Industrial water flow meters

Industrial water flow meters; advantages and disadvantages Our flow meter expert, CEO Charles Wemsyss looks at nine essential questions to ask when considering water flow meters for your application. Ease of installation Flow meters come in many different packages with many different requirements. Some need to be fitted between flanges but at the other end of scale some are strapped on. Some may need considerable downtime for fitting or are a no-go because of clearance issues, proximity to walls and other instrumentation. It’s not uncommon for flow meters to be fitted in pits for underground piping. A high IP rating is required as some pits can flood.LSonic Flow Meter Straight length requirements This is related to meter type, but also accuracy expectation (see below for that one, too). An orifice plate meter, to take the most needy of meter types, requires 100 diameters of straight pipe after two bends in different planes to ensure that the flow profile has resolved itself. Even with a simple bend 25 diameters might be necessary. Modern electromagnetic meters are the antithesis of this requiring maybe a diameter or so. They bend the rules by squishing the flow profile in the heart of the meter, but still, it enables great freedom of installation. Are flow rate, pressure and temperature ranges known? The simplest of questions at first but loaded. Frequently, the operator will think they have a good idea of flow rate based on pump speed but often the pump curve can be misleading and is generally very dependent on pressure and therefore, the rest of the pipeline. Temperature should be one of those simple measurements. If the process is run 24/7 then will the temperature (and pressure) be the same night-to-day and summer-to-winter? Will that affect low just on its own? Is the line designed, can we create a good installation? Most meter types will have recommended straight lengths before and after, installation attitude i.e., horizontal line, vertical line etc and commentary about the item that precedes the straight length. With a fresh installation, space permitting, the pipe can be optimised for cost, pressure drop and accuracy.

For more information on Industrial water flow meters talk to Litre Meter Ltd