Turbine Flow Meters vs Ultrasonic Flow Meters: Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the most important purposes for flow measurement is custody transfer. For custody transfer applications, a variety of flow metering systems are used. DP flow meters, turbine flow meters, ultrasonic meters, and other types of custody transfer metering systems are among the solutions. In this blog, however, we will talk about the turbine flow meter and ultrasonic meter in this blog.

Turbine flowmeter

Reinhard Woltman, a German engineer, devised the turbine flow meter in 1790. Turbine flow meters consist of a rotor with propeller-like fixed blades that spin when water or another fluid is carried through it. The flow rate is proportional to the rotor rotations.

Advantage

The turbine flow meter is useful for determining a clean, steady, high-speed flow of low-viscosity fluids. These are more cost-effective than ultrasonic flow meters, especially for larger lines. When it comes to cost, a single turbine flow meter can replace numerous DP meters.

Disadvantage

The only disadvantage of turbine flow meters is that they have moving elements that can wear out. To prevent corrosion, increasingly durable materials such as tungsten carbide bearings and titanium rotor blades are employed in the construction of turbine flow meters.

Ultrasonic flowmeter

Ultrasonic flow meters are non-infiltrative flow measurement systems that use sensors to generate ultrasonic waves that go through the flow transducers to identify flow velocity and then calculate the flow rate. An ultrasonic flowmeter is made up of several pairs of transducers, each of which measures transit time quickly. As a consequence, there is quite a plethora of basic data to work with when aggregating and determining flow rates.

Advantage

Ultrasonic flowmeters feature a very low-pressure drop and a very high turndown capacity. They are capable of a wide range of tasks, including crude oil production, transfer, and refining. Ultrasonic flow meters optimize the overall accuracy and there are no notable disadvantages.

On an ending note, each of the flow meters mentioned above holds significance in custody transfer. Its application depends on the requirements and processes.

Meter Provers: Uses, Types, and Functioning

Meter provers are flow meter calibration apparatuses used for analyzing readouts from a flow meter. By deploying these devices for flow meter calibration, required adjustments can be made. Readings obtained from a liquid or gas flow meter are authenticated and calibrated by deploying these advanced devices. Contemporary meter provers are automatic and take care of the whole process on their own as compared to manual provers of olden times.  

So now that we know what is a meter prover and their use, let’s move on to understand how they work. 

How do Meter Provers Work?

Meter provers are deployed to detect changes in the amounts of gas/liquid flowing through a pipe at different times. Each prover has highly advanced sensors to capture any deviation in fluid or gas flow. The whole process ensures that meter readings remain accurate at all times. 

There are different prover types available in the market and you can choose the one that fits your needs the best. Let’s take a look at the different types of provers available in the market. 

• Pipe provers 

Pipe provers are also known as sphere provers and ball provers. Functioning on the principle of continuously replicated displacements of liquid in fixed amounts, these provers help compare volumes so that necessary measures can be taken to correct the variations. When the fluid moves inside the ball prover, the attached meter makes the calculations. 

• Master meter provers 

Master meter provers can be used for both direct and indirect calibration. Direct master meter proving systems have a line meter and a master meter. This proving type is performed on the career pipeline site. 

Indirect master meter proving, on the other hand, is used requires detachment from the gas meter. The calibration takes place at the remote site. In this case, metering equipment requires the involvement of prover hookups. 

• Bi-directional meter provers 

Bi-directional meter provers comprise a 4-way valve setup. It can be referred to as a modified sphere prover that enables constant travel of the displacement ball. Reversal of fluid flow takes place with the sphere changing its direction. The functioning is pretty straightforward and when the liquid or gas enters the system, it pushes the spherical ball and makes it go through the proving loop. 

Gas flow gets channelized and passes through a series of sensors in place apart from calibrated segments. The efficiency of gas flow is determined when the prover counter measures the impulses generated in the process. 

