Pure water on the move with ultrasonic flowmeter

The meters were originally installed as part of GSK’s water monitoring system and supports the purification of water needed at the company’s laboratory.

The problem with turbines in applications that require purified water is that the fluid being measured needs to be reasonably lubricated to operate effectively. Ultrapure water can be extremely dry, which can be problematic.

Flowline’s Minisonic 801 meter provides a measuring accuracy of up to ± 1.0% of reading and is suitable for a range of control applications, including monitoring flows in all water and waste processes, pump testing, various oil products either refined or crude, petrochemical and food industries.

To eliminate the potential for purification faults, which could be caused by bacteria and foreign bodies being present, the water needs to be kept circulating in the ring main pipe work at a constant 85°C - 90°C temperature. When the laboratories have a requirement for water, it is fed through a chiller and then delivered to the lab at a constant 15°C.

The system is capable of handling the fluctuating temperatures required at GSK’s facility, without inducing errors on the measurement.

The Minisonic system can be used on pipe diameters ranging from 10mm up to 3.3 metres (up to 10 metres on some systems) and is effective on most liquids, including those, which are non-conductive. The unit’s non-invasive, external probes are clamped on to the pipe to facilitate quick installation and immediate measurement, while set-up and operation can be performed either by keypad or external software.

Other features and benefits include all new digital processing functions, which use multiple processors resulting in faster response times.