www.EngageEngineering.

org Using Everyday Applications to Teach Engineering Concepts Mass Flow Meters and the Torque-Flow Rate Relationship (or Getting Sopped while Learning) Ashley Emery University of Washington A critical feature of modern airplanes is the ability to measure the fuel consumption with great accuracy. Nothing could be worse than running out of fuel on a transatlantic flight a couple of kilometers short of the airport. Now it is not the volume of fuel that is important, but the mass, since energy is directly proportional to mass. Most measurements of mass flow rates are based upon (1) Where is the density and is the volume flow rate. This means that we must know the density of the fuel a quantity that varies with temperature. To avoid this, direct mass flow measurements are based upon the moment of momentum relationship (2) where T=torque, V are the tangential velocities, r are radii, and the subscripts i and e represent inlet and exit velocities. Consider the system shown below.

Figure 1. A Direct Mass Rate Measuring Instrument A fluid flows from left to right while the element is being rotated by an electric motor. The flow comes in with no tangential velocity (either it has none to begin with or passes through a straightener before reaching the element). All of the fluid passes through the
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 083306. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.

element and if the element is long enough leaves with , thus . Since r and are constant, the torque T is a direct and linear measure of the mass flow rate. Lets look at a simple experiment that demonstrates the relationship between torque and flow rate. Consider the lawn sprinkler, Figure 2, in which the fluid jet leaves the nozzle parallel to the ground (=0) with a rotational speed and a fluid speed relative to the moving nozzle of Vr. With Vt the tangential component of the absolute velocity V, we have (3)

Figure 2. A Lawn Sprinkler Using continuity to relate the velocity of the jet leaving the nozzle (both nozzles are assumed to be equal in diameter, d, and have equal flow rates) we obtain from the equation of angular momentum

(4) If the sprinkler is prevented from rotating, then the torque is given by

(5) 1) Let us see if this is true. Take a garden sprinkler and attach a fishing line and a spring scale to it such that you can measure the torque when it is prevented from rotating. Connect a garden hose to it and turn the water on so that a small stream of water issues from the nozzles. Collect the water in a bucket and measure the torque and the flow rate. Open the faucet up a little more and repeat the measurement. Of course you will have to move the bucket a little further from the sprinkler. Repeat the process until the faucet is

completely open. Using the measurements, see if Eq. 5 accurately reflects the behavior of the sprinkler. Be careful to remember that the velocity of the water jet is at an angle to the horizontal so you will need to correct for this. 2) Now remove the torque measuring equipment. Hold the sprinkler so that it cant rotate and turn the water on a little bit. Measure the flow rate by collecting the water in a bucket. Let the sprinkler go and measure the rotational speed of the sprinkler. Repeat this for different flow rates. From Eq. 4, since if there is no torque exerted on the sprinkler

(6) See if the measured speed agrees with Eq. 6.

2010 Ashley Emery. All rights reserved. Copies may be downloaded from www.EngageEngineering.org. This material may be reproduced for educational purposes.