmitters across multiple technology platforms — RF admittance, ultrasonic, open-air radar, magnetostrictive, and guided wave radar. That breadth means a Drexelbrook engineer can honestly recommend the best technology for your specific application rather than shoehorning your problem into the one solution they happen to sell.
The RF admittance product line remains the crown jewel and is widely considered the industry's gold standard for difficult applications involving viscous fluids, slurries, foamy materials, and coating-prone substances. For non-contact applications, the USonic ultrasonic transmitters feature patented SmartGain technology that automatically ignores false echoes from tank obstructions and agitator blades — no manual tweaking required. The open-air radar transmitters use FMCW technology for highly accurate continuous measurement even in vapor-heavy or turbulent environments.
One product that deserves special mention is the Universal Water Cut Meter, which measures the water content of crude oil flowing through a pipeline. It's a niche application, but a critically important one for the oil and gas industry, where accurate water cut measurement directly impacts production accounting and revenue calculations. Drexelbrook's decades of capacitive measurement expertise make it one of the few companies capable of doing this reliably.
More recently, Drexelbrook has moved into Industrial IoT with the BrightTEK wireless tank monitoring system, which includes satellite uplink capability for remote or off-grid locations. That's a meaningful evolution for a company with roots in analog instrumentation.
Who Trusts Drexelbrook?
The customer list reads like a map of heavy industry. Oil refineries, petrochemical plants, pharmaceutical manufacturers, food and beverage processors, pulp and paper mills, water and wastewater treatment facilities, power generation plants, mining operations, cement manufacturers, steel mills — if there's a vessel with a level that needs measuring, Drexelbrook has probably solved that problem for someone in that industry already.
In safety-critical applications, Drexelbrook's commitment to reliability really shines. Many of their instruments carry SIL 2 certification, with SIL 3 capability in redundant configurations, as well as FM, ATEX, and IECEx approvals for hazardous-area use. Features like AutoVerify and Manual Certify allow operators to confirm that their level switches will actually respond when called upon — without interrupting the process or pulling the sensor. For high-level alarms on storage tanks or overfill protection systems, that kind of confidence isn't a luxury; it's a legal and ethical requirement.
A Reputation Built on the Hard Stuff
What's most telling about AMETEK Drexelbrook's reputation isn't what they say about themselves — it's the applications engineers trust them with. When process conditions are harsh, when the material is problematic, when the consequences of a bad reading are serious, that's when experienced instrumentation professionals reach for Drexelbrook. More than 60 years of application data, a genuine commitment to recommending the right technology for each job, and products built to perform in conditions that would defeat lesser instruments — that combination is why Drexelbrook remains the reference standard in industrial level measurement.
If you're evaluating level measurement solutions for a demanding application, drexelbrook.com is the right place to start.
Serving New England: Piping Specialties, Inc. / PSI Controls
For customers throughout New England, local expertise and support are available through Piping Specialties, Inc. / PSI Controls, the authorized regional representative for AMETEK Drexelbrook. PSI Controls supports the full Drexelbrook product line across all applications — from straightforward point level switches to complex continuous measurement installations in demanding process environments. Whether you're specifying a new system, troubleshooting an existing installation, or looking for guidance on which technology is right for your application, PSI Controls brings both the product knowledge and the regional presence to help you get it right. For New England facilities in chemical processing, water and wastewater, food and beverage, power generation, and beyond, PSI Controls is your first call for AMETEK Drexelbrook solutions.
