The following article is the latest in a series based on the troubleshooting of a mysterious unit shutdown due to flowmeter performance problems.
RELATED: Read Part I in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part II in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part III in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part IV in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" SeriesRELATED: Read Part V in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part VI in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part VII in the "Troubleshooting Operational Issues" Series
RELATED: Read Part VIII: in the "Troubleshooting Operational Isssues" Series
If you have been following along for the past few months, ammonia bubbles affected an ultrasonic flowmeter that caused a reactor to scram (shut down) on warm days. The problem was traced to the formation of ammonia bubbles caused by a pressure control valve located 200 meters from the unit at the exit of the liquid ammonia tank farm.The pressure control valve and its bypass were removed one or two years later after which there were no more spurious scrams in warm weather.
RELATED: Read Part X in the "Troubleshooting Operational Isssues" Series
David W. Spitzer is a regular contributor to Flow Control magazine and a principal in Spitzer and Boyes, LLC offering engineering, seminars, strategic marketing consulting, distribution consulting and expert witness services for manufacturing and automation companies. Spitzer and Boyes is also the publisher of the Industrial Automation Insider. Mr. Spitzer can be reached at 845 623-1830 or www.spitzerandboyes.com.