It is a normal event for clients to purchase inline flowmeters for certain liquid applications. Whether the client chooses to purchase a DP cell with an orifice plate, some differential pressure measuring device e.g Venturi or electromagnetic, turbine or some other mechanical or inferential type of flowmeter. Although all these meters are normally calibrated at the manufacturer’s site, they are normally shipped and stored in certain places before installation. During installation, clients can face problems including contamination, mechanical wear and tear and in some cases may be in doubt regarding the accuracy of the inline flowmeter once it has been installed in a process, even though the meter may have been tested in a laboratory type situation before shipment.

The following is an example of an electromagnetic flowmeter that was installed by the client in a wastewater treatment plant. The flowmeter was the correct choice for the application which was a mixture of water, chicken blood and some feathers. The electromagnetic meter had outputs to an Orbit pump which controlled the flow to the treatment towers.

It was important to maintain a minimum flow velocity recommended by the design specification so the the treatment process was optimized. Insufficient flow meant that the water would not be treated adequately as per specifications.

The magmeter is bolted in between two flanges. When the meter arrived at site, the technicians found that there was quite a clearance between the magmeter flange ends and the pipe flanges. In order to prevent leaks, they tightened the bolts considerably to ensure that the fitting was snug. There was some concern that they had possibly over tightened the bolts and had somehow deformed the insert and degraded the flowmeter. The concern was based on the fact that the flowrates being displayed at the remote display were much lower than expected.

An EESIFLO technician was dispatched to the site to perform clamp on portable flowmeter measurements . After careful consideration a point was chosen for a measurement that was downstream from the inline flowmeter, with enough straight pipe lengths to guarantee an accurate measurement of the flow. The point of choice was a downstream HDPE pipe. Installation of the EESIFLO clamp on flowmeter took about 3 minutes.

It was simply a matter of keying in pipe and liquid data, clamping on the sensors at a predetermined distance (provided by the EESIFLO meter) and selecting units of measurement.

After several minutes of comparing on the spot flow rates between the clamp on flowmeter and the electromagnetic flowmeter it was evident that the magmeter was working to specifications as the differences between meters was minimal. Six hours later, after checking and rechecking wiring, earthing and cabling , the clients decided to open up the pump and inspect it. They found a lot of chicken feathers trapped in the pump’s internals and removed them. After removal , both the magmeter and clamp on flowmeter increased in volumetric flow readings and both meters were reading the same flowrate. The problem had been solved and the client decided to use this technology in future for diagnostic and maintenance purposes.

Contact your nearest EESIFLO representative for more information on flowmeter supply or rental or log onto our website www.eesiflo.com