Instrumentation & Measurements

Ruqia Ikram

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 Module 6
Pressure and Flow
Measurements

2
Pressure Measurements

 Diaphragms
 Manometers
 Dead weigh gages
 Special measurement devices for low pressure
 High-pressure measurement

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Applications

Chemical Industries Process Industry Medical

Pressure Vessels
Jet Engine
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Diaphragms

 Applied pressure cause displacement of diaphragm and this

movement is measured by displacement transducers.

 Material: Plastic, Metal Alloys, Stainless steel, Ceramics.

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Diaphragms
 Displacement transducer can be strain gauges.
Metallic type Semiconductor type
 Bonding problem is solved by using monolithic piezoresistive
pressure transducer.

 The monolithic cell consists of a diaphragm made of a silicon

sheet into which resistors are diffused during the
manufacturing process.

 Nonlinear characteristic is overcome by processing output

signal with active linearization circuit or microprocessor based

intelligent measuring transducer.

 Absolute pressure 50 bar and gauge pressure 2000 bar.

Applications
Use in monitoring of pressure of gas cylinder, recording strength of
vacuum
6 in vacuum pump. Institute of Space Technology (IST) Fall, 2021
Manometers

Types
 U-tube
 Well-type
 Inclined

U-tube manometer

 Absolute, gauge and differential pressure can

be measured.
 Water is extensively used as measuring liquid.
 For high pressure, aniline, carbon tetrachloride,
bromoform, mercury are preferred to use.

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Manometers

Well-type
 Only liquid level has to be measured so
easier to use than U-tube
 Cross-sectional area variations in the glass used to make
the tube.

Inclined-type

 Variation on the well-type manometer in which one leg of the tube is

inclined to increase measurement sensitivity as it has more graduations per
unit of vertical height.

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Manometers

Applications
 Visual monitoring of air and gas pressure for compressors.

 Vacuum equipment and tank applications such as medical gas cylinders,

fire extinguishers.

 In power plants, it is used to check condenser efficiency by monitoring

vacuum at several points of the condenser.

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Dead weigh gauges

 Null type measuring instrument.

 Pressure can be measured up to 7000 bar.
Application
Mostly used for calibration of other gauges.

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

These devices are used to measure pressure in vacuum range (<1bar).

1. Thermocouple gauge
2. Pirani gauge
3. Thermistor gauge
4. McLeod gauge
5. Ionization gauge
Thermocouple gauge
 Principle of thermal conductivity.
 Linear relationship between thermal conductivity
and pressure.
 Range

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

Error
Radiation losses of constant magnitude can be reduced by choosing a heated
element with low emissivity.

Applications
Fore line monitoring, roughing pump, distillations.

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

Pirani Gauge
 Similar to a thermocouple gauge but has a heated element that consists of
four coiled tungsten wires connected in parallel.
Range
Used in rough pump and line monitoring.

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

Thermistor Gauge
 The thermistor gauge operates on identical principles to the Pirani gauge
but uses semiconductor materials for the heated elements instead of
metals.
 Range

Mc Leod Gauge

 Low-pressure fluid is compressed to a higher pressure

that is then read by manometer techniques.

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

Mc Leod Gauge

= Compressed pressure in tube Y

= Compressed volume in tube Y
= Unknown pressure of fluid
= Volume of fluid at unknown pressure
h = height above the mercury column in tube Y

Applications
McLeod gauge is used mainly for calibrating other types of gauges.

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Special Measurement Devices for Low Pressures

Ionization Gauge
 Range

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High Pressure Measurements

 Material with high pressure-resistance characteristics (manganin and gold

chromium alloy.
 Inaccuracy
 Range 7000 to 30,000 bar

Applications
 Diesel fuel injection nozzles
 Shock wave Studies

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Reference
Chapter 15 , Measurement and Instrumentation Principles by Alan S. Morris,3rd
ed.

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