Dr.

Ajay Mandal
 A positive displacement meter is a type of flow meter that
requires fluid to mechanically displace components in the
meter in order for flow measurement.
 Positive displacement (PD) flow meters measure
the volumetric flow rate of a moving fluid or gas by
dividing the media into fixed, metered volumes (finite
increments or volumes of the fluid).
 A basic analogy would be holding a bucket below a tap,
filling it to a set level, then quickly replacing it with
another bucket and timing the rate at which the buckets
are filled (or the total number of buckets for the “totalized”
flow).
 With appropriate pressure and temperature compensation,
the mass flow rate can be accurately determined.
 Positive displacement flowmeters are very
accurate and have high turndown.
 They can be used in very viscous, dirty
and corrosive fluids and essentially require no
straight runs of pipe for fluid flow stream
conditioning though pressure drop can be an
issue.
 They are widely used in custody transfer of
oils and liquid fluids (gasoline) and are
applied on residential home natural gas and
water metering.
 How Differential Pressure Flowmeters Work
Differential pressure flowmeters use Bernoulli's
equation to measure the flow of fluid in a pipe.
 Differential pressure flowmeters introduce a constriction in
the pipe that creates a pressure drop across the
flowmeter.
 When the flow increases, more pressure drop is created.
 Impulse piping route the upstream and downstream
pressures of the flowmeter to the transmitter that
measures the differential pressure to determine the fluid
flow.

Different geometries are used for different
measurements, including the orifice plate, flow
nozzle, laminar flow element, low-loss flow
tube, segmental wedge, V-cone, and Venturi tube.
 ADVANTAGES
 Low pressure drop, which remains mostly constant across the
operating range of the meter.
 Easily read, installed, and maintained.
 May be constructed from a variety of materials and cover a wide range
of temperatures and pressures.
 Easily converted to handle flows of different fluids.
 Can be installed immediately before or after pipe fittings.
 Self-cleaning.
 Piston meters and vane meters can be mounted in any position.
 Low cost

 Disadvantages
 Requires relatively clean fluid.
 Rotameters must be vertically mounted.
 Usually only provides direct readings for air and water, calculations
must be made for other fluids.
 Rotameters are adversely affected by moderate to high viscosities.
 ADVANTAGES
 No moving parts, low maintenance.
 Low cost.
 Small.

Disadvantages
 Low accuracy.
 Pressure drops can be large.
 Requires lengths of straight pipe upstream and
downstream.
 Contraction of flow reduces accuracy of
downstream pressure measurement.
 ADVANTAGES
 Can handle suspended solids.
 For same flow rate, has significantly lower
pressure drop than orifice plate.
 May be mounted horizontally or vertically.
 Less susceptible to erosion and corrosion than an
orifice plate
 DISADVANTAGES
 Unsuitable for viscous flow and sticky materials.
 Requires consistently smooth flow profile, can't
handle eddies or vortices.
 Requires straight pipe runs up- and downstream
 ADVANTAGES
 Handle large flow volumes at low pressure drops.
 No moving parts, low maintenance.
 Accommodate liquids with high solids content.
 Shape is inherently self-cleaning.
 May be mounted horizontally or vertically.

 DISADVANTAGES
 Require four or more pressure taps to accurately measure
pressure differential.
 Require lengths of straight pipe upstream and
downstream.
 Accuracy depends on consistent flow profile.
 Less accurate at low flowrates.
 How Turbine Flowmeters Work
Turbine flowmeters use the mechanical
energy of the fluid to rotate a “pinwheel”
(rotor) in the flow stream.
 Blades on the rotor are angled to transform
energy from the flow stream into rotational
energy.
 The rotor shaft spins on bearings. When the
fluid moves faster, the rotor spins
proportionally faster.
 High degree of accuracy at low cost, especially
when combined with a flow computer
 Flexibility in connecting to associated electronic
readout devices for flow control and computer
interface
 Wide flow rangeability
 Construction materials that permit use with many
process fluids
 Simple, durable, field-repairable construction
 Operation over a wide range of temperatures and
pressures
 Poor inter-changeability from unit to unit
 Bearings depend on lubricity and cleanliness
of process fluid
 Turbine blades are susceptible to wear and
must be frequently calibrated
 Liquid applications may be suspect to
problems involving cavitations,
specificgravity, and viscosity
 Intended for clean fluid applications
 An ultrasonic flowmeter (non-intrusive Doppler flow meters) is a
volumetric flow meter which requires particulates or bubbles in the
flow.

