Vortex Flow Meters

Vortex flow meter also called Vortex shedding flow meter. Vortex Flow Meter is suitable for flow measurement of steam and various liquids and gases.

What is Vortex Flow Meter?

The vortex flowmeter is a volume flow meter that measures the volume flow of gas, steam, or liquid, the volume flow of standard conditions, or the mass flow of gas, steam, or liquid-based on the Karman vortex principle. When the fluid flows through the dust collector rod of the vortex flowmeter, a vortex is formed. The frequency of vortex shedding is proportional to the fluid velocity. Temperature and pressure compensation can be configured.

Featured Vortex Flow Meters

Vortex Flow Meter Applications

The vortex flowmeter is mainly used in the flow measurement of industrial pipeline medium fluid. The medium can be gas, liquid, steam, etc.

Read more: Vortex flow meter for Steam Flow Measurement

The main scope of action includes:

• During industrial production, such as metallurgy, coal, electric power, chemical, pharmaceutical, environmental protection and other manufacturing;
• Energy measurement. Including the scientific measurement of primary and secondary energy. Such as coal, petroleum gas, natural gas, etc., to achieve energy saving and reduce consumption;
• Environmental protection engineering. Including flow measurement of flue gas, sewage, etc.;
• Transportation. Including pipeline transportation for control, distribution and scheduling, and better economic accounting through measurement results.

• Turbine flowmeter: Measuring oil, liquid
• Sewage flow meter: Measuring acid, sewage
• Electromagnetic flowmeter: Measuring acid, alkali, sewage
• Steam flow meter: Measure gas, steam
• Orifice flowmeter: Measuring steam, gas, liquid
• Insertion vortex flowmeter: Gas, steam, liquid

Extended reading: High Pressure Rotameter for Liquids/gas-Upto 25 Mpa

Vortex Flow Meter Working Principle

Vortex flowmeter is a speed-type flowmeter produced according to karman’s vortex principle,
which can be used for the measurement and measurement of conventional gas, steam and
liquid.

Vortex flow sensor has high precision and wide range ratio, no moving parts in use, which can
improve mechanical stability and reduce maintenance.Vortex flowmeter is almost not affected by the temperature, pressure and composition of medium when measuring the volume of working condition.

Therefore, it is convenient to calibrate the instrument, so vortex street flow sensor is widely used in production and life.

When a trigonal column vortex generator is set in the fluid, regular vortices are generated alternately on both sides of the vortex generator, which is called Carmen vortex.

The vortex columns are arranged asymmetrically downstream of the vortex generator. Vortex flowmeter is produced according to this principle.

Vortexes are generated by generating bodies and the number of vortexes is detected by high-sensitivity sensors. In a certain range, the number of vortexes generated is proportional to the flow rate.

In vortex flowmeter, the relationship between flow rate and the number of vortexes generated
can be expressed by the following formula：

Q：Operating volume flow of the measured medium. The unit is m3/h。
F：Frequency of the number of vortices produced by the generating body. The unit is Hz.
K：Refers to the calculated or calibrated flow coefficient. It represents how many frequency signals per cube. the coefficient is usually obtained by calibration.

The formula of standard table method calibration coefficient K:

The formula can also be used for flow correction.

More about vortex flow meter working principle wikipedia.

Endress+Hauser has a great explanation video about vortex flow meter working principle. Let’s take a look!

Vortex flow meter advantages and disadvantages

Vortex flow meter advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of vortex flowmeter

• The pressure loss is small, about 1/4 to 1/2 of the throttling differential pressure flowmeter.
• Output a pulse signal proportional to the flow rate, without zero drift.
• The structure is simple, firm, easy to install and maintain. There is no need for pressure guiding pipe and three-valve group, etc., reducing leakage, blockage and freezing. The measuring element has simple structure, reliable performance and long service life.
• The accuracy is high, generally ±(1～1.5)%R.
• The measuring range is wide, the vortex flowmeter with a reasonable caliber is determined, and the range can reach 20:1.
• Within a certain Reynolds number range, the output frequency of the orifice flowmeter is not affected by the physical properties (density, viscosity) and composition of the fluid, that is, the meter coefficient is only related to the shape and size of the vortex generator and the pipeline.
• The volume flow of the vortex flowmeter is not affected by thermal parameters such as the temperature, pressure, density or viscosity of the fluid being measured. Generally, no separate calibration is required. It can measure the flow of liquid, gas or steam.

Disadvantages of vortex flowmeter

(1) The volume flow of the vortex flowmeter is not affected by the temperature, pressure, density and other thermal parameters of the measured fluid, but the final measurement result of liquid or steam should be the mass flow. For gas, the final measurement result Should be the standard volume flow. Both the mass flow rate or the standard volume flow rate must be converted by fluid density, and changes in fluid density caused by changes in fluid working conditions must be considered.

