Spire Metering Technology is proud to release their wPrime Series 280 - CI Ultrasonic Water Meter. It is designed for durability, robustness, wide dynamic range and leakage detection capability. Spire's 280W - CI meter stands out among the competition, for the best technology at the best price. The 280W - CI is for applications that need to handle a challenge environment where traditional mechanical water meters fail. The heavy-duty metal enclosure, which is IP68 rated, is suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications where a meter may be submersible.

The 280W - CI provides a new approach to replace your mechanical compound water meter with many more features and options at a great price. No moving parts, dependable ultrasonic performance without maintenance. Using all-digital smart meter technology, the 280W also offers an affordable price tag.

Spire's 280W - CI stands out due to its rugged design and state- of-the-art quad-path technology available in a wide dynamic range, 2"-10". The 280W - CI has several output options for easy AMR/AMI system integration. The benefits of the 280W – CI ultrasonic water meter are:
Exceed ISO4064 Class D.

• Multi-path technology improves accuracy and reduces straight-pipe run requirement
• Electronics, transducers and cables are all encapsulated in a heavy-duty enclosure with
   IP68 rating
• No moving parts. Dependable ultrasonic performance without maintenance
• Not affected by water impurity. Solves the challenges in harsh environments, such as the
   Middle East and Africa
• Bi-directional flow. No strainer required
• Does not measure entrained air in pipe
• Unaffected by magnetic interference
• Low pressure drop
• Cold water or hot water up to 60°C (140°F)
• Tamper-proof design
• AMR/AMI ready with pulse, M-Bus, Modbus, BACnet, or Wireless interface
• Optional SpireCapture AMR/AMI and Billing solution available.

Go online at http://spiremt.com/ultrasonic-water-meters/commercialindustrial-water-meter-280w-ci to download our datasheet or for more information 978-263-7100, sales@spiremt.com.

By definition Flowmeter is an instrument that is used for measuring linear, nonlinear, mass or volumetric flow rate of a liquid or a gas. It is extensive used in the oil and natural gas based industries where the flow gas and liquid needs to be measured accurately. Technology has come a long way since the days of the initial flowemeters and there are many different ways in which the flow of liquid can be measured. There are a number of technologies such as differential-pressure, turbine and positive-displacement that are being used to measure the flow of gas and liquid. Some of these technologies are far ahead of the others in terms of their application in the industry. Here in this short write-up we shall take a look at four flowmeter applications that you must watch out.

1. Multiphase Flowmeters - In the oil and gas industry fluids are known to be different states of matter i.e. liquid, gas and steam. While most traditional flowmeters are known to measure a single type of flow liquid, gas or steam we are seeing extensive usage of multiphase meters in the oil and gas industry. When the oil comes out of the well it is a mixture of all these components and it serves as a great advantage to the business to measure the fluid before the different components are separated using a separator in the wellhead. They can serve in a variety of functions in the industry such as well testing, custody transfer, and allocation metering.

The downside for these multiphase meters remains their prices as they are highly expensive and not within the budget of small businesses. In fact many wells cannot justify the expenditure behind multiphase flowmeters due to their production limit. In terms of technology these multiphase meters are way ahead of traditional technologies that are being used and in years to come they might find their way into the small oil and gas industries.

2. Delivery Network - Delivery of the fuel through the distribution chains is an important part of the petroleum industry. Here fuel is loaded into truck and delivered to homes, businesses, transport industry such as airplanes, ships etc. Here again there is immense competition among technologies. Traditionally this market belonged to positive-displacement flowmeters however Coriolis flowmeters are fast becoming the preferred technology for most businesses. With approvals from various industry bodies such as the American Petroleum Institute is making fast inroads into the market. One of the biggest advantages of this kind of flowmeter is the fact that it can be applied in a small ecosystem where other technologies don’t make a sound financial decision. These include district energy metering, residential metering, boiler inlet measurement, steam flow measurement, flare gas measurement, and open channel measurement among others.
3. Custody Transfer of Natural Gas – One of the areas of great importance in the natural gas industry is custody transfer. Natural gas goes through a series of transitions and till it reaches the customers. On many occasions the ownership of the gas is transferred from one company to another till it reaches the consumers. Thus flowmeter play an active role during the custody transfer. Like in the case of delivery network traditionally differential-pressure or turbine flowmeters were used for this purpose. But over the last decade and half ultrasonic flowmeters are being used for custody transfers having received necessary approvals from the American Gas Association (AGA). There is however a downside to the ultrasonic flowmeters as they have to be calibrated on a regular basis. This involves sending the flowmeter to a calibration facility. This requires a business to in place for their ultrasonic meters. Also sending the meters for calibration from faraway distances is both expensive and time consuming.
4. Stack Gas Measurement - With the growing voice for environment protection and the influence of the Environmental Protection Association (EPA) the need stack flow measurement accelerated has accelerated. The advantage with this flowmeter technique is the fact that it can be used for continuous emissions monitoring (CEM). Thermal flowmeter suppliers have developed multipoint flowmeters which are used to measure flow at as many as 16 points in the stack which results in higher levels of accuracy compared to single-point thermal flowmeters. Apart from this differential-pressure and ultrasonic flowmeters also being used stack gas measurement. While the differential-pressure flowmeters use averaging Pitot to measure the flow ultrasonic flowmeters measure it by sending a signal back and forth across a pipe allowing them to cover large diameters pipes.

