Tag: flow meter

Aircraft Maintenance With Flying Colors

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Aircraft Maintenance With Flying Colors | Flowmetrics

Whether you are handling a commercial jet or a passenger plane, caring for an aircraft is an important task that should be handled with caution. Successful aircraft maintenance is dependent upon the tools and resources you need to complete the job, however, so getting access to the best resources is imperative. What exactly is needed to complete aircraft maintenance to the highest standards possible? What does the process of aircraft maintenance involve? Well, a flow meter can be commonly used to measure and test air conditions in the aircraft, gauge fuel consumption and evaluate overall performance. These are important metrics for any aircraft, so if you want to pass aircraft maintenance with flying colors, you should invest in a capable flow meter to help.

How a Flow Meter Can Improve Maintenance Routines

The typical maintenance routine for an aircraft includes four different stages. They are commonly referred to as A, B, C and D checks, and each of them examines an aircraft at a different level of scrutiny. The parts of aircraft maintenance include:

  • The D check: The most extensive of these is completed only every 6 years. In this examination, the aircraft is nearly disassembled in order to inspect all parts.
  • The C check: This inspection occurs more frequently at every 20-24 months, on average, unless a minimum number of flight hours has been reached first. It is a substantial inspection that may take up to two weeks to complete.
  • The B check: Every 6-8 months, an aircraft is due for a B check, which entails slightly more in-depth inspection than the A check.
  • The A check: The frequency of this check varies based on the manufacturer’s recommendation, the number of flight hours logged and the type of aircraft.

A flow meter can help automate many of the processes entailed in each of these checks.

Measurement Solutions for Aircrafts

When you need to perform essential maintenance, a big part of the process is the measurement of certain substances and emissions. Some of these include:

  • Fuel
  • Lubrication
  • Hydraulic fluid
  • Coolant
  • Engine emissions
  • Leaks

Each of these requires a different approach to effective and accurate measurement. A high quality flow meter, however, will likely be able to measure all of these components and gather detailed readings of the data that is most necessary to measuring the performance of an aircraft. The latter of these items, leaks, are particularly important to detect early. A flow meter can do so by sensing any abnormalities or continual decreases in pressure.

Finding the Right Flow Meter for Aircraft Maintenance

It’s clear that a flow meter offers solutions to many of the steps in an aircraft maintenance routine, but how can you tell which will best meet your needs? You want one, of course, that will minimize additional effort and perform the required steps easily. You should consider these factors when selecting one:

  • Inclusion of features such as pickups and signal conditioners
  • Size of turbine
  • Measurement rates
  • Ability to process chemicals

There are many other items that you should check for, too, according to the needs of your aircraft maintenance needs.

 

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New Compressors Breathe Life into Water Treatment Plants

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

New Compressors Breathe Life into Water Treatment Plants | Flowmetrics

Air supply is critical in many industries, sometimes surprisingly. Water treatment facilities are not the first buildings where one would expect air supply to vastly affect efficiency.

In water treatment plants for the Rubiera system, the process is built into four parallel pipelines, and compressors are used during the oxidization and nitrification portions of the process. The initial setup used compressors rated for much more capacity than was required by the facility, and as such the process was over-supplied for long periods of the day.

“The first step was to change the set-up, linking all the machines together. It was seen, in fact, that it would have been sufficient to use only one compressor for generating the process air during the period of less demand, but that compressor had to be very versatile and offer a wide range of capacity variations.”

Click here for the full article from Process Worldwide.

Valve Flow Characteristics

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Valve Flow Characteristics | Flowmetrics

In selecting a valve for use plenty of characteristics  must be suitable for your desired application. Readers recently asked Béla Lipták some questions regarding control valves and their characteristics. Some of the questions and answers are presented below. The complete list can be found at the link below.

 

  • What are the definitions of wide and small ranges in terms of flow turndown?

A control loop will be stable if its gain does not change with variations in the load. The loop gain is the product of four gains (process, controller, sensor, valve) and, ideally, it should stay constant at about 0.5. If the process gain varies with load and the sensor and controller gains are constant, the ideal valve characteristic is one that will compensate for the variation in process gain, so that if the process gain rises with load, the valve gain drops (equal percentage); if the process gain drops with load, the valve gain rises (quick opening) and if the process gain remains constant, the valve gain should also be constant (linear).

 

  • How would I go about measuring flow of hydrocarbons with 1% sand by mass included?

