What are Flow Meters? And Why should you care?

Every industry depends on what material they are consuming most and how to bring the cost bear minimum to make product market competition and at the same time delivering the quality that matches industry standards is a back-breaking for today’s highly competitive not local but global markets is do or die strategy for any OEM.
To bring down this burgeoning cost to a bare minimum and make product cost effective for market and value for money to customers, they need to measure the utilities that they are using, in a cost-effective way to increase efficiencies and bring down cost.


Till economic liberalization, only multinational companies and their subsidiaries were manufacturing the flow meters and they are very costly to domestic companies. Indigenously developed the flow meters taking notice the needs of Indian companies.


A magnetic flow meter is technically an electromagnetic flow meter or more commonly called known as mag meter.
A magnetic field is applied to the metering tube, which results in a potential difference proportional to the flow velocity right angle to the field line.
And the best part is that it doesn't have any moving parts to maintain its ideal employment in wastewater or dirty fluids. They are also ideal for applications where low-pressure drop and low maintenance are required.
Electromagnetic flow meters are among the most extensively utilized flow meters types today. If conditions are suitable for their use, mag meters deliver excellent results! As they rely on a measurement principle that is non-intrusive and allows no pressure decline. Electromagnetic flow meters may be used on all commercially available pipe dimensions.


What is the principle of Electromagnetic Flow Meter?
The electromagnetic flowmeter works according to Faraday's Law of electromagnetic induction to map the process flow. When an electrically conductive fluid flows in the tube, an electrode voltage E is induced among a pair of electrodes fixed at right angles to the direction of the magnetic field.


Electromagnetic Flow Meter for water distillation plants?
Electromagnetic flow meter work on induced charge by the electromagnetic field where water impurities don’t count to make any ions to detect any flow of water accurately so to say ordinary flow meters are not that useful here.
But over the years domestic flow meters manufactures like Manas Microsystems developed a successful Electromagnetic flow meter that can be used to measure in this kind of situation. And for this niche market very few companies are offering a better product in the Indian market.


What are Gas Flow Meters? 


Gas Flow Meter
Gas Flow Meter

The flow meter you are looking now is a gas flow meter.
They are used to measure compressed air which is very expensive, should be used in a cost-effective way of measuring processes.
Their primary industries are Textile and Automobile industries where used extensively.
Generally, compact models of the gas flow meters are used for LPG and CNG fuel gas measuring by utility providers and CNG stations.
They also utilized in furnace extensively to check consumption of fuel gas.


Ultrasonic Flow Meter
What is Ultrasonic Flow Meter?
An ultrasonic flow meter is a kind of flow meter that measures the speed of a fluid with ultrasound estimate bulk flow.
These flow meters need not be installed inside pipes to measure the flow of water. Because of their portable nature, they are useful in Water Audit or Verification.
With a wide array of applications, there are various types of ultrasonic flow meters such as
Clamp type as mentioned above for its portability, insertion type and for mass flow measurement bulk-type ultrasonic flow meters are used.
Steam flow meters are widely used in the industries where steam is widely used for processes
and production of a commodity like sugar in sugar plants where boilers are employed to refinement of sugar from cane juice to sugar cubes.
Another crucial utility production industry where steam flow meters are used is power sector!
If prices of basic utility like electricity are increases then its direct effect corroborated to increased power prices and then everyday electricity cost increases to consumers, as a result, more attention paid to measurement of crucial elements of process & production like steam to tackle with the rising cost of end output of electricity.

Who use flow meters? And which industries they are crucial?
·       Flow meters have broad range of implementation, from your water metering to large installations like power sector.
·       Flow meter manufacturer generally registered to State water boards as their vendors like – Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, Gujrat water and Sewage Board, Karnataka Water and Sewage Board, MP Jal Nigam & central governments agencies and other public bodies.
·       Waste Water treatment centres, Factories, Chemical Industries, Textile Industries, Starch Industries, Sugar Plants, Dairies or all industries who generate wastewater during production and product.
·        It is mandatory in some countries (e.g. New Zealand) and some Indian states to use water meters for groundwater measuring.
     Gas and Steam Flow Meters  are only utilised by industrial users

What flow meter manufacturers and suppliers add in Customers Service when you purchase?
When checking an installed flow meter always drill begins with the primary questions such as is installation and commissioning of a flow meter properly installed to perform its basic duty of automatic process measuring.
Check out these Do's and Don'ts of Flow Meter Installation 📃
While you are checking on Do's and Don't, let me explain what service they provide
during installation.

