Troubleshooting fluid flow

Discrepancies in performance may be caused by deviations in physical properties of fluids, flow rates, inlet temperatures, mechanical construction of the equipment, or by problems caused during the installation of the equipment. The troubleshooter should first check to see that compositions, flows, temperatures, and physical properties agree with those specified for design. He should then examine the equipment drawings to determine if the problem could lie in the manner in which the equipment was constructed, or in the manner in which the equipment has been installed. After these basic items have been reviewed, the checklist below outlines some questions that should be raised. 

Discrepancies in performance may be caused by deviations in physical properties of fluids, flow rates, inlet temperatures, mechanical construction of the equipment. The troubleshooter should first check to see that compositions, flows, temperatures, and physical properties agree with those specified for design. He... 

Instrument Technician. Start 19 to 31 per hour 39,520 per year. Work on level, fluid flow, pressure, and temperature instruments and control loops troubleshoot maintain operations. 

Process Troubleshooting—instruction in the different types of troubleshooting techniques, methods, and models used to solve process problems. Topics include application of data collection and analysis, cause-effect relationships, and reasoning. Emphasizes application of troubleshooting methods to scale-up from laboratory bench to pilot unit. Describe unit operation concepts solve elementary chemical mass/energy balance problems interpret anal ical data and apply distillation and fluid flow principles. 

Thermocouples are the most common instrument to measure temperature in the chemical industry. They are versatile, compact, are applicable over a wide temperature range, and are relatively inexpensive. Not only are they used as a means to monitor the process, they are used to troubleshoot, identify areas of non-uniformity, and even determine the hydrodynamic pattern of fluids in motion. The technique of detecting flow maldistribution based on measuring the concentration is demonstrated in Figures 2.10 and 2.11. In Figure 5.8, both the concentration profile and temperature profile of an experimental methanation fluidized bed reactor are illustrated ... 

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