There are a low of development that are taking place in the world of flowmeters to make them efficient as well as make their usage diverse. In the coming years we might see newer technologies and applications making their way into the market.

What is a magnetic flow meter, and how it works?

As the name suggest it is a measuring instrument, used for determining the flow of any liquid in a pipe. Since, it is based on the Law of Electromagnetic Induction as incepted by Faraday; it is referred to as Magnetic or Mag Flow Meter. It generates a magnetic field and channels it into the liquid flowing through the pipe.

The flow of liquid creates voltage signals that are sensible for the electrodes integrated on the tube walls. When the flow of conductive liquid increases, it will instantly result in greater voltage, which also justifies the Faraday's law that says generated voltage is directly proportional to the speed of flowing liquid. Then there is an electronic transmitter also, which is integrated with the instrument to process the voltage signals for determination of liquid flow in a quantitative manner.

One can easily measure the velocity of any fluidic substance like water, caustic, slurries, acids etc by using Magnetic flow meter. However it should be a conductive liquid having electric conductive of more than 5 EC. On the other hand, liquids with lower electric conductivity, like hydrocarbons, de-ionized water, and boiler feed water should be used with a lot of care. Because of low conductivity, the flow meter can get turned off or show zero flow with these types of liquids.

There is an advantage with magnetic flow meter that you can use it to measure pure, corrosive, dirty, as well as abrasive liquids, because it doesn't offer any obstruction in the flow. However, if you are looking to use it with gases and hydrocarbon liquids, then it is totally worthless, as they are non-conductive in nature.

Mag flow meter can be mounted in the short meter run, as it doesn't require a great deal of upstream or downstream straight run. From the plane of electrodes, 3 to 5 times of dia. of up-stream and 0 to 3 times of dia. of down-stream straight run is enough for this instrument.

Usually, this flow meter is used, where the liquid is fed in the tube by the use of gravity. You have to make sure that the orientation of magnetic flow meter is managed in such a way that the instrument is completely filled with the liquid. In case, you failed to ensure these two important things, you must be ready to deal with inaccurate readings from the flow meter.

You have to be more attentive, while using the magnetic flow meter in the vacuum services. There are more possibilities of instrument collapse in such circumstances. If the instrument got sucked in the pipe during vacuum service it can easily cause catastrophic damaging of the flow meter. On the other hand, if the instrument is working with excessive temperature of the liquid, then there are very high chances of permanent damaging in the magnetic flow meter.

• Magnetic flow meter is a volumetric measuring instrument; that's why you must ensure its proper placement, before using it.
• Make sure about the conductivity of liquid whose flow has to be determined. The meter will not work with DE-ionized water and hydrocarbons, as it is compatible with liquids having conductivity of 5 EC or more.
• Allowance should be given for the change in composition of liquid.
• In typical cases the maximum flow measurable with this instrument is 2 or 3 m/sec. it’s essential to consider the points, which differential pressure restraints, as well as, states of flow-tube that can make the application of common guideline unacceptable.

An ultrasonic flow meter is a type of a flow meter that measures the velocity of a fluid with ultrasound enabling it to calculate the volume flow. Using ultrasonic transducers, which convert a signal in one form of energy to another form of energy, the flow meter can measure the average velocity along the path of an emitted beam of an ultrasound, by averaging the difference in measured transit time between the pulses of ultrasound propagating into and against the direction of the flow or by measuring the frequency shift from the theory of the Doppler effect, which works the same way as a moving car with a siren.

Ultrasonic flow meters are affected by the acoustic properties of the fluid, can be impacted by temperature, density, viscosity, and suspended particles depending on the exact flow meter. They vary greatly in purchase price but are often inexpensive to use and maintain because they do not use moving parts, unlike the mechanical flow meters.

