Why Use A Portable Flowmeter

Flow measuring technology has developed steadily over the past few years to the extent that you can install a flow meter quickly and with little fuss. Portable flowmeters provide this benefit to users. Whereas before it was necessary to actually open a pipe and put in a measuring device into the flow. This was more complicated to install and sometimes the device could influence the reading as it might redirect flow to take a reading.

A portable flowmeter utilizes two pads that are attached to the outside of the pipe and will give an accurate measurement of the material flowing inside. Such a flow meter will allow you to measure different areas in a pipe as well as only have one unit to measure multiple locations. The technology that makes this possible is known as transit time indicating the principle behind the technology.

Transit Time Explained

Transit time enable portable flow meters to measure relatively clean fluids with low to moderate aeration accurately. These meters operate by comparing the time for an ultrasonic signal to travel with the flow against the time for an ultrasonic signal to travel against the flow. By measuring the downstream time versus the upstream time you can get a proportional measurement of the flow. A portable flowmeter is a unit that has two clamps on it that attach to the pipe and send the signal.

The portable flow meter will convert the information to the flow rate and total flow. By mounting the transducers on the outside of the pipe, a portable flow meter is able to measure the data without having to go into the pipe. This is a huge advantage over the more invasive methods of having to actually cutting into the pipe.

Magmeters, vortex meters, and turbine flow meters have immense down time for installation and can contaminate a system. A portable flowmeter does the same job with no risk of these things happening. There is no pressure drop, no moving parts, and no risk of leaks. Once in place, a portable flowmeter is completely maintenance free.

The other huge and rather obvious advantage of using a portable flowmeter is that it can be moved relatively easily. This may be from one part of a pipe to another part. From one machine to another or even from different sites.

Traditional flow meters do not offer this advantage. In addition, a portable flowmeter is at least if not more accurate than the alternative methods. The reason for this is simple; it does not change the active system in any way while it is in operation.

Hopefully this has helped to give you an idea of what a portable flowmeter can do for you. Without being intrusive to the medium that it is measuring, the meter can give you an accurate reading on the velocity of a liquid. In most cases this liquid must be clean. The more debris or particulate matter in the liquid the worse the reading will be.

The only way to really see how useful these tools are is to get one for yourself and try it out. Luckily for the most part the tools are not that expensive and can measure a wide variety of pipes.