Accurate flow measurement of low viscosity fluids
Classic turbine flowmeters use propeller type turbines in a closed circular conduit. The turbine is mounted on low friction bearings and its rotation is detected through the chamber wall by one of a variety of detector types.
These flowmeters have good linearity in larger diameters but as the pipe bore reduces the efficiency of the flowmeter also reduces.
For smaller diameter pipe applications – Titan Enterprise turbine flowmeters employ a design where the flow of fluid is directed at the turbine that is mounted on robust low friction sapphire bearings.
The geometry of the turbine and the fluid chamber ensures that the rotational speed of the rotor is proportional to the flow rate through the device.
The use of this radial arrangement advantageously allows more energy to be imparted into the turbine so the bearing drag is far less important.
Furthermore, because more energy is available the bearings themselves can be a lot stronger so increasing the life of the flowmeter.
At higher flow rates – the Titan turbine flowmeter design allows some of the fluid to bypass the turbine chamber, which then behaves as a “shunt” to the metered fluid, as a result accuracy is still maintained and the output remains linear.