Metrology and Measurement

MEC210

Sunil Sharma
Flow measurement
 Flow measurement
• 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
– the assessment of the overall system under ideal,
disturbed, harsh, or potentially explosive conditions in
both the laboratory and the field.
• Flow measurement is essential in many industries
such as the oil, power, chemical, food, water, and
waste treatment industries.
• 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.
• 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, etc.)
• The second most important factors are line
size and flow rate (They are closely related).
• 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).
• Environment temperature
• Arrangements (e.g., corrosive, explosive, indoor,
outdoor)
• Installation method (insertion, clamped-on, or
inline)
• Location of the flowmeter
• Maximum allowable pressure drop
• Required accuracy
• Repeatability
• Cost (initial set up, maintenance, and training).
Types of flowmeter
 Differential pressure flowmeters
• The calculation of fluid flow rate by reading
the pressure loss across a pipe restriction is
perhaps the most commonly used flow
measurement technique in industrial
applications
• Bernoulli found that an increase in the velocity
of a flowing fluid increases its kinetic energy
while decreasing its static energy
• A flow restriction causes an increase in the
flowing velocity and also causes a drop in the
static pressure of the flowing fluid.
• The pressure differential (h) developed by the
flow element is measured, and the velocity (V),
the volumetric flow (Q) and the mass flow (W)
can all be calculated using the following
generalized formulas:

k is the discharge coefficient of the element

A is the cross sectional area of the pipe’s opening
D is the density of the flowing
 Orifice Plate
• A flat plate with an opening
is inserted into the pipe and
placed perpendicular to the
flow stream.
• As the flowing fluid passes
through the orifice plate,
the restricted cross section
area causes an increase in
velocity and decrease in
pressure.
• The pressure difference
before and after the orifice
plate is used to calculate
the flow velocity.
 Venturi Tube
• A section of tube forms a relatively long
passage with smooth entry and exit.
• A Venturi tube is connected to the existing
pipe, first narrowing down in diameter then
opening up back to the original pipe diameter.
• The changes in cross section area cause
changes in velocity and pressure of the flow.
 Segmental wedge
• A wedge-shaped segment is inserted
perpendicularly into one side of the pipe while
the other side remains unrestricted.
• The change in cross section area of the flow
path creates pressure drops used to calculate
flow velocities.
 V cone
• A cone shaped obstructing element that
serves as the cross section modifier is placed
at the center of the pipe for calculating flow
velocities by measuring the pressure
differential.
 Pitot tube
• A probe with an open tip (Pitot tube) is
inserted into the flow field.
• The tip is the stationary (zero velocity) point of
the flow.
• Its pressure, compared to the static pressure,
is used to calculate the flow velocity.
• Pitot tubes can measure flow velocity at the
point of measurement.
• It is used in a wide range of flow
measurement applications such as air speed in
racing cars and Air Force fighter jets.
• In industrial applications, pitot tubes are used
to measure air flow in pipes, ducts, and stacks,
and liquid flow in pipes, weirs, and open
channels.
• Basically a differential pressure flowmeter, a
pitot tube measures two pressures: the static
and the total impact pressure.
• The static pressure is the operating pressure in
the pipe, duct, or the environment, upstream
to the pitot tube.
• It is measured at right angles to the flow
direction, preferably in a low turbulence
location
Figure : Pitot Tubes Measure Two Pressures
• The total impact pressure (PT) is the sum of the static
and kinetic pressures and is detected as the flowing
stream impacts on the pitot opening.
• To measure impact pressure, most pitot tubes use a
small, sometimes L-shaped tube, with the opening
directly facing the oncoming flowstream.
• The point velocity of approach (VP) can be calculated
by taking the square root of the difference between
the total pressure (PT) and the static pressure (P) and
multiplying that by the C/D ratio, where C is a
dimensional constant and D is density:
 Averaging Pitot Tube
• Similar to Pitot tubes but with multiple
openings, averaging Pitot tubes take the flow
profile into consideration to provide better
over all accuracy in pipe flows.
 Elbow
• When a liquid flows through
an elbow, the centrifugal
forces cause a pressure
difference between the
outer and inner sides of the
elbow.
• This difference in pressure
is used to calcuate the flow
velocity.
• The pressure difference
generated by an elbow
flowmeter is smaller than
that by other pressure
differential flowmeters
 Dall tube
• A combination of Venturi tube and orifice
plate, it features the same tapering intake
portion of a venturi tube but has a 'shoulder'
similar to the orifice plate's exit part to create
a sharp pressure drop.
• It is usually used in applications with larger
flow rates.
• Differential pressure flowmeters, although
simple in construction and widely used in
industry, have a common drawback: They
always create a certain amount of pressure
drop, which may or may not be tolerated in a
particular application.
• Common specifications for commercially
available differential pressure flowmeters