 Ultrasonic flowmeters are ideal for wastewater applications or any

dirty liquid which is conductive or water based.

 Ultrasonics flowmeters will generally not work with distilled water or

drinking water.

 Aerations would be required in the clean liquid applications.

 Ultrasonic flowmeters are also ideal for applications where low

pressure drop, chemical compatibility, and low maintenance are
required.
 

The basic principle of operation employs the frequency shift (Doppler

Effect) of an ultrasonic signal when it is reflected by suspended particles
or gas bubbles (discontinuities) in motion.

 This metering technique utilizes the physical phenomenon of a sound

wave that changes frequency when it is reflected by moving
discontinuities in a flowing liquid.

 Ultrasonic sound is transmitted into a pipe with flowing liquids, and the
discontinuities reflect the ultrasonic wave with a slightly different
frequency that is directly proportional to the rate of flow of the liquid
(Figure 1). Current technology requires that the liquid contain at least
100 parts per million (PPM) of 100 micron or larger suspended particles
or bubbles.
 Vortex flow meters are flow sensors that detect the
frequency of vortices shed by a bluff body placed in a
flow stream. The frequency of the vortices is proportional
to the flow velocity. Vortex flow meters are used to
measure the flow of liquids and/or gases.
 Operating pressure range and media temperature range are
important media specifications to consider. Operating
pressure range is the maximum head pressure of the process
media that devices can withstand. Maximum temperature
range is the maximum temperature of the media that can be
monitored. Additional parameters include velocity flow rate,
which is usually measured in distance/time. Vortex flow
meters that can also measure temperature, density or media
levels are commonly available.
 Electromagnetic flowmeter is a kind of inductional
instrument designed by Faraday's law of eletromagnetic
induction to measure inner-tube conductive media's flow of
volume.
 It adopts the technology of insertion of single chip to realise
digital excitation and employs CAN current main line.
 It is the first invention of China and its technology amounts to
the leading level at home. Electromagnetic flowmeter can realise
site indication and output electrical current signal of 4-20mA
which can be used to record, regulate and control. Besides
measuring the flow of general conductive liquid electromagnetic
flowmeter can measure the flow of volume of liquid-solid mixed
fluid, high-viscosity fluid and salt, strong acid and strong alkali.
Coriolis mass flowmeters measure the force resulting from
the acceleration caused by mass moving toward (or away
from) a center of rotation.
 Tank calibration is often referred to as "tank
strapping" derived from to the old method of
placing metal bands or straps around wooden
containers used for the storage of oils.
 Over the years, as the price of crude oil and
petroleum products has increased, storage facilities,
and the accurate measurement of oil in storage, has
become very important.
 We now have storage tanks as large as 2,000,000
barrels in volume and therefore one can see how
importance the calibration of a storage tank can be.
Any errors made at the calibration stage will cause
errors in the final tank table.
 Calibration is the process of accurately
determining the capacity or partial capacities of a
tank and expressing this capacity as a volume for
a given linear increment or height of liquid.