Either Coriolis or vortex can wear at a rate proportional to the percentage of sand in the flow, and both meters could have a short lives. Sharp-edge orifices are similarly vulnerable. The choice is affected by flow rate and pipe size.

I would worry about any Coriolis flowmeter with a relatively thin metal wall. Magnetic, ultrasonic and flow nozzles have been recommended. With a sufficiently high flow rate, an elbow meter will also work. Any DP meter might need a chemical seal or liquid purge to avoid plugging.

 

Click here for the full article on Control Global.

Coriolis Flow Meter Calibration

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Coriolis Flow Meter Calibration | Flowmetrics iStock_000058054942_Medium

Calibrating a flow meter means first testing the meter for its unique deviation from reality, then altering the meter or program in some way to negate that unique offset. Each meter has its own flaws, quirks, and strengths well within the standards to adjust for in specific applications, and calibration tests are designed to identify these for adjustment later.

At first a two-by-two hypothesis matrix is used to determine if the meter reads a true positive, false alarm, covert failure, or true negative based on an assumption of how the meter will read. If it is assumed the meter is accurate and tests to read accurately the result is a true positive. A meter suspected to be inaccurate that reads inaccurately is a true negative. Other variations produce covert failures or false alarms. Balance between false alarms and covert failures is the key in flow meter calibration.

The perfect flow meter — zero calibrations, zero proving, no zeroing and zero worries with powerful diagnostics that can verify meter accuracy and give advance warning of changes — does not yet exist. Coriolis may arguably be the closest technology
because it is largely insensitive to fluid properties. It is predicted that within 10 years, on-board meter verification diagnostics will be a standard expectation in Coriolis technology.

 

Click here for the full article by Tom O’Banion.

Fluid Flow Determines Pumps and Fittings

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Fluid Flow Determines Pumps and Fittings | Flowmetrics

Given a specific set of characteristics for a fluid and the flow requirements of the system, pumps and fittings can easily be selected. Each pump is designed for a specific flow rate and head pressure, and fittings are built for specific applications. These optimized points are called best efficiency points, BEPs.

Common practice is to select a pump with a BEP slightly higher on a system pump curve than the situation calls for. While this practice is conservative, and avoids pumps stresses from impacting longevity, systems can use pumps slightly underrated for the application without worry. If the operating requirements are too far away from the pump BEP, vibrations can cause early failure.

“Selecting a pump that will operate near the minimum flow limits is just as risky as choosing one that will operate at the end of the curve.” –Pumps&Systems

 

 

Click here for the full article by Jim Elsey.

Is Flow Meter Calibration Worth the Cost?

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Is Flow Meter Calibration Worth the Cost? | Flowmetrics

Maintenance – what is it good for? Some companies invest the very least, or in some cases no time or funds at all in shutting down equipment for servicing. Other businesses have robust maintenance programs, making it part of their regular working schedule. Which is better? The following will discuss some of the reasons why flow meter calibration should be included in your operations.

 

For Long Life

 

Keeping equipment in excellent working order extends its life. When components are well-maintained, it saves your business money in the long run. The following are some of the industries that rely on flow meter calibration:

  • General Industry
  • Chemical and Petrochemical
  • Energy
  • Laboratory
  • Aerospace and Aviation
  • Pharmaceutical and Food

In each of the above sectors, well-made equipment and infrastructure can last many years beyond the manufacturer’s warranty, but because fabricated parts do not take care of themselves, they must be maintained.

 

To Promote Consistency

 

Each industry produces a product that consumers or businesses rely on. Take the energy industry as an example. Refineries and processing plants continuously produce a product that meets certain specifications. Flow meter calibration is one of the ways they can continue to provide a product of the same grade, octane or viscosity. Anything inconsistent in this industry can lead to machine failure or even dangerous outcomes.

 

To Meet Regulation

 

As you can tell from the industry list above, each field comes with its own set of regulations. The pharmaceutical sector is regulated by the FDA, and any failure to meet standards can result in consequences that end in significant profit losses and sometimes even a close of the business. There is no need to fear regulators if your operations are under compliance and in good working order.

 

For the Safety of All

 

Passenger airlines have gone out of business because of safety breaches, and bankruptcy is not even the big issue. Safety does not so much have to do with business as it does with lives. If a cargo plane goes down because of preventable equipment failure and a couple of lives are lost, it may not make as many headlines, but it is still unacceptable.

