Able’s hazardous area clamp-on ultrasonic portable flow meter accurately measures liquid flow rates while providing the added performance, safety, economy and convenience of a non-intrusive design.
Utilising a new battery pack design, this new high-precision transit time ultrasonic flow meter has been specially designed by Able to provide all the functionality of the fixed 1010 liquid flow computer in a fully portable self-powered unit. A gas version is also available.
Designed for use in hazardous areas, the flow meter can be operated from zone two with the transducers cabled into zone one or zero, without the need for a hot work permit.
For portable power, hazardous area approved NiMH batteries are used, for which the running time has been tested at up to 24 hours.
The system uses Siemens Controlotron award-winning WideBeam® transducer technology and includes Zeromatic Path™ capability, which eliminates all zero drift and allows zero to be set without shutting flow or blocking lines. This allows the externally mounted transducers to be installed and set up for flow measurement without stopping flow or depressurising the pipeline.
The flow meter provides superior performance for check metering, flow survey verification and allocation applications in liquid pipelines. It has been designed to provide hazardous area 1010 portable advanced diagnostic support for fixed field flow instrumentation. Able has developed the design from the Siemens Controlotron 1010 flow meter, which is fully compatible with the fixed field transducers for direct fault finding analysis and to assist the setup commissioning and repairs of all fixed Siemens 1010 system installations.
Sonic pulses are sent upstream and downstream between pairs of WideBeam transducers mounted on the same side of the pipe. The transducers are matched to the pipe’s sonic properties to produce a wide sonic beam. The beam travels axially through the pipe wall, transmitting a precise, stable wave shape into the liquid. These pulses travel between transducers through two separate paths.
The first measurement path travels through the pipe wall and diagonally through the liquid, reflecting off the far pipe wall to the other transducer. Liquid flow causes a proportional time difference between upstream and downstream transmissions. The system measures the time difference and converts it to volumetric or mass flow rate.
The second sonic path passes between the transducers through the pipe wall only. Since liquid flow does not affect the timing of the pulses in the pipe wall, this path serves as a stable zero flow reference. It eliminates zero drift and allows zero to be set automatically without the need to stop flow.
The patented WideBeam transmission produces strong, stable signals that extend far beyond the footprint of the transducers. This allows operation over wide flow velocities, pressures and temperatures, with high tolerance to aeration.
For more information on this product, call Leigh Evans on 0044 118 916 9411 or e-mail levans@able.co.uk.