BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

SUBJECT CODE: CELA101 LECTURER: MRS TP LUBISI

MODARATOR: DR M CHETTY DATE: 01 JUNE 2022

TOTAL MARKS: 80

STUDENT NAME: SANELE S. LEMBEDE

REG NUMBER: 21906761

PRACTICAL TEST (ROTAMETER)

i

QUESTIONi1
1. Massiflowirateiimassiflowirateiisitheimassiofifluidiflowingithroughitheipipeiperiunititimeiitiisimeas
urediini𝑖 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠 𝑖iandiisidenotediby im.
Volumetriciflowirateiivolumetriciflowirateiisitheivolumeiofifluidiflowingithroughitheipipeiperiuni
3
titime,iitiisimeasurediini𝑚 ⁄𝑠iandiisidenotedibyiQ.

2. Iniflowrateimeasurementinormallyimassiflowirateiisimeasured.iDensityiisiaiparameteriofitemper
atureiandipressure.iAsitemperatureiandipressureivariesitheiofiaifluididensityichanges,isoivolume
triciflowirateichangesiwithichangeiinitemperatureiandipressure.iTemperatureiandipressureiaffe
ctitheireadingiinivolumetriciflowirate,isoinormallyimassiflowirateiisipreferredithanivolumetriciflo
wrate.i

3. Factorsitoiconsideriwheniselectingiainewiflowmeteri
• Temperatureiandipressureiofiaifluid.
• Viscosityiofiflowiprofile.i
• Accuracy

4. Aidirectireadingiflowmeteriindicatesitheiflowirateioniitsiscaleiinispecificiunits.iDirectireadingiscal
esiareidesignediforiaispecificifluidiatiaigivenitemperatureiandipressure.iWhileiitiisimoreiconvenie
ntithaniaicorrelatediflowmeter.iAidirectireadingiflowmeteriisilessiaccurateiandilimitediiniitsiappli
cation.i

5. Primarilyiworkingiprincipleiofiairotameterirequiresigravityitoibalanceitheifloatipositioniagainstit
heiflowiofiliquidithroughiit.iAtibalanceicondition.iForceiofigravityi=idragiforcei+ibuoyancyiforce,ia
tihorizontalipositionigravityiforceitowardsifloatidoesn’tiwork.i
QUESTIONi2
1. Theiobjectivesiofitheipracticaliareito:
• Determineitheicalibrationicurveiforiaispecifiediflowmeteriusing
- LineariRegression
- CurveifittingiusingiExceli(Linear,iPoweriexponential,ietc)
• Determineiifitheisystemidisplaysihysteresis.
• Determineitheirepeatabilityiofitheiflowrateiversusitheigateivalveipositioni(useierroribar
sitoidisplayiresults).

2. Experimentalivariablesithatiwereiinvestigated:
• Capacityibyirotameter
• Flowrate

3. Variablesithatiremainediconstant:i
• Temperatureiofiwateri

4. Variablesithatiwereirecorded
• Valveiposition
• Timeiframe
• Theivolumeiofiwatericollectedi
• Rotametericapacityi

5. Airotameteriisiaicommonivisualimeasuringideviceithat,iwhenicalibrated,icanibeiuseditoiiiiiiiimeasur
eitheiflowirateiofiaifluidi(liquidiorigas).iRotametersiareidependable,iaffordable,iandidoinotirequir
eianiexternalienergyi(power)isourceitoifunction.iIt'siaicone-
shapeditubeiwithiaifloatingiobjecti(bob)iinside.iTheifluidirunsithroughitheitube,ianditheiobjecti(b
ob)iinsideitheitubeiisifreeitoimoveiinianyidirection.iTheifloatipositioniisidirectlyiproportionalitoith
eifluidiflowirate,iwithihigheriflowiratesicorrespondingitoihigherifloatipositions.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Figure:i1iblockiflowidiagramiofitheirotameteriunit.i

6. AiRotameteriisiaitypeiofivariableiareaiflowimeterithatioperatesiiniaistraightforwardiman
neribyipassingiailiquidiorigasithroughiaitapereditube.iThisigasimustifirstielevateiaifloatikep
tiwithinitheitubeitoitravelithroughiit.iWheniairotameteriisiusediwithiailiquid,itheifloatirise
sidueitoitheicombinationiofitheifluid'sivelocityiheadiandiitsibuoyancy.iWithiaigasitheibuoy
ancyiisinegligible,ianditheifloatimovesiinitheimostipartidueitoitheivelocityiheadiofitheigas.i
 Inibothicases,itheigreateritheiflowithenitheihigheriupitheitubeitheifloatimoves.iTheifloati
movesiupiandidownitheitapereditubeiiniproportionitoitheiflowirateianditheiannulariareai
betweenitheifloatianditheitapereditubeiwall.iAsitheifloatimovesiupithroughitheitubeibeca
useiofiitsitaperedinatureitheiannulariopeningiincreases.iAsithisiincreasesitheidifferentiali
pressureiacrossitheifloatidecreases.iTheifloatistabilisesiwhenitheiweightiofitheifloatiisiinie
quilibriumiwithitheiupwardiforceibeingiexertedibyitheifluidiorigas.