 Above ground cylindrical storage tanks are

usually calibrated by placing a measuring tape
around the tank shell. This procedure, known as
the Manual Tank Strapping Method is the original
tank calibration technique
 Present day tank calibration techniques have
taken the tank strapping method and refined
it into two optical methods of measurement.
These are known as:
 1. Optical Reference Line Method (ORLM).
 2. Optical Triangulation Method (OTM).
 Circumference Measurement
 Before taking any measurements, it must be
ascertained that the tank has been filled at least
once with a liquid of a density equal to or greater
than the normal service liquid. Generally, the
static water test carried out on the completion of
construction satisfies this condition.
 The normal tape for tank strapping is made of steel, 1/8"
to 1/4" wide, of a length great enough to measure the
total circumference.
 If this tape is not available, circumferential measurement
can be made in sections, the sum of all the sections being
used as the circumference. Standard tapes are usually
100', 200', 500' and 1,000' in length, marked at each foot,
with one or both ends marked in 0.01' increments.
 A Master Tape is a tape measured by the National Institute
for Standards and Technology, and reported as having a
specific length, for example:
 100.0023 feet at a temperature of 68 degF, and a tension
of 10 pounds.
 100.0198 feet at a temperature of 68 degF, and a tension
of 30 pounds.
 All height measurements should be recorded
to the nearest 0.01'. The total shell height
should be measured together with the
heights of the plates in each ring.
 If the tank contains liquid, the temperature
and a sample for API Gravity determination
must be taken,together with the ambient
temperature.
 Additional measurements required on the
tank shell are the plate thickness and the
paint thickness.
 Tilt
Test measurements of the tank should be made to
find out whether the tank is tilted out of the
vertical.
 Deadwood
In addition to external measurement, it is
necessary to determine the amount of space
taken up inside the tank by pipes, heaters,
manholes, mixers, ladders, etc. This is called
deadwood and is generally described as items
that subtract from or add to the volume of liquid
in the tank. Deadwood measurements are
normally made to the nearest 1/4". The strapping
report must include the dimensions of the
deadwood and its location in the tank relative to
the datum plate.
 Bottom Survey

 Once the measurement of deadwood is completed, the final

operation is to carry out a bottom survey. This is usually
determined by means of a surveyor's level or transit measuring the
height differences between the datum plate and various selected
points on the tank bottom. Starting at the datum plate a survey is
taken to the center. Then, from the datum plate, take survey levels
around the circumference, and at each 45-degree position again
take another survey into the center of the tank. It follows that the
more level readings that are taken, the more accurate will be the
bottom calculations. Another method of determining the bottom
volume of the tank is by metering quantities of water into the tank
and recording the relative heights above and below the datum
plate.
 When afloat, floating roofs displace a volume of
liquid equal in weight to the weight of the roof,
therefore an accurate assessment of the total weight
of the roof is very important.
 The physical measurement of the roof should be
made detailing each piece of metal used in the
construction, together with its exact position in the
roof.
 Using these measurements, calculations are made
which give both volume and weight.
 Floating roofs are also fitted with drain lines, seal
tensioners, support legs and roof ladder, which must
also be measured and taken into account when
calculating the roof weight.
 In addition to the regular strapping
equipment, the following additional
equipment will be required for the ORLM
method:
 (a) Optical device (i.e., optical plummet
consisting of a theodolite and a precision
level mounted on a tripod providing a 90
degree perpendicular line of vision).
 (b) A traversing magnetic trolley with a
graduated slide to measure offsets at
different vertical stations.
 Selection of the number of horizontal stations
is made according to the tank diameter:
 The location of each horizontal station must allow the vertical traverse of
the trolley to be at least 12" from any vertical weld seam. Two vertical
station per course, high and low, must be established approximately
20% from the horizontal weld seam of each course.

 For example, as the trolley moves upwards approximately 20% of the

plate width into the course, past the horizontal weld seam, a
measurement reading of the scale on the trolley is taken. The trolley is
then raised to within 20% of the next horizontal weld seam and a
measurement is again recorded.
 The optical device must be leveled at every
station. Sightings must be perpendicular as is
verified by reading the scale, rotating the
optical device 180 degrees and reading again.
These two readings must agree within 0.005
ft.

 Readings start with the trolley at the lowest

reference height and the trolley is then
moved up. After the highest vertical reading,
the trolley is lowered and the reference
reading checked. The two reference readings
must agree within 0.005 ft.
 At any chosen vertical height, the tank radius,
r is:
 R=Cir/2π+Σ[(a-m)/n]
 Where Cir= measured circumference at
reference height.
 a= measured reference offset
 m= measured offset at selected vertical
height
 n= number of horizontal stations
 Σ = summation over all n horizontal stations
 The reference tank diameter at the bottom
course is determined by strapping. The
theodolite must have an angular graduation
and precision better than 0.002°
 The Lease Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) unit is a
critical system in ownership transfer of crude oil and
petroleum products from the production site to trucks,
pipelines or storage tanks.
It includes:
 Positive displacement meters
 Turbine meters
 Ultrasonic meters
 Bidirectional, unidirectional and compact provers
 Valves and pumps
 Mixers Strainers
 BS&W monitors
 Flow computers
 Control and data acquisition systems
 Complete instrumentation packages