Shedding Flowmeters

In the second technique, the flowing liquid must contain scatters in the form of particles or bubbles whicli will reflect the sound waves. These scatters should be traveling at the velocity of the liquid. A Doppler method is applied by transmitting sound waves along the flow path and measuring the frequency shift in the returned signal from the scatters in the process fluid. This frequency shift is proportional to liquid velocity. 

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Vortex-Shedding Flowmeters These flowmeters take advantage of vortex shedding, which occurs when a fluid flows past a non-streamlined objec t (a Blunt body). The flow cannot follow the shape of the object and separates from it, forming turbulent vortices or eddies at the object s side surfaces. As the vortices move downstream, they grow in size and are eventually shed or detached from the objec t. 

Flo. 6.2. Vortex-shedding flowmeter (a) basic principle of meter (b) general view... 

The swirl meter operates in most of the same applications as the vortex-shedding flowmeter but has the advantage that, because flow conditioning is done at the inlet and outlet of the meter body, virtually no upstream or downstream straight run is required for optimal installation. 

Vortex Shedding Flowmeter. At Reynolds numbers greater than 1000, vortices are shed behind bluff bodies giving an oscillating... 

Vortex shedding flowmeters (Fig. 18.12) introduce a shedding body into the flow to cause production (shedding) of vortices. The sound accompanying the production and collapse of the vortices is monitored and analyzed. The dominant frequency of the sound is indicative of the rate of vortex production and collapse, and hence an indication of flow rate. Vortex shedding flowmeters are useful in low-velocity, nonturbulent flows. 

The principal classes of flow-measuring instruments used in the process industries are variable-head, variaBle-area, positive-displacement, and turbine instruments, mass flowmeters, vortex-shedding and iiltrasonic flowmeters, magnetic flowmeters, and more recently, Coriohs mass flowmeters. Head meters are covered in more detail in Sec. 5. 

Flow measurements using nonintrusive or low mechanical ac tion principles are desired, such as magnetic, vortex-shedding, or Coriolis-type flowmeters. Orifice plates are easy to use and reliable but have a limited range and may not be suitable for streams which are not totally clean. Rotameters with glass tubes should not be used. 

When a bluff body is interspersed in a fluid stream, the flow is split into two parts. The boundary layer (see Chapter 11) which forms over the surface of the obstruction develops instabilities and vortices are formed and then shed successively from alternate sides of the body, giving rise to what is known as a von Karman vortex street. This process sets up regular pressure variations downstream from the obstruction whose frequency is proportional to the fluid velocity, as shown by Strouai. 9. Vortex flowmeters are very versatile and can be used with almost any fluid — gases, liquids and multi-phase fluids. The operation of the vortex meter, illustrated in Figure 6.27, is described in more detail in Volume 3, by Gjnesi(8) and in a publication by a commercial manufacturer, Endress and Hauser.10 ... 

Vortex-induced separator, 22 62-63 Vortex-induced vibration, 11 756 Vortex meters, mass flowmeters, 20 681 Vortex patterns, 11 755 Vortex precession meters, 11 668 Vortex shedding, 11 756 Vortex shedding meters, 11 668-669 Vortices, superconductor, 23 824-825 Voyage charters, 25 327 VP Sandoflam 5085, 11 491 V-type inks, 14 326 Vulcanizable silicone rubber, 25 129 Vulcanizable silicones, properties and applications of, 22 594-595, 596-597 Vulcanizates EPDM, 10 713 EPM/EPDM, 10 715 ethylene-acrylic elastomer, 10 698,... 

The basic design categories of vortex flowmeters include (1) vortex shedding,... 

Full-bore meters include variable-head meters such as venturi and orifice meters and variable-area meters such as rotameters. These will be described in some detail. Briefer descriptions are given of other full-bore measuring devices V-element, magnetic, vortex shedding, turbine and positive-displacement meters, ultrasonic meters, and mass flow devices such as Coriolis and thermal flowmeters. 

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