multi-hole flow orfice meters 2

[ncstate86a]

Has anyone tried A+ flowtek's balanced flow meters (

http://www.aplusflowtek.com)?

I am trying to find people with first hand operational experience to support or dispute their claims of flow metering accuracy to +/- 0.5%. They are a NASA spin-off company. I also know that Texas A&M did some research on multi-holed orifices in the 1990's. Please let me know if you have used (particularly A+flowtek's balanced flowmeters)them and what your experiences have been.

 

[JLSeagull]

No - but this sounds something like the four-hole orifice plates available from Emerson Rosemount.

 

[ncstate86a]

Yes, it is similar...A+flowtek mentioned something about patent infringement...who knows. the A+flowtek meters typically have one center hole and six or more holes on a circumference sharing the same center point as the center hole. Emerson does not claim the same accuracies. I would love to hear from anyone who has first hand experience. I am cautiously skeptical.

 

[casflo]

I have tested multi-hole flow plates as restriction orifices and the results were published in POWER magazine, September 1991.
The multi-hole orifice plates have cavitation coefficients 3 or 4 times less than the equivalent single orifice plates. They have also a best recovery pressure factor and recovery pipe full flow, so they need less pipe straight run downstream the plate.
I have designed and installed many restriction multi-hole restriction orifice plates in different thermal and nuclear power plants.
For these reasons I assume that as meter orifices the multi-hole plates are better than the traditional single orifices but I don't know which will be the final accuracy.

Regards
ecasflo

 

[knapee]

I guess you means this multi-hole flow orfice meters is perforated orifice plate.

The perforated orifice plate is a circular disc having multiple circular bores with sharp 90 degree corners at the inlet face. Perforated orifice plates are used when the pressure
drop across an orifice plate with a single bore may cause cavitation to occur.

Thank you for your all reply and comment

 

[ncstate86a]

Balanced flow meters are slightly different than what you describe knapee. They were developed by NASA due to the fact they needed very precise flow measurements with little or no upstream and downstream straight lengths. A+flowtek is a NASA spin off company. They market these plates as drop in replacement for standard orifice plates though with flow characteristics and pressure recovery similar to a venturi. I included a link to their website in my first post. The holes have a radius contour on the inlet side to the flow, not straight edged. They have touted performance levels that we have not been able to duplicate. I have been told by A+Flowtek that thousands of these "balanced flow meters" have been sold - I am trying to locate a couple of these "thousands" of customers to discuss their experiences.

Thank you all for your thoughts and if you know anything about this product, please respond.

 

[maddocks]

Does anyone have the POWER article mentioned in casflo's posting above? September 1991