7. Operatingiconditions:i
• Accuracyiofitheirotameteri-
ismalliviscosityichangesidoinoticauseirotametersitoifluctuateisignificantly,ithiside

pendsionitheidesign:iveryismallirotametersiwithiball-
measurementsiareitheimostisensitive,iwhereasibiggerirotametersiareilessisensiti
ve.iIfitheirotameter'siviscosityilimitiisiexceeded,iyou'llineeditoiadjustitheireadings
iforiviscosity;inormally,itheiviscosityilimitiisidictatedibyimaterialiandifloatishape,ia

nditheirotameteriproducersiwillispecifyiconstraints.
• Temperatureiandipressureiofifluidi-
• Maximumiandiminimumiflowiratei(range)

8. Theipurposeioficalibrationiisito:
• Ensureithatireadingsiofianiinstrumentiareiconsistentiwithiotheriinstruments.iItiisials
oiimportantiinideterminingitheiaccuracyiofitheiinstrument.iCalibrationineedediforie
valuatingiandiadjustingitheiprecisioniandiaccuracyiofiinstrumentiequipment.iCalibr
ationiisidoneitoieliminateiorireduceierroriinianiinstrument’sireadings.
• Senditheiinstrumentiforicalibrationiafteritheitestihelpsiuseridecideiwhetheritheidata
iobtainediwereireliableiandicorrectiorinot.iIfianiinstrumentiisikeptiidleiforiailongitime,

itheiinstrument’siconditionsiwillichange,ithusicalibrationiisineeded.iEveryiinstrumen

tiwillineeditoibeicalibratediperiodicallyitoimakeisureiiticanifunctionisafelyiandiproper
ly.ii
9.

Calibration of a rotameter
20000,00
Flowrate Q l/min

15000,00

10000,00

5000,00

0,00
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Rotameter reading, R %

Graph:1iRotameterireadingi(%)ivsiwateriflowiratei(l/min)i
Theigraphiindicatesithatiwateriflowrateiincreasesiandidecreasesiforiaiwhileiandiincreasesiatidiff
erentiplacesibasedionitheirotametericapacity.i
Theivaryingicapacitiesithatiwereioperatediativariousirotametericalibrationsiareitheicauseiofithisi
tendency.iAsishowniinigraphi1,itheiamountiofiwatericollectediincreasedidramaticallyiwithitheifir
sti(10%)irotameteridesign,ibutitheiflowrateicollectediwithitheisecondi(20%)irotametericonfigur
ationideclined.iTheiflowrateiincreasediagainiatitheithirdi(30%)irotametericapacityiconfiguration
,itheiflowrateicollectedidecreasediatitheifourthi(40%)irotametericapacityiconfiguration,itheiflow
rateiincreasediagainiatitheififthi(50%)irotametericapacityiconfiguration,itheiflowrateidecreasedi
atitheisixthi(60%)irotametericapacityiconfiguration,ianditheiflowrateiincreasediatitheiseventhi(7
0%)irotametericapacityiconfiguration.iTheiflowrateicontinueditoiriseionithei8thi(80%),i90thi(90i
%),iandi100thi(100i%).iFinally,itheiflowrateicollectedihadibeenicontinuouslyiincreasingiandiredu
cingiuntilithei8thi(80%),i9thi(90%),iandi10thi(100%)irotametericapacityiconfigurations,iwhereith
eiflowrateiofiwatericontinueditoiincreaseiandinoidecrease.

10. iFromigraphi1iabove,itheiY-
axisirepresentsitheiflowrateiofiwatericollectediinil/miniwhileitheiX-
axisirepresentsitheirotameterireadingiinipercentagei(%)
TheiY-axisivalueiofi0.2iL/si(12il/min)icorrespondsitoi20%ireadingiofitheirotameter.i

11. Repeatabilityi–
iisitheivariationiinimeasurementsiobtainediwhenioneipersonimeasuresitheisameiunitiwit

hitheisameimeasuringiequipment.iAllowsiyouitoimeasureihowicloseiaiparticulariresultiori
setiofidataiisicompareditoitheisameimeasurement,imadeiwithitheisameideviceioriinstru
ment,iunderitheiexactisameicircumstances.

Hysteresisi–
iisiaiphenomenoniunderiwhichitheimeasuringiinstrumentishowsidifferentioutputsieffect

siduringiloadingiandiunloading.iHysteresisiresultsifromitheiinelasticiqualityiofianielemen
tioridevice.i
theimaximumidifferenceiinioutputiatianyimeasurementivalueiwithinitheisensor’sispecifi
edirangeiwheniapproachingitheipointifirstiwithiincreasingianditheniwithidecreasingi(inve
stigatediparameter).i

12.
 Calibration of rotameter (100% - 10%)
120 100
Rotameter reading(%)
90
100 80
70
80 60
50
60 40
30
40 20
10
20
0
0,00 5000,00 10000,00 15000,00 20000,00
flowrate Q, L/min

iiii

iiii Graph:i2iRotameterireadingi(100%-10%)ivsiwateriflowiratei(l/min)icollected.

Theisystemidisplaysihysteresis,ireferitoigraphi2iabove.iFromitheigraphiaboveiweinoteiiiiiiiithatithei
ii

valuesiofitheicurvesiinidataisetsi1iandi2iareirepeatable.iTheigraphiobtainediwithitheiincreasingifl
owrateiisitheisameiwithitheigraphiobtainediwithidecreasingitheiflowrate.
Withithatisaid,itheisystemihadiexperiencedihysteresis.iTheisystemialsoidisplayedirepeatability.i
i

Hysteresisiresultsifromitheiinelasticiqualityiofiaidevicei(Rotameter).i

13. Advantagesiofirotameteriare:
• Canimeasureiliquidiorigasiflows
• Noiexternalipowerirequiredi
• Rotameterihasiaisimpleireliableidesigni

14. Disadvantagesiofiairotameteriare:
• Requiresiliningimountingi
• Itishouldibeimountedivertically
• Uncertaintyiofimeasurementsi

Theiend