 

Why Let an Outside Firm Handle Calibration?

 

The best servicers do everything they can to prepare your flow meters for use in your facility. This usually means:

  • Testing and calibrating units under steady state flow
  • Using recognized standards and measurements rather than standards created “in house”
  • Controlling environmental factors such as temperature and pressure to match as closely as possible that of where the equipment normally operates

 

Outside firms perform rigorous inspections on units that can improve calibration results. They are capable of handling industrial cleaning such as removing mineral buildup or corrosion without damaging the equipment. If results still are not satisfactory, they can troubleshoot at a level that exceeds most persons outside of the calibration industry.

 

Maintenance can extend the life of flow meters, prevent unnecessary repairs, and improve safety, quality and consistency. A flow meter calibration company should be able to handle servicing for any brand of unit you may own. No matter the industry you work in, it is clear that keeping equipment in great working order is an investment that is worth every penny.

 

If you are reading this on any other blog than Flowmetrics it is stolen content. Follow us on Twitter @Flow_metrics. Come and visit our blog at https://flowmetrics.com/blog/.

Pump Submergence and Air Entrainment

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Pump Submergence and Air Entrainment | FLowmetrics

Fluid pumps are specifically designed to optimize the flow of fluids through the systems they are connected to with as little non-condensable gases as possible. Air trapped in the fluids can cause cavitation at higher flow rates that damages pump internals as well as pipe seals and joints. For these reasons the proper depth to submerge pumps is pivotal to prevent as much air from flowing through a pump.

As the velocity of the fluid flowing through a pipe increases the depth required for a pump pushing the same rate of flow increases. Because velocity increases as pipe diameter decreases and flow rate remains static, if the same pump is connected to a smaller pipe, the input source for the pump needs to be deeper to prevent vortices from forming. If the source tank is too shallow to allow for this minimum submergence other methods like suction bells and barriers can be introduced to lengthen the travel distance of the fluid to the suction inlet of the pump.

As a general guideline, 2 percent free air will reduce pump flow by 10 percent, and 4 percent air will reduce the flow by more than 40 percent. The average pump will likely fail to operate at 14 percent air entrainment. Some pump designs that use vortex impellers, recessed impellers, separation chambers or air escapes can handle air entrainment up to 24 percent.

The recommended suction velocity for pumps is between 5 and 8 feet per second, with a suggested maximum of 6 feet per second unless suspended solids or fluid characteristics demand faster flow rates.

Click here for the full article on Pumps&System.

Flow Meters for Every Application

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Flow Meters for Every Application | Flowmetrics

There are many flow meter variations out there, and each application requires a different style of meter. Depending on the fluid being measured each style of flow meter may be more suited to that situation. Everything from the viscosity to the potential contaminants plays a part in choosing the perfect flow meter for your needs.

Accuracy Coriolis flow meters are highly accurate, but may impinge the flow of fluids through the pipeline.

Consistency Nutating disk flow meters are simple to replace, but may need repeated calibrations as parts wear down.

Minimal Flow Restriction Electromagnetic flow meters do not block or reduce flow, but can be costly to maintain.

 

Click here for the full article from Chemical Processing.com.

Pumping Liquids with Dry Gas Seals

Posted on by Vitalii Prokopiv

Pumping Liquids with Dry Gas Seals | Flowmetrics

During the processing of natural gas liquid ethane is pumps from 28 bar vessels to 76 bar vessels, and while under normal temperatures this can be done easily, Texas summers regularly reach temperatures where ethane vaporizes and creates product loss. Most seals for these systems use a liquid-lubricated seal, but under varying pressures these can warp and leak. Different variations of this type of seal use an inert gas between one or more pressurized faces to prevent leaks, but once the liquid reaches a higher vapor pressure the now gas breaches the seal.

Dry gas seals are simple albeit unconventional in liquid pumping situations. Seals are normally designed for non-contact operation, meaning any turning, ratcheting, or other operating situations can cause wear and eventual failure. Dry gas seals feature a crystalline layer simulating natural diamond to resist chipping and flaking. Furthermore by using an inert gas as the holding pressure, any vaporized ethane must combat a higher pressure to escape.

The increased structural resilience and absence of mechanical contact make these types of seals longer lasting, up to 5 years rather than 3 weeks in this circumstance.

 

Click here for the full article on Pumps & Systems.