Designing a Solids Flow Meter for Velocity Measurements - Research Paper Example

The need for measuring the flow of solids is vital in many industries. The power to carry out measurements for flow accuracy in measurements is of high concern to determine the losses and the profits for any given organization in most operations. In most cases, failure in measurements or any error can be very detrimental to any company that is in the question of operation to consider.There are different types of flow meters which include mass flow meters and thermal mass flow meters. Generally, the mass flow meter may only be used in the application for liquids and gases cases more than they can be used with granular materials and powders.

Also, the Mass flow meters are not only used for solids such as granules and powdery materials but also used to handle and control the flow of materials which need high precision applications, like semiconductor manufacturing. The thermal mass flow meter applies thermodynamic principles when measuring the rate of flow of materials by simply measuring the heat absorbed or contained in the flowing materials Solids flow meters are used for monitoring and measuring the rate of flow of mass of solids, grains, and powders.

These Solids flow meters are generally used in many manufacturing and processing industries that include: food and pharmaceutical processing, chemical and plastics manufacturing, cement and aggregate processing. The solids that are to pass through are measured as the manufacturing processes are carried on. Measurements are done by weighing solids as they pass through the machines for processing in various stages; this helps to determine the flow rate for the different sections as per change in materials change the volume with time in the manufacturing process.

The solid flow meters have a variety of measurement methods that are applied for the proper accuracy and recording of data for the materials measured in the flow tube.

There are basically three methods that are applied in this technology; these are composed of three simple techniques that apply the basic technology of the solid meters. These methods are: use of impact plate, application of Coriolis Effect technology, and measuring and deflecting the flow of the solids in the meter. The Impact plate measurement method is basically used to help to free any flowing granular and powdered solids in the flow meter that needs to be used. The operating principle of the impact plate is based on the fact that when the material strikes on the plate that is placed within the pipe of flow and placed at a given angle; this transfers a signal to the screen through the transducer, for this signal is very useful for continuous system operation Petranabis (2001, p.354). On the other hand, the deflection system uses a guiding slide instead of using an impact plate as in the latter.

The guiding that is mounted on the screen indicates the rate at which the materials are flow at a given time in the system, including the weight of the materials that passes through a given section within the operation. Then the coriolis meter that is placed in the system uses the knowledge of the Coriolis Effect for determining the amount of the material in terms of weight and rate of flow of the system. This as a result helps in the measuring of the rate of flow of the mass materials in the system.

Consequently, the solid flow meters have monitors that are used to detect whether the system has any failure in case of blockage due to materials that move at unexpected rate in the system. Also, for the detection purposes some of the solid flow meters use microwaves to help detection of the solid motion in the pneumatic systems which they are contained Campbell (2003, p. 214) The flow is measured using the Reynolds number given as Re. This helps to determine calculations that are used in the applications of the flow of the solids.

Reynolds number is given as:  Where: Re = the Reynolds number ρ= the density of the flowing materials V=the volume of the flow D= the diameter the pipe used for the flow. µ= dynamic viscosity of the flow, which is calculated using the kinematic viscosity. In case the flow is below 2000 then, the flow is termed to be turbulent flow, while when the flow is equal to 2000 then the flow should be termed as smooth flow. While considering the flow of elements it’s therefore good to know that flow depends on the Newtonian flow laws (Baker 2000, p. 18). Generally, it is important to relate the input to the output to ensure constant flow of the materials within the system operations.

This relates the flow and the distance covered by the materials flowing to the other end of the pipe and thus, this makes the system to be dependent of the distance occupied by the flowing materials. The transient response of the system control is therefore necessary in this case to analyze and help in the control of the operations. The transient response of the system relates the input, the system operation, and the output for the overall requirements to help in the error determination and the feedback responses for any detected errors signals.

This always occurs due to different rate at which the materials are fed to the inlet of the system and what types of materials are used Campbell ( 2004, p. 216) When dealing with flow meters there is always a need to consider the flow calculations at any given time. The flow measurement is determined to enable determination of the amount to be allowed to flow to determine the amount of flow at any given section. The flow rate is calculated using the formulae: Q = V × A Where: Q = solid flow in the pipe.

V = the average velocity of flow A = the average area of the flow pipe The solid flow is affected by among the factors such like the density of the solid material in the flow, the internal texture of the flow pipe, and the pressure and gradient of the flow pipe. Basically the flow rate and the specific gravity are the considered as the inertia forces for the flow, and pipe diameter and density provides the drag forces for flow. 1.