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Siemens answers with the SITRANS FS230
Clamp-on Meter
Meters monitor flow and provide pump protection
Siemens answers with the SITRANS FS230
Clamp-on Meter
A municipal water plant in the southeast United States treats and supplies
potable water to a large metropolitan
area. Part of the process requires accurate flow measurement of the water
from individual pumps to the main
distribution system. The flow meters
provide information of the current
output of the individual pumps. The
customer also requires a device that can
signal a reverse (negative) flow in the
event a pump had stopped. This is so
they would know if water was being
forced back through the pump. If water
flows back through the pump in a
reverse direction and an attempt is
made to start the pump during this
reverse flow, it could cause severe
damage to the pump and motor.
The customer had been using insertiontype, hot-tap magnetic flowmeters from
another manufacturer. Due to the placement of the insertion meters (at least
one in a downward flow condition), the
meters were only lasting from 8 to 12
months and then required replacement
at approximately $5000 each.
The local Siemens representative suggested the customer try the SITRANS
FS230 ultrasonic clamp-on meter,
mounting it on the pipe being monitored before or after the pump,
depend-ing on space and piping
configurations. These are 20 to 36 inch
pipes, ductile, and cast iron, and some
are up to 60 years old.
After a successful demonstration, it
was confirmed that the Siemens clampon meters provide reliable measurements from outside of the pipe. Since
the transducers are not in contact with
the process, they cannot be damaged
with the process flow like the insertiontype meters. The local Siemens representative also took the time to install a
meter to provide an online demonstration of the instrument, and collected
data during the test to help assure the
customer that the flowmeter would
perform as stated.
The two meters specified were dualpath clamp-on versions due to the pipe
sizes and potential liquid flow profile
conditions.
The benefits of this solution were better performance, reduced costs, reduced time, and accurate measurement. The SITRANS FS230 provides equal or
better performance to the previous
meters, especially in the difficult downward flow direction installation. The Siemens FS230 flow meter is also not
subjected to the physical forces of the
water, including cavitation during pump
start-up, which appears to be the cause
of the damage to the insertion-type
meters. Therefore, maintenance is
minimal and the customer is saving a
considerable amount of money in not having to continually replace the insertion-type meters. Initial results are able to show that the previous insertion-type meter had indicated
reverse flows at near zero flow conditions, while the FS230 clamp-on meter
indicates that reverse flow is not
occurring. This makes the Siemens
clamp-on meter more reliable and
reduces maintenance time in checking
and rechecking to be sure the flow is
not being reversed during indicated
low-flow conditions. The SITRANS FS230 provides accurate, nonintrusive flow measurement. It is
particularly suitable for high precision
dosage of chemicals such as fluoride
found in numerous fresh water treatment applications. The FS230 is
available in single, dual or optional four
channels allowing measurement of
four independent pipes.
Release year: 2019
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