The ultrasonic flow meter is a best option to use since it is easy to install on existing pipelines (there exists clamp-on versions) hence no need to buy new pipelines so as to measure flow. In addition, because it is non-invasive and there are no moving parts make it very long lasting considering that there will be no wearing off. Hence, the owner will not have to think about added costs of maintenance and frequent replacement of worn out parts.

In medical applications, doctors can avoid bleeding of patients while trying to measure their blood flow. They simply need to apply coupling gel on the skin then place a sensor pad, which will produce blood pulsation in the arteries and veins with great detail for diagnosis required by the doctor. The ultrasonic can also be used to measure the flow of slurries accurately than any other meter. Slurry by its very nature has a very high concentration of particles. The sound velocity of the particles also differs sufficiently from that of the carrier medium. The flow meter is often used to provide a signal when the velocity drops below the critical level.

The penetration depth of the ultrasonic beam, which depends on the concentration of the slurry, and the flow profile, tends to cause considerable errors of measurement. They can also be used to measure gases, which do not apply to many other flow meters. Apart from tube wall and sonic windows, no parts are in contact with the flowing gas therefore, there will not be any hazards. However, sound cannot be transmitted in a vacuum. So transmission of sound between the sensors requires that the gas have a defined minimum density.

The ultrasonic flow meters are also redundant. The signal converter activates an alarm in the event of a sensor-measuring measuring path) failure. The flow meter, however, remains operating within its specified accuracy because the remaining beams are not affected and continue to work accurately. This makes the ultrasonic flow meter much more reliable than other flow meters.

Today's advanced ultrasonic flow meters enable the accurate measurement of liquid flow across a wide variety of process control, water resource management, and energy consumption applications. To select the right ultrasonic flowmeter for your specific liquid application, you must first understand the four basic ways in which ultrasonic flowmeters are classified.

1. Measurement principle: Transit-time vs. Doppler

Transit-time flowmeters are based on the time difference between upstream and downstream sound propagation intervals, and provide one of the most reliable and time tested measurement principles available to date. This approach provides very good accuracy (±1-2%), and works well for clean flow applications or flow with minor particles. Applications include pure water, sea water, wash water, sewage, process liquids, oils, chemicals, and any homogeneous liquids which are capable of ultrasonic wave propagation.

Doppler flowmeters are based on the Doppler Effect. They work well with suspension flows where particle concentration is above 100ppm and particle size is larger than 100um, but less than 15% in concentration. Doppler is easier to make and less accurate (±5%), thus, it is cheaper than a transit-time flowmeter.

2. Device Portability: Handheld vs. Wall-mount

Handheld (or portable) flowmeters are effective for flow survey, HVAC, and other applications where mobility is a critical requirement. Some handheld flowmeters can be deployed as long-term measurement solutions when and if the environment is accommodating.

Wall-mount (or fixed installation) flowmeters are more suitable for applications such as process control and long-term continuous flow monitoring. The instrument enclosure is often weather-resistant or explosion-proof. These types of meters are usually cheaper than handheld devices because they are normally ordered in large quantities.

3. Transducer installation: Clamp-on vs. Wetted

Clamp-on flowmeters are non-intrusive, easy to install and easy to maintain. The transducers are mounted outside of a pipe, and don’t require the cutting or drilling of the actual pipe. Clamp-on transducers are nonintrusive and therefore cause no pollution or pressure drop in the liquid being measured.

There are two varieties of wetted flowmeters, insertion and flow cell (inline type). Insertion flowmeters require the pipes to be drilled to install the transducers. However, a number of manufacturers provide hot-tapping tools which allows for the transducer installation without depressurizing the pipe or shutting down the flow.

Flow cell, also called spool piece are installed in line with the pipe, through the use of special pipe fittings. The transducers are pre-installed on the flow cell, thus, installation errors are kept to a minimum. In general, wetted transducers provide better accuracy and long-term stability over clamp-on varieties, but usually cost more.

4. Transducer scheme: Single-path vs. Multi-Path

Single-path flowmeters utilize one pair of transducers to form one ultrasonic path to intercept the flow in a pipe. It is suitable for small and medium size pipes. For larger pipe sizes, shorter straight pipe runs and greater accuracy, multi-path transducer installation is a good option. Multi-path flowmeters are traditionally more expensive than a single-path flowmeters, and are often implemented in applications such as custody transfer where accuracy is of paramount important.