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FARRUKH SHAHZAD

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PRESSURE AND PRESSURE MEASURING DEVICES

Although pressure is an absolute quantity, everyday pressure


measurements, such as for tire pressure, are usually made relative to ambient air pressure.
In other cases measurements are made relative to a vacuum or to some other ad hoc
reference. When distinguishing between these zero references, the following terms are
used:
• Absolute pressure is zero referenced against a perfect vacuum, so it is equal to
gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure.
• Gauge pressure is zero referenced against ambient air pressure, so it is equal to
absolute pressure minus atmospheric pressure. Negative signs are usually omitted.
Atmospheric pressure is typically about 100 kPa at sea level, but is variable with
altitude and weather. If the absolute pressure of a fluid stays constant, the gauge
pressure of the same fluid will vary as atmospheric pressure changes.
• Differential pressure is the difference in pressure between two points.
Differential pressures are commonly used in industrial process systems.
Differential pressure gauges have two inlet ports, each connected to one of the
volumes whose pressure is to be monitored. In effect, such a gauge performs the
mathematical operation of subtraction through mechanical means, obviating the
need for an operator or control system to watch two separate gauges and
determine the difference in readings.
General definition:
The physics definition is that pressure is force per unit area:
Pressure = Force / Area.
UNITS:
The SI unit for pressure is the Pascal (Pa), equal to one Newton per square
meter (N·m or kg·m-1·s-2). This special name for the unit was added in 1971; before that,
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pressure in SI was expressed in units such as N/m². Atmospheric pressures are usually
stated using kilopascal (kPa), or atmospheres (atom),
TYPES OF PRESSURE MEASURING DEVICES:
Pressure can be measured by different type of devices
There different types are
1. Different type of manometers.
2. Different types of barometers.
3. McLeod gauges
4. Bourdon gauges.

1.Different type of manometer:


MANOMETER:
It is glass made device which is used to measure the pressure difference and cant measure
absolute.
Principle of measurement:
Usually all the manometer devices have the same principle on which
they work. Almost all have some kind of fluid in them that created pressure difference
which can be measured.
Its types are

The Piezometer Tube Manometer:


The simplest manometer is a tube, open at the top, which is attached to
the top of a vessel containing liquid at a pressure (higher than atmospheric) to be
measured. An example can be seen in the figure below. This simple device is known as a
Piezometer tube. As the tube is open to the atmosphere the pressure measured is relative
to atmospheric so is gauge pressure.

A simple piezometer tube manometer


EQUATION:
DISADVANTAGE:
This method can only be used for liquids (i.e. not for gases) and only when the
liquid height is convenient to measure. It must not be too small or too large and pressure
changes must be detectable.
2. The "U"-Tube Manometer
Using a "U"-Tube enables the pressure of both liquids and gases
to be measured with the same instrument. The "U" is connected as in the figure below
and filled with a fluid called the manometer fluid. The fluid whose pressure is being
measured should have a mass density less than that of the manometric fluid and the two
fluids should not be able to mix readily - that is, they must be immiscible.

EQUATION DERIVATION:
A "U"-Tube manometer
Pressure in a continuous static fluid is the same at any horizontal level so,

For the left hand arm

For the right hand arm


As we are measuring gauge pressure we can subtract giving

If the fluid being measured is a gas, the density will probably be very low in comparison
to the density of the manometric fluid i.e. rman >> r. In this case the term can be
neglected, and the gauge pressure give by

3. Measurement Of Pressure Difference Using a "U"-Tube Manometer.


If the "U"-tube manometer is connected to a pressurised vessel at two points the pressure
difference between these two points can be measured.

EQUATION DERIVATION:
Pressure difference measurement by the "U"-Tube manometer If the
manometer is arranged as in the figure above, then

Giving the pressure difference

Again, if the fluid whose pressure difference is


being measured is a gas and , then the terms involving can be neglected, so

4. Advances to the "U" tube manometer.


The "U"-tube manometer has the disadvantage that the change in
height of the liquid in both sides must be read. This can be avoided by making the
diameter of one side very large compared to the other. In this case the side with the large
area moves very little when the small area side move considerably more.
EQUATION DERIVATION:
Assume the manometer is arranged as above to measure the pressure
difference of a gas of (negligible density) and that pressure difference is . If the
datum line indicates the level of the manometric fluid when the pressure difference is
zero and the height differences when pressure is applied is as shown, the volume of liquid
transferred from the left side to the right
And the fall in level of the left side is

We know from the theory of the "U" tube manometer that the height different in the two
columns gives the pressure difference so

Clearly if D is very much larger than d then (d/D)2 is very small so

So only one reading need be taken to measure the pressure difference.

TILTED MANOMETER:
The pressure difference is still given by the height change of the manometric fluid but by
placing the scale along the line of the tilted arm and taking this reading large movements
will be observed. The pressure difference is then given by
EQUATION:

The sensitivity to pressure change can be increased further by a greater inclination of the
manometer arm, alternatively the density of the manometric fluid may be changed.

BAROMETER
A Barometer
You probably realize that as we use a vacuum pump to remove the air from one side of
the U tube, the liquid is going to shift away from the open tube and toward the pump.
This is due to atmospheric pressure in the open tube pushing down on the liquid further,
the liquid will continue to rise toward the pump until the atmospheric pressure simply
cannot push it up any more. The actual height to which it will go depends upon the liquid
being used. For mercury, the liquid will rise until the upper level is about 30 inches above
the lower level. The reason it's a barometer is because the difference in height between
the two columns is proportional to the atmospheric pressure. As the pressure goes up, the
difference in height will increase. The reading of this barometer will be in inches of
mercury, and will be very nearly 30 in/Hg.

Water barometer
Water can be used as the liquid to make a pretty good
barometer, but there is a practical difficulty in that the arms of the U tube need to be
about 34 feet long. That is, atmospheric pressure is able to push a column of water
upward a distance of 34 feet above the level at which the pressure is applied. The first
barometer was developed by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643, in the era of Issac
Newton. One of his earlier models used water as the liquid. After Mr. Torricelli had
developed a workable and portable mercury barometer, he and his friends read the thing
very carefully while down in the valley, and then carried it up to the top of a nearby
mountain. Ahh ha! The barometer indicated a lower pressure at the top of the mountain
than it did down in the valley. This gave the first indication that the atmosphere of the
earth had a finite depth rather than extending upward forever. Now, at the beginning of
this article, we said that for every 34 feet a diver goes down into water, the pressure
increases 14.7psi.Do you see the relationship? That is the equivalent of atmospheric
pressure and the height of the corresponding water column:
Atmospheric pressure = 14.7 psi = 30 in/Hg = 34 feet of waterAll these numbers
are approximate, of course
Aneroid barometers
Most barometers we encounter use a mechanical mechanism of some sort
rather than columns of liquid to sense atmospheric pressure. These are called aneroid
barometers. The word "aneroid" somehow means "without liquid." A typical aneroid
barometer utilizes a bellows made of thin metal that expands or contracts as the air
pressure changes. The movement of the bellows is communicated to the indicator needle
by an intricate linkage that also provides for adjustment and calibration. In fact, the
altimeters on our planes are aneroid barometers with a few modifications.

3. McLeod gauge.
A McLeod gauge isolates a sample of gas and compresses it in a modified mercury
manometer until the pressure is a few mmHg. The gas must be well-behaved during its
compression (it must not condense, for example). The technique is slow and unsuited to
continual monitoring, but is capable of good accuracy.

4. Bourdon guage:
A Bourdon gauge uses a coiled tube, which, as it expands due to pressure increase causes
a rotation of an arm connected to the tub

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