FLOW METER GROUPS:

1.Quantity meter
-

POSITVE DISPLACEMENT METERS

WEIGHERS
REPROCICATING PISTON
ROTATING VANES

2.Rate of flow meters

-

ORIFICE PLATES
VENTURI TUBES
TURBINE METERS
VORTEX METERS

FLOW MEASURING PARTS:

1. Primary element - in contact with fluid
2. Transducer - convert flow to a readable
signal

ORIFICE METER IS:

Restriction to create pressure drop
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS:
- Simple construction
- Easy duplicating
- Extensive calibration work done
- Adopted as standard

HOW DOES IT WORK?

- PRESSURE PROFILE UPSTREAM/DOWNSTERAM THE
ORIFICE
- INCREASE OF FLUID VELOCITY IN VENA CONTARCTA
- PRESSURE RECOVERY 5 TO 8 D DOWNSTREAM
- PRESSURE LOSS
- DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE PROPORTIONAL TO SQUARE OF
THE RATE OF FLOW

HISTORY
- FIRST USE BY GIOVANNI VENTURI IN 1797
- MODERN VENTURI BY HERSCHEL 1886
- EXTENSIVE EXPERIMENTAL WORK BY AGA IN 1935
- MPMS 14-3 IS UPDATED VERSION OF AGA
- ISO 5167 IS INTERNATIONALLY ADDOPTED

GAS LAWS
- MOLECULA IS THE SMALLEST PARTICLE IN FREE AND
UNDECOMPOSED STATE
- MOLECULES MOTION IMPACT IS MEASURED AS
PRESSURE
- TEMPERATURE INFLENCE ON THE MOTION OF
MOLECULAS
- AT ABSOLUTE ZERO PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE
THERE IS NO ACTIVITY

THE VOLUME OF IDEAL GAS IS:

- INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO THE ABSOLUTE
PRESSURE (BOYLS LAW)
- DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE ABSOLUTE
TEMPERATURE (CHARLES LAW)
- THIS IS COMMONLY WRITTEN AS THE FOLLOWING
EQUATION:

P1 x V1 / T1 = P2 x V2 / T2

ORIFICE GAS EQUATION:

QV = K x Cd x Ev x Y1 x d2 x (Tb / Pb) x
[(Pf1 x Zb x hw) / (Gr x Zf1 x Tf)]0.5
WHERE IS:
QV Cd Ev Y1 dTb Pb Pf1 Tf Zb Zf1 Hw Gr -

STANDARD VOLUME FLOWRATE

COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE
VELOCITY OF APPROACH FACTOR
EXPANSION FACTOR
ORIFICE PLATE BORE
BASE TEMPERATURE
BASE PRESSURE
FLOWING PRESSURE UPSTREAM
FLOWING TEMPERATURE
COMPRESSIBILITY AT BASE CONDITIONS
COMPRESSIBILITY AT FLOWING (UP.) CONDITIONS
ORIFICE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE
REAL GAS RELATIVE DENSITY

ORIFICE PLATE COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE

(Cd)
- EMPIRICALLY DETERMINED
- TO BE VALID THE ORIFICE MUST BE MANUFACTURED
ACCORDING TO M.P.M.S
- DEPENDS ON THE REYNOLDS NUMBER, TAP LOCATION,
METER TUBE DIAMETER AND ORIFICE DIAMETER

VELOCITY OF APPROACH FACTOR (EV)

-

CORRECTS THE CHANGE IN VELOCITY BETWEEN THE

UPSTREAM CONDITION AND THE VELOCITY IN THE
ORIFICE BORE.
DEPENDS ON BETA RATIO

EXPANSION FACTOR (Y1 OR Y2)

-

CORRECTS THE DENSITY CHANGE BETWEEN THE

MEASURING TAPS AND DENSITY AT THE ORIFICE PLANE
Y1 OR Y2 DEPENDS IF THE STATIC PRESSURE IS
MEASURED ON THE UPPSTRAEAM OR DOWNSTREAM
TAP.
Y2 IS SMALLER THAN Y1

ORIFICE PLATE BORE DIAMETER (d)

-

ACTUAL DIAMETER AT FLOWING CONDITIONS

- CORRECTION MUST BE DONE IF THE TEMPERATURE AT

WHICH THE PLATE WAS BORED IS DIFFERENT FROM THE
OPERATING

GAS SPECIFIC GRAVITY (Gr)

