Instrumentation Selection-

Case Study

Lecture no. 20
Contents

 Instrumentation Selection-Procedure
 Instrumentation-Case Study

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 Instrumentation Selection-
Procedure

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Considerations:
 Process Description
 Process specifications
 Product/job specifications
 Competing system specifications
 Selection
 Technical feasibility
Trade-off
 Economics

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 Instrumentation-Case
Study
• Selection of Flowmeter

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Process Description:
 Select the best instrument to measure the volumetric
flow rate of a clean liquid light hydrocarbon for a
range of 10 to 100 m3 per hour in a 0.15 meter
diameter pipe. The measured value of the flow rate
must be presented to the observer in the form of
continuous trend on a computer screen.

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Process Specifications:
 General:
 Clean fluid
 Low viscosity
 Non-corrosive
 Non-pulsating output

The specifications of the process will be used to narrow the

range of flowmeters available (using Table 8.2)

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 For the process given, the selection narrows down to
the following:

 Orifice plate system

 Vortex system
 Turbine system

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Product/job Specification:
 A list of all important parameters for the complete
system:
 Range
 Measurement error
 Reliability
 Failure rate
 Average repair time
 Initial and recurring maintenance cost etc.

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 Parameters Job Specification

Measurement error in Mean error ≤ 0.25

m3/h Standard
Initial Cost (US $) ≤ 8000

Annual failure rate (in ≤ 2.0

terms of failures/year)
Average repair time ≤8
(hours)
Material Cost (US $) ≤ 400

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Competing System Specifications:
 With respect to the product specifications, different
competing systems are listed for the required application.
 The specifications of each of these competing systems is
written down to see whether it satisfies the job
specifications.
 The manufacturer or supplier will be able to provide estimates
of initial costs, range and limits of measurement errors
 The values of mean errors, failure rates and repair time will
depend on the operating plant environment and maintenance
strategy used. This information may be available within the
operating plant itself or others plants with the same operations
and conditions
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 Job Orifice plate Vortex Turbine
Parameters
Specification system System system

Mean error
Measurement
≤ 0.25 0.2 0.1 0.03
error in m3/h
Standard

Initial Cost
≤ 8000 7500 7000 8500
(US $)

Annual failure
rate
≤ 2.0 1.8 1.0 2.0
(in terms of
failures/year)

Average repair
≤8 6 5 7
time (hours)

Material Cost
≤ 400 200 200 600
(US
12 $)
Selection:
 The next step is to decide whether all the competing systems
are technically feasible and meet the job specification.
 Turbine flowmeter system does not satisfy the complete job
specifications e.g. both initial cost and repair cost are outside
the limits of job specifications.
 Both the vortex and orifice plate system satisfy the job
specifications but the vortex system is cheaper, more
accurate and more reliable than the orifice plate system.

 Vortex measurement system appears to be the best choice

for this application.

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 Thank you

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