High Pressure Pipe - Clear Section

[DevonH]

I was wondering if anybody is aware of an engineered high pressure clear pipe option that is rated higher than typical clear PVC pipe/fittings or full-view sight flow indicators. A portion of the pipe length can be metal, and then if there is a clear section within it, that is what is desired. The higher the pressure the better, but I will consider all ideas out there to see what are the best options.

The full-view, sight flow indicators that I've seen are only rated to about 150 psi at 2" diameter.

I am basically wondering if there is technology similar to a full-view sight flow indicator (or something different) but with higher pressure rating.

Thank you!

 

[europipe]

Why do You want to see the liquid?
Is a magnetic levelindicator not good?

 

[LittleInch]

I once got a special piece of high strength Perspex to view the internal of a pipe for a special cable flow system. They are special build as not any people need them. It was about 25mm tick from memory and good for about 25 bar.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[DevonH]

I want to see the liquid because I want to observe the real time reaction between two components over the long term under pressure.

Thank you LittleInch. Could you please share the details of where you got this built and what diameter it was?

 

[LittleInch]

It was 8 inch diameter, but was a long time ago.

You just need to start looking for suppliers of clear acrylic or perspex - maybe look or ask around for submarine or view port plates for pools.

There is nothing at any decent pressure rating available off the shelf and often the issue is how do you join it or compress it between flanges without it breaking or leaking.

Talk to some sigh glass manufacturers and see if they have ever made a "special". It needs dialogue, not web pages or e-mail.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[StoneCold]

What about using a Jerguson or Penberthy armored sight glass and feed your reactants into it.

 

[DevonH]

Yes that is a possibility - thank you. The only downside is that they are quite small in diameter. One supplier I talked to said they can be 5/8". Maybe I'll try phoning some others to see if they can make them with a larger diameter or not.

 

[moltenmetal]

The geometry matters- a lot.

A "bullseye" sight glass arrangement will allow you to look through a sample, and such arrangements can be bought for pressures a heck of a lot higher than 150 psig, but a "bullseye" isn't simply a clear round section of pipe. You can buy 2" NPS plug type fused glass sight glasses from McMaster Carr good for 500 psig and put them on opposite sides of a 2" 3000# threaded tee and get a close approximation of a "bullseye" sight glass for very little money. Be careful though if the product is hazardous or the temperature is significantly above ambient.

A "full view" flow-through sight glass, more or less a clear section of pipe, is going to be hard pressed to go beyond 150 psig, especially if you need to go to larger diameter than about 2" NPS and the temperature is significantly above ambient. Remember that the safe allowable stress factor for brittle materials is in excess of 10x, and all the transparent materials- including acrylic and polycarbonate and even your transparent PVC- are relatively brittle and subject to brittle fracture.

 

[ChEMatt]

One thing to keep in mind is whatever you install you need a light source of some kind. Not sure what you're expecting, but all you're going to see is what's up against the "sight glass", whatever form that's in. So if you have a light source from the other side, and say you're got a clear liquid mixing with another darker liquid you might be able to see the mixing going on. But if there's any debris in the fluid Murphy's Law applies and it will stick to your viewing port, guaranteed.

Just thinking out loud...

I've made vessels out of acrylic before, but we only went up to 100 psig. I'm sure they can go higher, as LittleInch mentioned.