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FLOWMETERS
FLOWMETERS
In the process industries, flow measurement devices are the largest market in the process
instrumentation field. Two web sites for process equipment and instrumentation,
www.globalspec.com, and www.thomasnet.com, both list more than 800 companies that offer
flow measurement products. There are more than one hundred types of flowmeters
commercially available. The aforementioned web sites not only facilitate selection and
specification of commercial flowmeters, but also provide electronic access to manufacturers’
technical literature.
device. The flow rate is then inferred from the response of the
relationships.
which the flow is divided into isolated measured volumes. The number
time.
plants is flow in pipes, ducts, and tubing. Table 10-4 lists widely used
flowmeters for these closed conduits as well as the two major classes
may require 60D upstream straight pipe and 20D downstream. Valves
CLASSIFICATION OF FLOWMETERS
Table 10-4 lists the major classes of flowmeters, along with common
Other examples include orifices [see also Eqs. (6-111) and (8-102),
and Fig. 10-14], nozzles (Fig. 10-19), targets, venturis (see also Sec.
8 and Fig. 10-17), and elbow meters. Averaging pitot tubes produce
vortex flowmeters.
fluid stream into discrete, known volumes and count the number of
volumes that pass through the device. See Spitzer (2005, op. cit.).
devices. These meters employ a float inside a tube that has an internal
flow path through the tube. As the flow rate increases, the float rises
in the tube to provide a larger area for the flowing fluid to pass.
flow channels used are weirs and flumes. See Spitzer (2005, op. cit.).