October 2007
Volume XIII, Number 10
Innovation Lives

Innovation Lives
11 Case Studies in New Technology
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Flow Control magazine’s annual Product Innovation Awards. The Innovation Awards program is designed to recognize industry’s most compelling advances in fluid handling technology, showcasing new product releases in the categories of fluid measurement, control, and containment. After announcing the winners of this year’s Flow Control Innovation Awards in the September issue, here we provide case studies/application stories on each of the winning technologies to give you a feel for how these products are helping end-users improve their production processes in real-world environments.

Elastomeric Sealing Material Selection
New Water Quality Standards Call for Better Chloramine Resistance
The process of disinfecting potable water has been evolving over time due to the implementation of more stringent health and safety requirements. Historically, potable water has been disinfected using free chlorine at a residual level of ~0.5 PPM total residual chlorine; however, chloramine treatment of potable water by municipalities is becoming more common at a residual level of ~4.0 PPM total residual Cl2. This change has proven to be detrimental to elastomeric seals used for both point-of-use and distribution-system applications. Choosing the correct sealing material will ensure that the seal will last within the predicted life of the system.

More Details, Details, Details!
A Small Tap Change Results in Big Measurement Shift
As I noted last month, seemingly minor details can sometimes make a large difference in flowmeter performance. Here’s another example … I recently inspected a large horizontal Venturi flowmeter installation that was used to measure relatively clean water flow from a lake into a water treatment plant. This flowmeter was used to perform a water balance on the entire water distribution system that consisted of over 100 downstream flowmeters.

Partial Assembly Required
Why Are Pumps Shipped Without Proper Instrumentation?
I’ve complained often in this column that industrial pumps lack sufficient gauges and instrumentation. Every engineer studies in school that pumps pump differential head or pressure. The suction pressure gauge indicates the energy (NPSHa) coming into the pump, and the pump’s work begins at suction head. Then, the engineer goes to work in a process plant. He buys and uses pumps without gauges, and the engineer thinks he has a vibration problem. I went to a pump show recently. I polled a few pump company executives, asking them “Why do you sell and ship your pumps without gauges and/or flowmeters?”

QUIZ CORNER:
Stating the Performance of Your DP Flow System
Differential-pressure producers, such as an orifice plate, Venturi, nozzle, and the like, are commonly applied in conjunction with a differential-pressure transmitter to comprise a flow measurement system. How might the performance of this type of flow measurement system be stated?