That's why flow meters are used. To know if and how much flow is going through a pipe. Sometimes knowing if there is backflow is important. Again, a flow meter.
Sounds like you need a project to install a flow meter.
If the product is hotter or colder than ambient, you can then use the highly developed touch technique, but only after checking with the OHS officer.
If for some reason flow can't be detected, you can always install a flow indicator.
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
"Can anyone share any quick ways to determine if there is flow going through a pipe?"
Yes,
Install a flow meter of some sort. There are many many types.
If you can't install one in the main pipe there are insertion meters which you can access via a suitable small bore tee connection like a pressure guage or similar.
Otherwise it's not always easy - many fluids make no discernible sound while flowing and temperature is not always useful.
You can install ultrasonic clamp on flow meters like this
First, if you do not know about the flow inside the pipe always consider there is great possibility of fluid inside the pipe. Meaning Pipe is live. This is "Safety at First" approach.
In order to determine the flow inside the pipe I will use the following steps: (Note they are not in particular order).
1. Try to use human senses (safely)
2. Try to read nearby instrumentation on the pipe like PI, TI etc.
3. Look at the upstream and downstream of the pipe, there must be other clues to tell what is happening inside the pipe. It could be pipe connected with Pumps, Vessels, Reactor, and Heat Exchanger and if they are in operation then it is almost certain pipe is live and have fluid inside.
4. If nothing above works then I shall try to check (safely) the temperature and pressure inside the pipe with the help of modern gauges, considering pipe is live.
Hope this works.
Abdul Jabbar
Piping and Pipeline Consultant
New Zealand
The only way I can see this question coming up is if you have branched line circulating back into a source of material and you are for some reason unsure of whether a valve is operating correctly, or if you have some sort fo blockage in a line you can't observe/measure the output of.
More information would be very useful regarding:
- the material suspected to be inside the line
- the material source
- any instrumentation installed or available
The key, I think, is the source of material. If you have a live source feeding into this line, then all these methods of measuring it are superfluous. That is assuming conditions though, so please elaborate what the situation is and why it is unknown whether or not you have flow in this pipe.