• Line Size: 6 ~ 300 mm (1/4 ~ 12 inch)

• Turndown Ratio: 10 : 1
 Pros and cons

Pros
– Low to medium initial set up cost
– Can be used in wide ranges of fluid phases and
flow conditions
– Simple and sturdy structures
Cons
– Medium to high pressure drop
• Table for primary or head flow comparisons
 Magnetic flowmeter
• Magnetic flowmeters, also known as
electromagnetic flowmeters or induction
flowmeters, obtain the flow velocity by
measuring the changes of induced voltage of
the conductive fluid passing across a
controlled magnetic field.
• A typical magnetic flowmeter
places electric coils around
pipe of the flow to be
measured and sets up a pair
of electrodes across the pipe
wall
• If the targeted fluid is
electrically conductive, i.e., a
conductor, its passing through
the pipe is equivalent to a
conductor cutting across the
magnetic field. This induces
changes in voltage reading
between the electrodes. The
higher the flow speed, the
higher the voltage.
The operation principle of insertion magnetic flowmeters
• According to Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction: any change in
the magnetic field with time induces an electric field perpendicular to the
changing magnetic field:

• where E is the voltage of induced current,

B is the external magnetic field,
A is the cross section area of the coil,
N is the number of turns of the coil,
is the magnetic flux,
and finally the negative sign indicates that the current induced will create
another magnetic field opposing to the buildup of magnetic field in the
coil based on Lenz's law.
• When applying the above equation to
magnetic flowmeters, the number of turns N
and the strength of the magnetic field B are
fixed. The Faraday's law becomes

where D is the distance between the two

electrodes (the length of conductor), and V is
the flow velocity.
• If we combine all fixed parameters N, B, and D into a single
factor

• It is clear that the voltage developed is proportional to the

flow velocity.
• A prerequisite of using magnetic flowmeters is that the
fluid must be conductive.
• The electrical conductivity of the fluid must be higher than
3 µS/cm in most cases.
• A lining of nonconductive material is often used to prevent
the voltage from dissipating into the pipe section when it is
constructed from conductive material
• Common specifications for commercially
available magnetic flowmeterss are listed
below:
• Pros:
- Minimum obstruction in the flow path yields minimum
pressure drop
- Low maintenance cost because of no moving parts
- High linearity
- Two and multi beam models have higher accuracy than other
comparably priced flowmeters
- Can be used in hazardous environments or measure corrosive
or slurry fluid flow
• Cons:
- Requires electrical conductivity of fluid higher than 3 µS/cm
in most cases
- Zero drifting at no/low flow (may be avoided by low flow cut-
off; new designs improve on this issue)
 Positive displacement flowmeters
• Positive displacement flowmeters, also know as PD meters,
measure volumes of fluid flowing through by counting
repeatedly the filling and discharging of known fixed
volumes.
• A typical positive displacement flowmeter comprises a
chamber that obstructs the flow.
• Inside the chamber, a rotating/reciprocating mechanical unit
is placed to create fixed-volume discrete parcels from the
passing fluid.
• Hence, the volume of the fluid that passes the chamber can
be obtained by counting the number of passing parcels or
equivalently the number rounds of the rotating/reciprocating
mechanical device.
• The volume flow rate can be calculated from the revolution
rate of the mechanical device.
• Many types of positive displacement
flowmeters are used in the industry.
• They are named after the mechanical device
inside the chamber.
• They all share the same principle of operation
and are volumetric flow measuring
instruments.
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
Positive displacement flowmeters
• Common specifications for commercially
available positive displacement flowmeterss
are listed below :
• Pros:
– Low to medium initial set up cost
– Can be used in viscous liquid flow
• Cons:
– Higher maintenance cost than other non-obstructive
flowmeters
– High pressure drop due to its total obstruction on the flow path
– Not suitable for low flow rate
– Very low tolerance to suspension in flow (particles larger than
100 µm need to be filtered before the liquid enters the
flowmeter)
– Gas (bubbles) in liquid could significantly decrease the accuracy
 Coriolis flowmeters
• Coriolis flowmeters are relatively new compared to
other flowmeters.
• They were not seen in industrial applications until
1980's.
• Coriolis meters are available in a number of different
designs.
• A popular configuration consists of one or two U-
shaped, horseshoe-shaped, or tennis-racket-shaped
(generalized U-shaped) flow tube with inlet on one side
and outlet on the other enclosed in a sensor housing
connected to an electronics unit.
• The flow is guided into the U-shaped tube.
• When an osillating excitation force is applied to the tube causing it
to vibrate, the fluid flowing through the tube will induce a rotation
or twist to the tube because of the Coriolis acceleration acting in
opposite directions on either side of the applied force.
• For example, when the tube is moving upward during the first half
of a cycle, the fluid flowing into the meter resists being forced up by
pushing down on the tube.
• On the opposite side, the liquid flowing out of the meter resists
having its vertical motion decreased by pushing up on the tube.
• This action causes the tube to twist. When the tube is moving
downward during the second half of the vibration cycle, it twists in
the opposite direction.
• This twist results in a phase difference (time lag) between the inlet
side and the outlet side and this phase difference is directly
affected by the mass passing through the tube.
• An advantage of Coriolis flowmeters is that it
measures the mass flow rate directly which
eliminates the need to compensate for changing
temperature, viscosity, and pressure conditions.
• Vibration of Coriolis flowmeters has very small
amplitude, usually less than 2.5 mm (0.1 in), and
the frequency is near the natural frequency of
the device, usually around 80 Hz.
• Finally, the vibration is commonly introduced by
electric coils and measured by magnetic sensors.
• Pros:
– Higher accuracy than most flowmeters
– Can be used in a wide range of liquid flow conditions
– Capable of measuring hot (e.g., molten sulphur, liquid
toffee) and cold (e.g., cryogenic helium, liquid nitrogen)
fluid flow
– Low pressure drop
– Suitable for bi-directional flow
• Cons:
– High initial set up cost
– Clogging may occur and difficult to clean
– Larger in over-all size compared to other flowmeters
– Limited line size availability
 Ultrasonic flowmeter
• Ultrasonic flowmeters measure the traveling
times (transit time models) or the frequency
shifts(Doppler models) of ultrasonic waves in
a pre-configured acoustic field that the flow is
passing through to determine the flow
velocity.
• Types
– Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter
– Transit time ultrasonic flowmeter
 Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter
• Doppler Ultrasonic Flowmeters rely on the
Doppler effect to relate the frequency shifts of
acoustic waves to the flow velocity.
• It usually requires some particles in the flow to
reflect the signals.
• The rule of thumb is 25 PPM suspended solid or
bubbles with diameters of 30 micron or larger for
1 MHz or higher transducers.
• Lower frequency transducers may require
"dirtier" fluid conditions.
• The Doppler formula for a sound or light
source moving toward the observer at a
velocity V is

