Steam Flow Metering

[NeilatNEL]

I am performing a government-sponsored review of steam flow metering technology and how it is applied in the UK. I'd be grateful if anyone out there would be willing to share their experiences. Specifically, I am trying to get a handle on the metering methods used and information available to the users. This could cover any industry (probably Process, Power, Geothermal & Food sectors are the main ones). I'm interested in the answers to the following questions (with either reference to a specific application or more general information) :

1. What application did you use the flow meter for?
2. What were your uncertainty, sensitivity, reliability or other specific requirements?
3. What were the operating conditions (pressure, temperature, flow rate etc)
4. What type of meter did you use, and why?
5. Did you have any good or bad experiences? How good was the support from the supplier?
6. How did you measure the steam density?
7. Were there any specific installaton requirements (e.g. steam traps, lagging, straight upstream lengths)
8. Any other comments

I'd also be interested in any sources of information on the subject (e.g. web pages, books, courses (in the UK only!)).

The end result of this work will include a web page with freely available reports. This will come on-line in about 18 months.

Thanks for your help.

Neil

 

[jmw]

Steam flow measurement was once the preserve of technologies such as the rotary shunt meter (Kent) and now Vortex meters appear very popular as they have no moving parts. One aspect of steam flow measurement is the increasing availability of corrected volume or mass flow using flow computers with in built stream tables which can compensate for temperature and pressure, essential as most techniques are velocity based. I can't help regarding deltaP devices but these are probably well documented.
I would suggest some of the meter manufacturers would be well able to help.

 

[ihg]

As you are at NEL, you obviously have access to one of the best sets of data on flow elements. Traditionally, flow nozzles (BS1042) were used as being resistant to water droplet damage compared to orifice plates.
McCrometer V-cone elements now offer good functionality on wet steam and have been used in combination with vortex meters to give mass flow. Yokogawa offered mass-flow vortex meters, measuring both frequency and force on the shedderbar to estimate density, but this does not appear to have been wholly successful.
I havent seen it used, but the wet-gas flowmeter designs for the naturalgas industry should be valid for wet steam as well (steam and methane are similar when it comes to metering, except for temperature).

 

[ihg]

Have you checked out

http://www.flowresearch.com/

- in effect a competitive source of flow market information?