Flowmeter leads to savings
March 1st 2005 Measurements provided by a Micronics portable flow meter have led to a 75kW motor pump circuit in a process application being replaced by a smaller 11kW unit, reducing annual energy consumption from £5698 to £926.
The installed pump was supplied from a high level suction tank and delivered process water through a two-stage condenser back to a balance tank. It was noticed that a flow control valve in the discharge pipework was only 20% open.
The flow required to the condenser was recorded using a Micronics Portaflow 300 noninvasive flow meter. Pressure gauges were fitted: at the pump to determine actual generated pressure head; and before and after the condenser to determine actual pressure requirement.
Power input was recorded using a kW power analyser.
After obtaining the manufacturer’s data curve and analysing the pump’s recorded performance, it was concluded that the pump was too large for the flow rate required. A 33m head was being wasted across the control valve resulting in 66% wasted energy. The pump was providing a 50m head, but the total head requirement was only 17m.
The Portaflow 300 measures the flow of liquid in a pipeline through two sound transmitter/receivers clamped to the outside of the pipe wall. Sound is directed through the pipe wall into the flowing liquid where the speed of the sound wave is modulated by the flowing liquid.
This modulation is converted into volume flow rate by the electronics in the flow meter. There are no moving parts required either inside or outside the pipe to make the measurement. More articles from Micronics Ltd: | 
