INTRODUCTION TO FLOWMETERS

Overview

Flow measurement is essential in many industries such as the oil,

power, chemical, food, water, and waste treatment industries.
These industries require the determination of the quantity of a
fluid, either gas, liquid, or steam, that passes through a check
point, either a closed conduit or an open channel, in their daily
processing or operating. The quantity to be determined may be
volume flow rate, mass flow rate, flow velocity, or other
quantities related to the previous three.

The instrument to conduct flow measurement is called flowmeter. The development of a

flowmeter involves a wide variety of disciplines including the flow sensors, the sensor
and fluid interactions through the use of computation techniques, the transducers and
their associated signal processing units, and the assessment of the overall system under
ideal, disturbed, harsh, or potentially explosive conditions in both the laboratory and the
field.

Categorization

Since flowmeters are integrated instruments that measure

different flow quantities by different technologies. Many
characteristics can be referred in categorizing flowmeters. Some
of the references are listed below:
 Technology Employed
 Instrumentation Configuration
 Physical Quantity Measured
 Flow Quantity Converted

Common flowmeters that are discussed in this flowmeter section

include:
 Flowmeter
1. Coriolis
2. Differential Pressure Elbow
3. Flow Nozzle
4. Orifice
5. Pitot Tube
6. Pitot Tube (Averaging)
7. Venturi
8. Wedge
9. Magnetic
10. Positive Displacement Nutating Disc
11. Oscillating Piston
12. Oval Gear
13. Roots
14. Target
15. Thermal
16. Turbine
17. Ultrasonic Doppler
18. Transit Time
19. Variable Area Movable Vane
20. Rotameter
21. Weir, Flume
22. Vortex

Installation

Flowmeters need to be integrated into existing/planning piping

system to be useful. There are two types of flowmeter installation
methods: inline and insertion. The inline models include
connectors to the upstream and downstream pipes while the
insertion models insert the sensor probe into the pipes.

Most flowmeters need to be installed at a point where the pipes

on both sides remain straight for a certain distance. For inline
models, the inner diameter of the pipes have to be the same as
the flowmeter's line size. Between the flowmeter and the pipes,
there are two types of mostly used connecting methods: flanged
and wafer.
Among different types of connection methods, insertion design is more flexible and more
economical in larger line sizes while inline design is more confined and usually easier to
calibrate. The wafer connection is usually less expansive than flanged connection.
However, it may require extra parts to allow the threading with pipes at both ends.

Selection

To select a flowmeter that suits one's application, many factors

need to be considered. The most important ones are fluid phase
(gas, liquid, steam, etc.) and flow condition (clean, dirty,
viscous , abrasive, open channel, ect.) The matching of fluid
phase and flowmeter technology can be found in the flowmeter
selection page.

The second most important factors are line size and flow rate
(They are closely related). This information will further eliminate
most submodels in each flowmeter technology.

Other fluid properties that may affect the selection of flowmeters

include density (specific gravity), pressure, temperature,
viscosity, and electronic conductivity. On the flow part, one
needs to pay attention to the state of fluid (pure or mixed) and
the status of flow (constant, pulsating, or variable).
Moreover, the environment temperature, the arrangements (e.g.,
corrosive, explosive, indoor, outdoor), the installation method
(insertion, clamped-on, or inline), and the location of the
flowmeter also need to be considered, along with other factors
which include the maximum allowable pressure drop, the
required accuracy, repeatability, and cost (initial set up,
maintenance, and training).