N D

D A
U I W
Q O T
LI S FL MEN
A
G SUR E
BY-
E A SHAUVIK
M SINGH THAKUR
 INTRODUCTION

Both gas and liquid flow can be measured in volumetric or mass flow rates, such
as litres per second or kilograms per second. These measurements can be
converted between one another if the material's density is known. The density for
a liquid is almost independent of the liquid conditions; however, this is not the case
for gas, the density of which depends greatly upon pressure, temperature and to a
lesser extent, the gas composition.
 When gases or liquids are transferred for their energy content,
such as the sale of natural gas, the flow rate may also be
expressed in terms of energy flow, such as GJ/hour or
BTU/day. The energy flow rate is the volume flow rate
multiplied by the energy content per unit volume or mass flow
rate multiplied by the energy content per unit mass. Where
accurate energy comes to the time of the legit flow rate is
desired, most flow meters will be used to calculate the volume
or mass flow rate which is then adjusted to the energy flow rate
by the use of a flow computer.
 In engineering contexts, the volumetric flow rate is usually
given the symbol Q, and the mass flow rate, the symbol .
GAS
 Gases are compressible and change volume when placed under
pressure or are heated or cooled. A volume of gas under one set
of pressure and temperature conditions is not equivalent to the
same gas under different conditions. References will be made
to "actual" flow rate through a meter and "standard" or "base"
flow rate through a meter with units such as acm/h (actual
cubic meters per hour), Kscm/h (Kilo standard cubic meters
per hour), LFM (linear feet per minute), or MSCFD
(thousands of standard cubic feet per day).
 Gas mass flow rate can be directly measured, independent of
pressure and temperature effects, with thermal mass flow
meters, Coriolis mass flow meters, or mass flow controllers
LIQUID

 For liquids, various units are used depending upon the

application and industry, but might include gallons (U.S.
liquid or imperial) per minute, liters per second, bushels
per minute or, when describing river flows, cumecs
(cubic meters per second) or acre-feet per day. In
oceanography a common unit to measure volume
transport (volume of water transported by a current for
example) is a Sverdrup (Sv) equivalent to 106 m 3 / s.
MECHANICAL FLOW METERS
 Bucket-and-stopwatch
 Perhaps the simplest way to measure volumetric flow is to
measure how long it takes to fill a known volume container. A
simple example is using a bucket of known volume, filled by a
fluid. The stopwatch is started when the flow starts, and
stopped when the bucket overflows. The volume divided by the
time gives the flow.
PISTON METER/ROTARY PISTON

 Because they are used for domestic water measurement, piston

meters, also known as rotary piston or semi-positive
displacement meters, are the most common flow measurement
devices in the UK and are used for almost all meter sizes up to
and including 40 mm (1½ʺ). The piston meter operates on the
principle of a piston rotating within a chamber of known
volume. For each rotation, an amount of water passes through
the piston chamber. Through a gear mechanism and,
sometimes, a magnetic drive, a needle dial and odometer type
display are advanced
VARIABLE AREA METER
The variable area (VA) meter, also commonly called a
rotameter, consists of a tapered tube, typically made of glass,
with a float inside that is pushed up by fluid flow and pulled
down by gravity. As flow rate increases, greater viscous and
pressure forces on the float cause it to rise until it becomes
stationary at a location in the tube that is wide enough for the
forces to balance. Floats are made in many different shapes,
with spheres and spherical ellipses being the most common.
Some are designed to spin visibly in the fluid stream to aid the
user in determining whether the float is stuck or not.
Rotameters are available for a wide range of liquids but are
most commonly used with water or air.
WOLTMANN METER

 The Woltmann meter comprises a rotor with helical

blades inserted axially in the flow, much like a ducted
fan; it can be considered a type of turbine flow meter.
They are commonly referred to as helix meters, and are
popular at larger sizes.
 Single jet meter
 A single jet meter consists of a simple impeller with radial
vanes, impinged upon by a single jet. They are increasing in
popularity in the UK at larger sizes and are commonplace in
the EU
 Paddle wheel meter
 This is similar to the single jet meter, except that the impeller is
small with respect to the width of the pipe, and projects only
partially into the flow, like the paddle wheel on a Mississippi
riverboat
NUTATING DISK METER
 This is the most commonly used measurement system for
measuring water supply. The fluid, most commonly water,
enters in one side of the meter and strikes the nutating disk,
which is eccentrically mounted. The disk must then "wobble"
or nutate about the vertical axis, since the bottom and the top
of the disk remain in contact with the mounting chamber. A
partition separates the inlet and outlet chambers. As the disk
nutates, it gives direct indication of the volume of the liquid
that has passed through the meter as volumetric flow is
indicated by a gearing and register arrangement, which is
connected to the disk. It is reliable for flow measurements
within 1 percent
PRESSURE-BASED METERS

 There are several types of flow meter that rely on

Bernoulli's principle, either by measuring the differential
pressure within a constriction, or by measuring static and
stagnation pressures to derive the dynamic pressure.
VENTURI METER