- REPRESENTS A PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
GAS
-

REPRESENTS THE RATIO BETWEEN THE DENSITY OF GAS

DIVIDED BY AIR AT SAME CONDITIONS
WITH GIVE FORCE MORE GAS WITH LOWER Gr IS PASING
THROUGH AN ORIFICE

COMPRESSIBILITY (Zf)
- THE REAL GAS COMPRESS MORE THAN THE IDEAL GAS
PREDICTS
-

THE ABOVE RATIO IS CALLED COMPRESSIBILITY

CALCULATED BY AGA 8

ROUGHLY THE COMPRESSIBILITY AFFECTS THE VOLUME

BY 0,5% EACH 100 PSIG

BETA RATIO ()
- IS THE RATIO OF ORIFICE BORE DIVIDED BY PIPE
INTERNAL BORE
-

THE LIMITS ARE 0.2 AND 0.7

CRITICAL FLOW
- OCCURS WHEN THE VELOCITY OF THE GAS OR VAPOR
REACHES THE SPEED OF SOUND
-

GAS CAN NOT TRAVEL ANY FASTER

APPLICATION IN FLOW LIMITING DEVICES (RO)

A RULE OF THUMB SAYS THAT CRITICAL FLOW OCCURS

WHEN P2 IS LES THAN 50% OF P1

ADVANTAGES OF ORIFICE METERS

- FLOW CAN BE ACCURATELLY DETERMINED WITHOUT
FLOW CALIBRATION
-

ALL OTHER METERS REQUIRE FLOW CALIBRATION AT

OPERATING CONDITIONS
WELL ESTABLISHED PROCEDURES CONVERTS
DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE INTO FLOW RATE
THE CALCULATION COEFFICIENTS ARE BASED ON
ACCURATELY MEASURABLE DIMENSIONS
SIMPLE, RUGGED, WIDELLY ACCEPTED, RELIABLE AND
INEXPENSIVE

RELIABILITY
- THE COEFFICIENTS CALCULATED BY AGA 3 ARE
SUBJECT TO UNCERTAINITY ON APPROX. 0.5%
-

THIS IS FOR BETA FROM 0.2 TO 0.7

FOR BETA BETWEEN 0.1 - 0.2 AND 0.7 - 0.75 THE
ADDITIONAL UNCERTAINITY SHOULD BE ADDED.
THE REYNOLDS NUMBER BELOW 1,000,000 WILL
INCREASE UNCERTAINITY
REYNOLDS NUMBER PRACTICAL LIMIT IS 4,000

RANGEABILITY
- CALLED ALSO "TURN DOWN RATIO" IS THE RATIO
BETWEEN MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM MEASURABLE
FLOW WITH DECLARED ACCURACY
-

COMMON RANGEABILITY FROM 3 TO 1

ADOPTING MULTIPLE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE
TRANSMITTER (STACK) THE RANGEABILITY CAN BE
INCREASED

REPEATABILITY
- THE METER CAPABILITY TO INDICATE THE SAME
READING AT THE SAME FLOW
-

THE READINGS MAY OR MAY NOT BE ACCURATE BUT

CAN BE REPEATABLE
THIS CAPABILITY IS IMPORTANT WHEN FLOW METER IS
USED FOR FLOW CONTROL

PRESSURE LOSS CHARACTERISTICS

1. ORIFICE - HIGHEST
2. FLOW NOZZLE
3. SHORT CONE VENTURI
4. STANDARD VENTURI
5. LO-LOSS TUBE

ORIFICE PLATE TYPES

-

CONCENTRIC ORIFICE, SQUARE EDGE - STANDARD

ECCENTRIC ORIFICE PLATE - FOR GASES WITH

LIQUIDS OR LIQUIDS WITH SEDIMENTS

QUADRANT EDGE - HIGH VISCOSITY FLUIDS

CONIC EDGE - AT REYNOLDS NUMBERS LOWER THAN

FOR QUADRANT EDGE

PRESSURE TAP LOCATION

- FLANGE TAPS - ONE INCH UP AND DOWNSTREAM FROM
THE ORIFICE FACE
- PIPE TAPS - 2,5D UPSTREAM AND 8D DOWNSTREAM AT
POINT OF MAXIMUM PRESSURE RECOVERY
- VENA CONTRACTA TAPS - 1D UPSTREAM AND AT THE
POINT OF MINIMUM PRESSURE DOWNSTREAM
- CORNER TAPS - ADJACENT TO THE PLATE FACES

ORIFICE PLATE HOLDERS

-

ORIFICE FLANGES

SENIOR ORIFICE FITTING

JUNIOR ORIFICE FITTING

SIMPLEX ORIFICE HOLDER

METER TUBES