• Since the input signal from the transducer

forms an angle θ with the flow direction, the
velocity V should be replaced by the projected
velocity V cos θ. The acoustic waves traveling
upstream and downstream will have the
observed frequencies
• The difference in frequency is

• since the flow velocity V is much smaller than

the speed of sound c in the fluid.
• By re-arranging the above equation, the flow
velocity can be written as
• Common specifications for commercially
available Doppler ultrasonic flowmeterss are
listed below:
• Pros:
– No obstruction in the flow path, no pressure drop
– No moving parts, low maintenance cost
– Can be used in corrosive or slurry fluid flow
– Portable models available for field analysis and
diagnosis
• Cons
– Higher initial set up cost
 Transit time ultrasonic flowmeter
• A pair (or pairs) of transducers, each having its
own transmitter and receiver, are placed on the
pipe wall, one (set) on the upstream and the
other (set) on the downstream.
• The time for acoustic waves to travel from the
upstream transducer to the downstream
transducer td is shorter than the time it requires
for the same waves to travel from the
downstream to the upstream tu.
• The larger the difference, the higher the flow
velocity.
• td and tu can be expressed in the following
forms

• where c is the speed of sound in the fluid, V is

the flow velocity, L is the distance between
the transducers and θ is the angle between
the flow direction and the line formed by the
transducers.
• The difference of td and tu is

• where X is the projected length of the path along

the pipe direction (X = L cos θ)
• To simplify, we assume that the flow velocity V is
much smaller than the speed of sound c, that is,
• Note that the speed of sound c in the fluid is
affected by many factors such as temperature
and density. It is desirable to express c in
terms of the transit times td and tu to avoid
frequent calibrations:
• The speed of sound c becomes

• The flow velocity is now only a function of the

transducer layout (L, X) and the measured
transit times tu and td.
• The above formula can be further simplified
by utilizing the following approximation:

• The flow velocity can therefore be written as

• Common specifications for commercially
available transit time ultrasonic flowmeters
are listed below:
• Pros:
– No obstruction in the flow path, no pressure drop
– No moving parts, low maintenance cost
– Multi-path models have higher accuracy for wider ranges
of Reynolds number
– Can be used in corrosive or slurry fluid flow
– Portable models available for field analysis and diagnosis
• Cons:
– Higher initial set up cost
– Single path (one-beam) models may not be suitable for
flow velocities that vary over a wide range of Reynolds
number