(2) The main factors that cause flow measurement errors are: measurement errors caused by uneven flow velocity of the pipeline; the density of the medium when the fluid working condition changes cannot be accurately determined; the wet saturated steam is assumed to be dry saturated steam for measurement. If these errors are not limited or eliminated, the total measurement error of the vortex flowmeter will be very large.

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(3) Poor vibration resistance. External vibration will cause measurement errors of the vortex flowmeter, or even fail to work normally. The high-velocity impact of the channel fluid will cause additional vibration to the cantilever of the vortex generator, which will reduce the measurement accuracy. The influence of large pipe diameter is more obvious.

(4) Poor adaptability to measuring dirty media. The generating body of the vortex flowmeter is very easy to be dirty by the medium or entangled by the dirt, and the change of the geometric body size has a great influence on the measurement accuracy.

(5) High requirements for straight pipe sections. Experts pointed out that the straight pipe section of the vortex flowmeter must ensure the front 40D and the 20D to meet the measurement requirements.

(6) Poor temperature resistance. Vortex flowmeters generally can only measure the fluid flow of media below 300°C.

Types of vortex flowmeter

There are several classification methods of vortex flowmeter as follows.

(1)Classification by detection method

Vortex detection method is the key technology of vortex flowmeter, according to the vortex detection principle and method can be divided into:

• Strain vortex flowmeter;
• Strain relief vortex flowmeter;
• Capacitive vortex flowmeter;
• Photoelectric vortex flowmeter;
• Thermal vortex flowmeter;
• Ultrasonic vortex flowmeter;
• Magnetoelectric vortex flowmeter.

(2) According to the sensor structure form classification can be divided into:

• Pipe type vortex flowmeter. Generally used for small and medium diameter pipe flow measurement;
• Insertion type vortex flowmeter. Mostly used for large-diameter pipeline flow measurement.

(3) According to the use of flowmeter can be divided into:

• Explosion-proof vortex flowmeter. Used in petroleum, chemical industry for the instrument explosion-proof requirements of the occasion;
• High-temperature vortex flowmeter. For the measurement of high-temperature media;
• Ultra-low temperature type vortex flowmeter. Used for liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, and other ultra-low temperature medium measurement;
• Corrosion-resistant vortex flowmeter. Used for acid, alkali, salt, and other corrosive media measurement;
• Mass type vortex flowmeter. Used for the measurement of fluid quality.

(4)According to the function of the instrument can be divided into:

• Conventional vortex flowmeter;
• Intelligent street flowmeter. Can be signal detection, processing, compensation operation, display, output in one.

Read more about: Inline gas flow meter

Vortex flow meter installation

Vortex flow meter installation

Vortex flow meter has certain requirements on the upstream and downstream straight pipe
section of the installation point, otherwise it will affect the flow field of medium in the pipeline and affect the measuring accuracy of the meter. The length of the upstream and downstream straight pipe section of the instrument is required as shown in FIG. DN is the nominal diameter unit of the instrument :mm.

Vortex flow meter pressure drop

Vortex flow meter pressure drop

Calculate whether the pressure loss has an impact on the process pipeline, calculated by the following formula:

DP=1.2r × V2(Pa)

Where:
DP: Pressure loss (Pa)
r: density of medium (Kg/m3)
V: Average flow velocity in the pipe (m/s)

When the measured medium is liquid, in order to prevent vaporization and cavitation, the liquid pressure of the sensor should meet the requirements of the following formula:
P≥2.6DP + 1.25P1 (Pa absolute pressure)

Where:
DP: pressure loss value (Pa)
P1: The vapor pressure of the fluid (Pa absolute pressure)

What are vortex flow meters used for?

Vortex flowmeter is mainly used for industrial pipeline medium fluid flow measurement. Such as gas, liquid, vapor and other media. Here are some related applications.

Extended reading: Ultrasonic Flow Meters Types & Technical Guide

Vortex Flow Meter Price

Price is always a topic of concern. Different types of vortex flowmeters can be found online, and the prices of different vortex flowmeter manufacturers are not consistent. The final quotation is still subject to the actual working conditions on site.

Vortex flow meters have different prices due to different calibers, different materials, different media, and different functions! The price list of vortex flowmeter is attached below for reference.

This is a reference price only. Not the price of the order transaction. Please contact our sales engineers. According to the measurement conditions, choose the appropriate model to confirm the price.

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Sino-Inst, Manufacturer for Vortex Flow Meters, like gas vortex flow meter, liquid vortex flow meter, sanitary vortex flow meter, insertion vortex flow meter, steam vortex flow meter, and natural gas vortex flow meter.

Sino-Inst’s vortex Flow Meters, made in China, Having good Quality, With better price. Our flow measurement instruments are widely used in China, India, Pakistan, US, and other countries.

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