• Unidirectional meter provers 

Another variant of a sphere prover is a unidirectional meter prover.  With a unidirectional meter prover in place, the displacement ball travels in just one direction and hence the name. The sphere goes through the set points along with the sensors attached and the displaced fluid is compared with pre-set values. 

Hope you found the post informative. For more information related to meter provers, feel free to get in touch with us. 

Why Choose Multi-Beam Ultrasonic Flowmeters over other Flowmeters?

Ultrasonic flow meters are non-infiltrative flow measuring systems that use sensors to produce ultrasonic waves traveling through the transducers in the flow to determine flow velocity followed by calculating flow rate. These meters are simple and easy to incorporate. They can easily resist abrasion unlike other invasive flow metering devices with moving parts. Furthermore, an Ultrasonic meter is classified as transit-time and doppler.

.Multi-beam Ultrasonic flowmeters

For crude oil and refined commodities, a Multi-beam Ultrasonic flowmeter is specifically used for custody transfer. The technology and the use of the transducer are the same. Within the inner walls of the flowmeters, a pair of transducer and receiver are placed upstream and downstream respectively. The travel time from the transmitting transducer and receiving transducer is measured accurately with the flowmeter technology. This obtained transit time is further used to find the flow velocity in real-time.

An Ultrasonic flow meter beholds multiple pairs of transducers, each of which provides brisk transit-time measurements. As a result, there's a lot of fundamental data for averaging and calculating flow rates.

Further, just using a bi-directional pipe prover or a piston prover for small volume can verify the flowmeter instantaneously. 

Multi-beam ultrasonic flowmeters comply with international as well as indigenous standards.

The unique design

Multibeam ultrasonic meters comprise two sets of transducers with eight pieces in each set. The first set releases four ultra beams received by the second set and the process continues the other way around. This installation forms a multi-star design of the ultrasonic flow meter that ensures maximum coverage of the flow. 

Benefits of Multi-beam ultrasonic flowmeters over other ultrasonic flowmeter types

• Ensured accuracy of the measurements.
• In the case of hydrocarbons, multibeam flowmeters are immune to water content.
• Can be calibrated on-site with the help of a prover.
• Ultrasonic Multi-beam Flowmeters have a complete bore and no obstructions to the flow. As a result, the pressure drop throughout the meter is comparable to that of a pipe length.

Having learned the benefits the significance of Multi-beam Ultrasonic Flowmeter is evident and for the best purchase, OGSI is the place.

Everything You Should Know About Sampling Systems

The sampling system is at the center of any oil and gas, hydrocarbon processing, and petroleum gas handling industry unit. They may exist as a particular unrefined petroleum inspecting framework or necessary for a more extensive framework as a programmed sampling system.

Sampling frameworks work on a double-layer premise. On the one hand, they are critical to guarantee that the fiscal tasks are running at the ideal rate and giving the results they were intended to give. On the subsequent layer, testing frameworks assume a critical part in guaranteeing that the liquid quality all through every one of the definite layers of the plant is steady according to the administrative and mechanical requirements. This is the reason why it gets pivotal to the operations.

The sampling skid intimates many skilled professionals, plant managers, and owners in this industry as complex engineering products. For anyone eager to know about sampling system can start with the below things that can help you understand its basics:

Inline programmed sampling framework: A system, regardless of whether utilized as a crude oil testing framework, can be amazingly useful for projects where reliable inspecting is required, yet the analyzers can be kept away from the cycle. They are called 'Inline' because such a framework can be effortlessly mounted on the critical line conveying the liquid. An inline examining framework can be of extraordinary use, given its programmed usefulness. An arrangement of this kind destroys the need to run the analyzer and the inspecting cycle since it consequently does that. Such a framework draws a tiny segment of the liquid (as little as one cc) and analyzes it on predetermined characteristics.

