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INSTRUMENT ENGINEERS' HANDBOOK - Process Measurement and Analysis, Fourth Edition ... (PDFDrive) - Part213

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37 views1 page

INSTRUMENT ENGINEERS' HANDBOOK - Process Measurement and Analysis, Fourth Edition ... (PDFDrive) - Part213

Uploaded by

Minh Sơn - HN
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© © All Rights Reserved
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2.

1 Application and Selection 167

Target (or Impact) Meters meter is one of the most accurate meters available for low- to
medium-viscosity products. Rangeability of single turbine
In a target flowmeter, a target or impact plate is inserted into meters is around 10:1, for dual-turbine meters, it exceeds 100:1.
the flowing stream, and the resulting impact force is detected Turbine meters can be used under practically any pressure and
electronically or pneumatically as an indication of flow. The for applications involving extremely high and low tempera-
target meter installations are more expensive than orifices but tures. They are easy to install and, relative to the pipe diameter,
because (in case of the target design) there are no pressure taps are also small in size and weight. The meter provides a very
to plug, they are better suited for applications in which the fast response speed and is suitable for hygienic applications.
process fluid is “sticky” or contains suspended solids. The Their principal limitations include high cost, incompatibility
other advantage is that they have no moving parts. Their accu- with viscous or dirty liquids, and the potential for being damaged
racy and rangeability (3:1) are low, but they can be reranged. by over-speeding if slugs of gas or vapor are sent through the
liquid meter. The installation of upstream filters is often recom-
ELECTROMAGNETIC METERS mended, in spite of the fact that it increases both the pressure
drop and the maintenance requirement of the installation.
Magnetic flowmeters operate in accordance with Faraday’s Turbine meters are widely used when high-accuracy mea-
law, because these meters measure the velocity of electrically surements are required in applications involving product sales.
conductive liquids as they cut the magnetic fields that are main- They are also used when high accuracy is required in blending,
tained across these metering tubes. The main advantages of on test rig duty, and in general measurement. Variations on the
magnetic flowmeters include their completely unobstructed basic turbine flowmeter design include nonelectric (fiber optic)
bore and their lack of moving parts. Because of these features, detectors; turbine probes; bearingless “hover-flow” designs;
they introduce no pressure loss and experience no wear and and various paddlewheel, impeller, and shunt-flow designs.
tear on their components. Other advantages include their The impeller and paddle-flow designs cost less but also provide
chemical compatibility with virtually all liquids; indifference less accuracy than traditional turbine flowmeters.
to viscosity, pressure, temperature, and density variations;
ability to provide linear analog outputs and to measure bidi- VORTEX METERS
rectional flows; availability in a wide range of sizes; and ease
and speed of reranging on site. While fishing in Transylvania, Theodore von Kármán noticed
Their major limitation is that they can be used only on that, downstream of the rocks, the distance between the shed
electrically conducive fluids. (This requirement eliminates vortices was constant, regardless of flow velocity. From that
their use on all gases and on most hydrocarbon fluids.) observation evolved the three types of vortex meters: the
Another disadvantage is their high purchase price and the vortex shedding, the vortex precession, and the fluidic oscil-
cost of maintaining the magnetic field. To locate the flow lation versions. All three types detect fluid oscillation. They
tube in an explosion-proof area, the converter and power have no moving components and can measure the flow of
supply must be remotely located, and intrinsic safety barriers gas, steam, or liquid. Their advantages include good accuracy
must be installed between them and the tube. and repeatability, high rangeability, low maintenance, and the
Electromagnetic flowmeters are often recommended for ability to provide either frequency or linear analog outputs.
applications involving corrosive aqueous liquids and slurries. Vortex flowmeters cannot be used to measure the flow of
In their more recent designs, the magnetic flowmeter probes viscous or dirty process fluids. These flowmeters are also
are provided with electrode cleaners, and the magnetic field limited to sizes under 12 in. (300 mm), because the frequency
is cycled so as to conserve electric energy and to allow auto- of fluid oscillation drops off as the line size increases. The
matic rezeroing, which guarantees better accuracy. The use of other limitation is that vortices do not form at Reynolds
ceramic flowtubes has reduced their costs while eliminating numbers below 10,000; therefore, this meter cannot be used
electrode leakage, because the sintered electrodes cannot leak. in low-Reynolds-number applications.
The addition of intelligence through digital chips has allowed Vortex shedding meters can be general-purpose, econom-
double-range operation, increased turndown, guaranteed the ically competitive alternatives to the orifice plate, and they
detection of empty pipes, and reduced the measurement error are also used in many more demanding applications because
to within 0.5% of actual flow over a 10:1 range. of their superior accuracy and rangeability.

TURBINE METERS VARIABLE-AREA METERS

In turbine meters, a digital output is generated, which is linear Variable-area meters are widely used for applications in
with the process flow, as the speed of rotation of the turbine is which small flow rates are to be measured or where local
measured. Turbine meters can be used in both liquids and gases, indication is required. They are also common in purge meter
and they are suitable for the measurement of both very low and installations, test rigs, and general industry. Variable-area
very high flow rates, as insertion designs. The liquid turbine meters are available in both glass and metal tube construction.

© 2003 by Béla Lipták

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