 A Venturi meter constricts the flow in some fashion, and

pressure sensors measure the differential pressure before
and within the constriction. This method is widely used
to measure flow rate in the transmission of gas through
pipelines, and has been used since Roman Empire times.
The coefficient of discharge of Venturi meter ranges
from 0.93 to 0.97.
ORIFICE PLATE

 An orifice plate is a plate with a hole through it, placed

in the flow; it constricts the flow, and measuring the
pressure differential across the constriction gives the
flow rate. It is basically a crude form of Venturi meter,
but with higher energy losses. There are three type of
orifice: concentric, eccentric, and segmental
PITOT TUBE

 A Pitot tube is a pressure measuring instrument used to

measure fluid flow velocity by determining the
stagnation pressure. Bernoulli's equation is used to
calculate the dynamic pressure and hence fluid velocity.
MULTI-HOLE PRESSURE PROBE

 Multi-hole pressure probes (also called impact probes)

extend the theory of pitot tube to more than one
dimension. A typical impact probe consists of three or
more holes (depending on the type of probe) on the
measuring tip arranged in a specific pattern. More holes
allow the instrument to measure the direction of the flow
velocity in addition to its magnitude (after appropriate
calibration). Three holes arranged in a line allow the
pressure probes to measure the velocity vector in two
dimensions. Introduction of more holes, e.g. five holes
arranged in a "plus" formation, allow measurement of
the three-dimensional velocity vector.
OPTICAL FLOW METERS

 Optical flow meters use light to determine flow rate. Small

particles which accompany natural and industrial gases pass
through two laser beams focused in a pipe by illuminating
optics. Laser light is scattered when a particle crosses the first
beam. The detecting optics collects scattered light on a
photodetector, which then generates a pulse signal. If the same
particle crosses the second beam, the detecting optics collect
scattered light on a second photodetector, which converts the
incoming light into a second electrical pulse. By measuring the
time interval between these pulses, the gas velocity is
calculated as V = D / T where D is the distance between the
laser beams and T is the time interval.
THERMAL MASS FLOW METERS
 Temperature at the sensors varies depending upon the mass flow
 Thermal mass flow meters generally use combinations of heated
elements and temperature sensors to measure the difference between
static and flowing heat transfer to a fluid and infer its flow with a
knowledge of the fluid's specific heat and density. The fluid
temperature is also measured and compensated.
 Technological progress has allowed the manufacture of thermal mass
flow meters on a microscopic scale as MEMS sensors; these flow
devices can be used to measure flow rates in the range of nanolitres
or microlitres per minute.
 Thermal mass flow meter technology is used for compressed air,
nitrogen, helium, argon, oxygen, and natural gas. In fact, most gases
can be measured as long as they are fairly clean and non-corrosive.
For more aggressive gases, the meter may be made out of special
alloys and pre-drying the gas also helps to minimize corrosion.
 VORTEX FLOWMETERS
 Another method of flow measurement involves placing a bluff body (called a
shedder bar) in the path of the fluid. As the fluid passes this bar, disturbances in
the flow called vortices are created. The vortices trail behind the cylinder,
alternatively from each side of the bluff body. This vortex trail is called the Von
Kármán vortex street after von Kármán's 1912 mathematical description of the
phenomenon. The frequency at which these vortices alternate sides is essentially
proportional to the flow rate of the fluid. Inside, atop, or downstream of the
shedder bar is a sensor for measuring the frequency of the vortex shedding. This
sensor is often a piezoelectric crystal, which produces a small, but measurable,
voltage pulse every time a vortex is created. Since the frequency of such a
voltage pulse is also proportional to the fluid velocity, a volumetric flow rate is
calculated using the cross sectional area of the flow meter. The frequency is
measured and the flow rate is calculated by the flow meter electronics using the
equation f = SV / L where f is the frequency of the vortices, L the characteristic
length of the bluff body, V is the velocity of the flow over the bluff body, and S
is the Strophe number, which is essentially a constant for a given body shape
within its operating limits
MAGNETIC FLOW METERS

 The most common flow meter apart from mechanical

flow meters is the magnetic flow meter, commonly
referred to as a "mag meter" or an "electromagnet". A
magnetic field is applied to the metering tube, which
results in a potential difference proportional to the flow
velocity perpendicular to the flux lines. The physical
principle at work is Faraday's law of electromagnetic
induction. The magnetic flow meter requires a
conducting fluid, e.g. water, and an electrical insulating
pipe surface, e.g. a rubber lined nonmagnetic steel tube.
Calibration
In Situ Calibration
 Even though ideally the flow meter should be unaffected by its
environment, in practice this is unlikely to be the case. Often
measurement errors originate from incorrect installation or other
environment dependent factors. In Situ methods are used when flow
meter is calibrated in the correct flow conditions.
Transit time method
 For pipe flows a so-called transit time method is applied where a
radiotracer is injected as a pulse into the measured flow. The transit
time is defined with the help of radiation detectors placed on the
outside of the pipe. The volume flow is obtained by multiplying the
measured average fluid flow velocity by the inner pipe cross section.
This reference flow value is compared with the simultaneous flow
value given by the flow measurement to be calibrated.
 N K
H A !! !!
T !!!
OU
Y