Liquid fast loop sampling framework: These inspecting frameworks come into the picture when analyzers are obligatory, either due to the specialized interest of the undertaking or due to regulatory proposals. They are either utilized as an independent framework to deal with the quality or are coordinated with the mainline. The most significant benefit of utilizing such a system is that it requires no stoppage time for support since it tends to be kept as an independent framework from the mainline. The fast loop sampling system extracts a stream of process lines using the Jiskoot sampling system mounted in the pipeline center. 

Picking the right sampling situation: The proper testing situation ought to give constant information, fit the task's care requirements, and be difficult to support without hindering the mainline a lot.

Ultrasonic Flow Meters: Design and Working Explained

Liquid and gas metering systems offer great performance and ultrasonic flow meters are quite popular a choice. Ultrasonic flow meter can be explained as a unique transducer which is capable of determining stream flow levels of various liquids or gases in a pipe by using ultrasonic signals.
 

In this post, we will understand the design and working principle of ultrasonic flow meters.
 

Ultrasonic Flowmeter Design

 

Ultrasonic flowmeters utilize an ultrasonic pulse which starts at frequencies ranging from 20,000 Hz and 1000 MHz. The flow meter comprises of three major parts named signal source, receiver and converter. A signal emerging from the source passes through the stream and finally goes to the receiver. Thereafter it goes to the convertor where the result is analyzed. Numerous pairs of sensors are installed and they are placed against each other. More often they are placed diagonally from the axis of the pipeline and they exchange signals. When you have such an arrangement in place, exchange of sound signals becomes easy in both directions of the flow- in the flow direction as well as against it. If the pipeline happens to be empty, both signals tend to cover the distance with equal speed. To put is simple, the higher the flow velocity, the higher the time difference between the signals.
 

Crude oil custody transfer metering systems are indispensable to the liquid and gas industry and ultrasonic flowmeters are a crucial part of it. Now, let’s take a look at various types of ultrasonic flow meters.
 

Types of Ultrasonic Flowmeters-

There are a number of ultrasonic flow meters which actually depends on the method of measurement. The measurement method can be Doppler, transit time and open channel.
 

Doppler:

Doppler measurement method enables the measurement of consumption in substances with huge proportion of impurities. The scattering of ultrasonic waves which come in contact with tiny particles in the flow stream are used to determine the speed.
 

A slight drawback of this method is lack of accuracy because the data is collected from a variety of particles.
 

Time transit:

The phase of the signal on the receiving piezoelectric elements is recorded. The receiver calculates the amplitude and speed ratio with which the ultrasound passes in the direction of the flow. The device later on serves the purpose of comparing results. You must note that a different schedule is run for the signals moving against the stream.
 

Open channel:

In this method the time of signal passage from the source to the receiver is analyzed along and against the flow. Pressure, density and temperature impact the duration of the signal movement. In this procedure, the time difference is proportional to the rate of flow.
 

Do you need more information about custody transfer metering systems? Feel free to contact us for the same.

Nitrogen generator has been helpful to numerous people in the pharmaceutical, food and beverages, and electronics industry. Generating nitrogen onsite is a better choice than gas deliveries. Compared to the nitrogen tanks and bottles, a nitrogen generator helps by reducing the overall cost and gets the work in limited time. Nitrogen generator membrane system, on the other hand, used the membrane technology to separate nitrogen from other gases present in the air, guaranteeing purity. While the terms may sound too technical, it is much easier when understood. And to help you out, we have prepared this blog to help you understand the basic types of nitrogen generator systems for power plants.

As clearly the term says nitrogen generator, it does not generate or create nitrogen. These generators use the nitrogen that is already present in the air and purify it by getting rid of the additional molecules. As taught in science, the air contains 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and other gases. The other gases include gases like carbon dioxide, argon, and water vapour. Traces of methane, helium, krypton, and hydrogen are also found in the air.

When we talk about separating nitrogen from the air, we need to understand that there are more ways to do it. Apart from the nitrogen generator membrane system, the other one that is commonly used is the Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) technology.

1. Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) technology: 

PSA technology also helps in removing the extra molecules. In PSA technology, the unwanted molecules are absorbed to separate the nitrogen. The PSA nitrogen generator is made up of two towers that contain molecular sieve, particularly made of carbon. This carbon molecular sieve acts as the soaks up the nitrogen and oxygen molecules when the air is pressurized in one of the towers. All the additional, unwanted molecules are then released out into the atmosphere after the nitrogen molecules have been separated. The pure nitrogen produced is then used to remove moisture in the power plants and helps in averting corrosion.

2. Membrane Nitrogen Systems:

The nitrogen generator membrane systems are known for producing the purest nitrogen, which is 99.5%. The membrane technology is used by companies to separate gases from nitrogen, including oxygen distinctly. In the membrane technology, compressed air is forced into a vessel. This vessel has a tube-like structure surrounded by polymeric hollow fiber. This polymeric fiber selectively pervades water vapour, oxygen, and other unwanted substances out of the walls. This allows the nitrogen to pass through the center easily and gets collected together outside. This helps the power plant owners to enjoy the plenty of gas produced with minimal maintenance.

3. Custom Nitrogen Systems:

Some of the power plants need customized nitrogen generators according to the needs. Here companies like Oil and Gas Systems International play an important role in providing the required nitrogen system, according to the client's need.

Nitrogen generators take less than a day to get installed and help you collect pure nitrogen cost-effectively. You may not be using the power plants all the time. Using nitrogen generators you can now prevent oxidization and rust when not in use.

Importance of a Fuel Gas Conditioning System on Skid

Fuel gas conditioning is aimed at purifying fuel gas so that it is efficiently used by the turbine. Efficient fuel gas conditioning is important because it not only improves efficiency, but also keeps at bay any sort of damage to the gas turbine. Downtime can hurt enterprises a big time and hence by having a good fuel gas conditioning system, undesired downtime can be avoided. By combining a fuel gas conditioning system into a modular process skid, a number of benefits can be extracted. Some of the benefits are efficiency, cost and speed. There is plethora of fuel gas conditioning service providers offering attractive fuel gas treatment packages to choose from.

Why is Fuel Gas Conditioning Crucial?

Fuel gas conditioning system on skid is extremely important. Usually fuel gas consists of some impurities which can take many forms and are capable to cause damage to the gas turbine if overlooked. A good fuel gas conditioning system on skid equips you with the following advantages-

• Increased gas turbine longevity
• Enhanced gas turbine performance
• Reduced periodic maintenance costs
• Decreased unexpected downtime
• Enhance the overall performance of the gas turbine as well as engine

Types of Impurities Eliminated by a Fuel Gas Conditioning System on Skid

We are now aware of the significance of a fuel gas conditioning system as well as the benefits it offers. Impurities eliminated by a fuel gas conditioning system are in 3 physical states - liquid, solid and gas.

Liquid: -

Usually liquid impurities found in fuel gas are condensed gas, water, lube oil and heavy hydrocarbon. If ignored, liquid impurities may cause heavy temperature fluctuations. Hot spots in combustor might occur as a result. Besides, emissions and deposits are also on the cards.

Solid: -

Impurities in solid form include rust, mill scale and sand. If these impurities are ignored, corrosion in the gas turbine might build up which is potentially detrimental to the system and the overall performance and longevity.

Gases: -

Carbon dioxide, Siloxane and Hydrogen Sulfide are some of the impurities in gaseous form. Not only do these impurities lead to deposits, emissions and corrosion, but badly affect the performance and functioning of the gas turbine. Beside, increased pollution is also detrimental to the environment. Apparently your system remains no longer compliant to mandatory standards.

By having a good fuel gas conditioning system on skid, you not only improve the longevity of the entire system as well as performance but also prevent the environment. If you are not sure about where to begin, you can contact a professional fuel gas conditioning service provider and ask for a fuel gas treatment package that fits your needs.