Flow technology is concerned with the measurement of the flow of either a liquid or a gas. Knowing how slowly or how quickly a medium is flowing through a given channel, usually a closed pipe, can tell the person measuring the flow many things. The flow rate can be used to decide how much to charge a consumer, as in council water charges, for example, where a household or a business may be charged according to the amount of water they use within a given time period.
Flow technology depends on gauges to determine the rate of flow. The gauges can be straightforward pressure sensitive gauges, or they can be digital flow gauges. Digital flow gauges still operate through pressure, but this type of flow technology produces a digital read out instead of the more traditional clock-style mechanical gauge.
The measuring devices used in flow technology usually measure liquids in litres per second, or litres per minute, and a working range of up to perhaps 80 litres per second is not uncommon. However, every flow gauge is only as accurate as it state of calibration. If it is a very old gauge that has not been serviced or even looked at for years, it may not be giving an accurate picture of how fast things are flowing through.
The state of flow technology used to mean that precision gauges had to be removed and taken to an external calibration laboratory to be calibrated. Of course, this usually also meant that the system where the gauge was an essential component had to be shut down for the duration, however long that happened to be. Today’s flow technology has changed all that in most cases. Now flow gauges can be calibrated accurately in the field.
The end users of flow technology have, for some time now, been pushing the makers of flow meters and gauges to produce a unit that can last a reasonable length of time before calibration becomes an issue and a necessity. In addition to this, they have been seeking a flow gauge that can be calibrated in the field, thereby significantly limiting the time that the system has to be shut down.
Today’s flow technology has achieved both objectives to the satisfaction of end users everywhere. Portable flow transfer standard systems can now be employed in the field, either for calibration purposes, or even as a tool for constantly monitoring how a line or an entire application is functioning.