Flow Meters

A flow meter is a flow rate measuring device used to determine the linear or nonlinear mass and volumetric flow of a liquid or a gas. The many names of flow meters include flow gauge, flow indicator, liquid meter, and flow rate sensor. How they are named depends on their industrial use. Their purpose is to improve the precision, accuracy, and resolution of fluid measure. They are a great investment to improve efficiency, have low maintenance, are easy to use, and are versatile and durable.

Flow meters can measure the volume of a material, its speed, or its mass. Using various calculations, they report mass flow, absolute pressure, differential pressure, viscosity, and temperature. Liquid flow is equal to the area and velocity of the flow or Q = A multiply v. Mass is calculated using the formula ṁ = Q multiply ρ, where Q equals flow rate and ρ equals density. With mass, the main concern is gases, chemical reactions, and combustion.

Applications of a Flow Meter

One of the considerations regarding the use of a flow meter is the type of flow, which can be open channel or closed conduit. Open channel is when the flow is open to the atmosphere, where closed conduit is when the flow is in a tube or pipe.

There are several features that need to be evaluated when determining the effectiveness of a flow meter. Remote monitoring, types of data, and the frequency of collection are a few of those factors. Below is a description of the applications for a flow meter.

Characteristics of a Fluid and Its Flow

The list of things a flow meter measures are pressure, temperature, density, viscosity, and vapor pressure, which are displayed as a single reading. A major function of flow meters is to monitor safety conditions such as toxicity, bubbles, the presence of abrasives, and transmission qualities.

Ranges of Pressure

Any mass needs force to move, which is part of Newton‘s Second Law of Motion. In the case of fluids, in a confined pipe, the force that is applied to move the liquid is pressure. The density of the liquid determines the amount of necessary pressure, which indicates the flow rate. When a flow meter is measuring density and pressure, it uses that data to calculate flow rate.

Ranges of Temperature

In terms of flowmeters, the measurement of temperature is referred to as thermal flow measurement, which measures heat transfer as gas flows past a surface. A temperature sensor provides a measurement of the liquids or gases‘ temperature, while a heated flow sensor measures the amount of heat transfer of the material‘s flow.