After you purchase the flow meter you need proper installation and then commissioning of the meter to measure whatever your utilities are!

Installation: -

In installation you to install flow meter first technicians cut the pipe and place the flow gauge between flanges, that’s the easy part to do but sometimes or mostly pipes are underground! The placement, the spot flow gauge needs to fit requires excavation
According to the size of the flow meter and the building of chamber to protect gauge from any early default! There is another obstacle during installation that every digging must gear with is draining of water during the building of the chamber.
So, it is important to consider after sales service before even you searching for your choice of Flow meter!

On-site Commissioning: -
In On-site commissioning, flow meters need to enable for the proper functioning of flow rate measurement.
Laying of cable from flow meter to control cabin with proper safety standards, then only it counted as commenced to work! And this is what should you look for on-site service.

What Guidance should you get on customer side commissioning?
The drawing should be provided to the user to provide proper knowledge about the instrument and its functioning and maintenance.
The advice should emphasis on proper installation and strict following of constraint to avoid future malfunctioning of the flow meter, and it always better to follow it!
sometimes unfavorable condition arises when standard norms can’t be applied but vendors should give you the right solution for that condition.

Special requirements of Gas and Steam flow meter when exercising on-site calibration
The gas and steam flow meters need on-site calibration because, in this type of flow meter, variation is a normal thing i.e., the gas measured and the actual gas pass through the flow meter is varied for due to its inherent gaseous state. Here technicians calibrate the gas flow rate through the sensor for accurate measurement. Which certify the calibration and send the documents are submitted to customers.

International Market of Flow Meters through Globe

The International flow meters market size was priced at US $6.6 billion in 2016 and is forecasted to display a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.98% from 2017 to 2025. The soaring market for flow rate measurement in water and wastewater management applications over the globe is supposed to drive market growth over the projection period. Adoption of flow rate measurement technologies and devices is also likely to gain traction in other sectors, such as oil and gas, pulp and paper, food and beverage, and power generation, wastewater management.
Adoption of these meters is expected to be especially significant in the oil and gas, chemical and petroleum refinery sectors owing to the recent discovery of shale gas reserves in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.

The existing industrial flow meter manufacturers are aggressively targeting the oil and gas sector and investing aggressively to strive towards innovative products and solutions to measure the flow rate of liquids, gases, and steam. Demand for smart meters is expected to increase over the projection period owing to the integration of IoT, which has led to the introduction of smart flow rate measurement answers. The magnetic flow meter share accounted for the largest one in 2017, with ultrasonic and Coriolis meters expected to observe long term high growth over the forecast period.
The Asia Pacific market is assured to display the fastest growth rate over the projected period, particularly due to the rapid population shift from rural areas to urban areas, i.e. triggering the need for ample power generation and water and wastewater management.

What should you check before and after Installation of Flow Meters?
1.    Is the associated instrumentation well suited with your flow meter output?
Digital or Analog? Voltage or current? PNP or NPN? Frequency range?
Though these difficulties should have been fixed before the flow meter equipment was commissioned, all these incompatibility concerns are often found reasons for a flow meter malfunction.
2.    Is your flow meter placed rightly?
With various meter types, this may not be an issue but more often than not a flow meter has a preferred direction. If you are using a two-way flow meter check that the quadrature output or backward flow flag are accurately commissioned.
3.    Is your flow meter connections correct?
Check and double check the connections. If this is your obstacle an easy 2-minute reconnection can have your system up and working.
4.    Were the line and your working environment clean during foundation?
Cleanliness during flow meter installation is necessary with any mechanical meter and a lot of processes. Rubble carelessly introduced while installation is a frequent situation for early meter malfunction.
5.    Are you operating within the flow limit of your meter?
Simply because your application utilizes a 25mm pipe it does not mean you will require a 25mm flow meter. Manas Microsystems(link) make flow meters suit to the flow, not the pipe diameter.

For your flow meter requirement visit @ http://www.manasmicro.com/



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