Ultrasonic flowmeter breaks new measurement barriers 23 November 2012

What's claimed to be the first ultrasonic flowmeter to offer custody-transfer accuracy and minimal maintenance requirements has been launched by Siemens.

Matt Bird, from Siemens Industry, explains that the Sitrans FUT 1010 liquid and gas flowmeter has been designed to suit applications across the hydrocarbon industries.

"[It] offers many advantages over traditional inline meters when it comes to flow measurement precision," says Bird.

"In fact, its innovative qualities have just been independently acknowledged, as it has won the Flow Control Innovation Award," he adds.

Part of the secret of its precision is the device's adoption of wide-beam transit time signal processing, which reduces the instrument's sensitivity to changes in a medium's physical properties.

The resonant frequency of a pipe wall is used to transmit the beam into the media, with the wall acting as a waveguide. As a result, a strong coherent signal is generated on which the FUT 1010's high accuracy and range ability is based.

The other big one, though, is its IP65 sealing protection, which reduces maintenance from typically twice a year to just once every three years.

"The savings in maintenance are significant and can help increase the productivity and improve the operational efficiency of a site with less need for downtime or interruption of processes," comments Bird.

FUT 1010 is capable of measuring almost any hydrocarbon liquid at viscosities up to 2,800 CST, compared with the typical 300 CSTt limit on inline meters.

Brian Tinham

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Siemens Industry Ltd

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