ABSTRACT
Rising energy costs and new environmental regulations are motivating operators to better measure and manage their utility flows, steam in particular. Accurate flow measurements are needed to maintain process efficiency, detect leaks, and account for consumption. Cost-effectively ensuring high accuracy, repeatability, and reliability is a challenge, especially in outdoor applications in cold climates. Although vortex is a newer technology that has enjoyed great success, the most widely used technology for steam flow remains the “differential pressure (dp)-flowmeter,” which uses a differential producer—for example, an orifice plate—and a pressure transmitter. This entry introduces “new best practices” for the dp-flowmeter. These new practices have demonstrated improvements in reliability and turndown at significantly lower initial capital and life cycle cost.
