Flow Measurement
ECE361 Industrial Automation
Instructional Objective
• The reader, after going through the lesson would be
able to:
• 1. Name different types of flowmeters, frequently used
in industry.
• 2. Distinguish the constructional differences between
orifice meter and ventury meter.
• 3. Understand the basic principle of operation of an
obstruction type flowmeter.
• 4. Explain the basic principles of operation of turbine
type flowmeter and electromagnetic flowmeter.
• 5. Develop a schematic block diagram for signal
conditioning circuit for a typical flowmeter.
Introduction
• Accurate measurement of flow rate of liquids and gases is an
essential requirement for maintaining the quality of industrial
processes
• The common types of flowmeters that find industrial
applications can be listed as below:
• (a) Obstruction type (differential pressure or variable area)
• (b) Inferential (turbine type),
• (c) Electromagnetic,
• (d) Positive displacement (integrating),
• (e) fluid dynamic (vortex shedding),
• (f) Anemometer,
• (g) Ultrasonic and
• (h) Mass flowmeter (Coriolis).
Obstruction type flowmeter
• Obstruction or head
type flowmeters are of
two types:
– differential pressure
type and
– variable area type.
• Orifice meter,
Venturimeter, Pitot
tube fall under the first
category,
• while rotameter is of
the second category
Orifice meter Flow Meter
Orifice plate and permanent pressure drop
• The major advantages of orifice
plate are that
• it is low cost device,
• simple in construction and
• easy to install in the pipeline
• The major disadvantage of using
orifice plate is the permanent
pressure drop that is normally
experienced in the orifice plate
as shown in figure (~40%)
• This problem can be overcome
by improving the design of the
restrictions. Venturimeter and
flow nozzles are two such
devices.
Venturimeter & Flow Nozzle
Pitot Tube
• Pitot tube is widely used for velocity
measurement in aircraft.
• If a blunt object is placed in the flow
channel, the velocity of fluid at the point just
before it, will be zero (
• However, as mentioned earlier corrections
are to be incorporated for compressible
fluids. The typical construction of a Pitot
tube is shown in fig. 6(b).
• The orifice meter,
Venturimeter and flow nozzle
work on the principle of Rotameter
constant area variable
pressure drop.
• On the other hand Rotameter
works as a constant pressure
drop variable area meter.
• It can be only be used in a
vertical pipeline.
• Its accuracy is also less (2%)
compared to other types of
flow meters.
• But the major advantages of
rotameter are, it is simple in
construction, ready to install
and the flow rate can be
directly seen on a calibrated
scale, without the help of any
other device, e.g. differential
pressure sensor etc
Electromagnetic Flowmeter
• Electromagnetic flowmeter is
different from all other flowmeters
due to its uniqueness on several
accounts.
• The advantages of this type of
flowmeter can be summarized as:
• 1. It causes no obstruction to flow
path.
• 2. It gives complete linear output in
form of voltage.
• 3. The output is unaffected by
changes in pressure, temperature
and viscosity of the fluid.
• 4. Reverse flow can also be
measured.
• 5. Flow velocity as low as 10-6m/sec
can be measured.
Turbine type Flowmeter
• Turbine type flowmeter is a
simple way for measuring
flow velocity.
• A rotating shaft with turbine
type angular blades is placed
inside the flow pipe.
• The fluid flowing through the
pipeline will cause rotation of
the turbine whose speed of
rotation can be a measure of
the flow rate.
• The speed of rotation of the
turbine can be measured
using several ways, such as,
optical method, inductive
pick up etc
Vortex type Flowmeter
• Formation of vortex on a
flowing stream by an
obstruction like straw or
stone is a common
observation.
• But what is probably not
commonly known is the
fact that, the frequency
of vortex formation is
proportional to flow
velocity
• A vortex of this sort is
called Karman Vortex