FlowControl Network Page 1 of 3

Free Product Information

Click here to use our NEW online site-wide search
Reader Service and request product
information directly from our featured vendors!

Wednesday

FREE SUBSCRIPTION
ARTICLE ARCHIVES
CURRENT CONTENT
NEXT ISSUE
SUBMISSIONS ARTICLE ARCHIVES Home
ADVISORY BOARD
CONTACT STAFF Applying Paddlewheel Flowmeters: The Basics
PAST ISSUES Run New Search
EDITORIAL CALENDAR
ADVERTISING INDEX
by: Walt Boyes
Pages: 51; May, 2001
WEFTEC
September September 28 - As more plants try to improve production quality, engineers find more locations •A
October 2, 2002 •C
where they need to monitor flow. Sometimes these installations are critically
Chicago, IL
ISA important, other times they provide backup information. Very often, these •F
October 21-24 locations present a difficult challenge to installing a flowmeter. •F
Chicago, IL
Search for More Events •G
When you look at an application like this, usually cost is a big factor. Cost is •L
divided into two parts, of course: cost of purchase and cost of installation. An
inexpensive flowmeter can cost a lot to put in, and an expensive flowmeter can •M
be relatively inexpensive to install. •P
•P
Generally, if the application isn’t "mission critical," and the flow is a reasonably •P
clean liquid, you can use one of the ubiquitous paddlewheel flowmeters that •R
are on the market. There are at numerous manufacturers of these devices, and F
they come in two basic configurations. The most common configuration is an •S
"insertion" device that fits into a standardized tee fitting, or, in larger sizes, an •S
insertion fitting like a saddle or welding fitting. There are also paddlewheel
flowmeters that are enclosed in a meter body, usually for 1" or smaller size
•S
lines. •S
•T
Meter of All Trades •T
•V
Paddlewheel flowmeters are used in a wide variety of industries, from irrigation
and chemical processing, to air-conditioning and refrigeration. They are used
especially in industries where cost to measure the variable is an object. The
meters can also be made of a variety of corrosion-resistant materials, including
PVDF (Kynar) and various other fluorocarbons. They can even be made out of
high-pressure materials. Some of the enclosed paddlewheel meters can be
used for very high pressures in hydraulic lines, and in manufacturing plants for
cutting oil flows. They are regularly used in industrial water treatment, and in
small municipal water treatment plants. You can find them in just about any
boiler operation, in the low temperature lines. They are used in scrubbers, and
those semiconductor applications where very high purity is not an issue.

All of the insertion-style units rely on the point-velocity theory for operation.

http://www.flowcontrolnetwork.com/article_index.cfm?article=366 7/31/02
FlowControl Network Page 2 of 3

That is, they sense velocity at a single point. Depending on the flow profile that
velocity is either very close to the average velocity in the line, or it isn’t. If it is
close, the flowmeter is relatively accurate. If it is not, the meter is relatively
inaccurate, depending on how far away from the average velocity point the
paddle is sitting. Even an inaccurate meter can be quite repeatable, however,
so it is usually possible to use them for control. Generally, the insertion-style
paddlewheels have installed accuracies of around five percent of span,
regardless of their stated accuracy. In my experience, extreme care can
sometimes provide the stated accuracy, especially in lines under 2".

The Good Things

One of the nice things about paddlewheel flowmeters is that they can, under
specific conditions, handle viscous fluids quite well. In order to apply them, you
have to understand the concept of the Reynolds number. The Reynolds
number is a dimensionless value that describes the nature of flow in pipes. It is
the product of the pipe diameter, the velocity in the line and the fluid density;
divided by the absolute viscosity of the fluid in the pipe. The key here is the
diameter and the velocity. If you can keep the Reynolds number at the lowest
flow, you want to measure at a fairly high value. The fluid behaves like a fully-
developed flow, regardless of some changes in viscosity. For paddlewheel
flowmeters, that point is a Reynolds number greater than about 4,800.
Remember, though, that the Reynolds number must be above that value for
the entire flow range, or the meter will not be accurate, and may not even be
repeatable, at the lower flows it will see.

Because paddlewheel flowmeters are very inexpensive, it is easy to do

maintenance on them. Most of them have virtually no salvage value, so it is
easier to just buy a new insertion probe, and toss the broken one. Some
meters are now being supplied with better shafting and bearings, and these
tend to operate longer than those with older style rotor assemblies. One of the
maintenance issues with paddlewheel flowmeters is that their performance
tends to degrade as the rotor and bearings wear. Mostly, this shows up in
poorer low flow performance.

Paddlewheels have varied specifications for low flow performance. Some

meters claim very low flow performance (0.5 fps), while others claim one fps as
the low flow cutoff. It is not a good idea to use an insertion type paddlewheel
where the flow regularly falls below one foot per second velocity. If the line size
is less than 1", however, the closed-body paddlewheels tend to operate reliably
at much lower velocities than the insertion probe style paddlewheels do.

All paddlewheel meters are susceptible to breakage from objects in the pipe,
and hydraulic shock, so it is wise to locate them where these issues do not
apply. It isn’t a good idea to use them, generally speaking, for start-stop
applications unless they are behind a slow-acting valve.

Paddlewheel meters, when applied properly, provide an inexpensive means of

measuring flow in non-mission-critical locations.

Walt Boyes is a senior member of ISA, and current vice president of ISA's
Publications Department. He is a writer and consultant who has delivered
numerous technical papers, and has more than 25 years in the practice of flow
control. Send questions or comments to flowcontrol@witterpublishing.com (Put
Applications Corner in the subject line.)
Subscribe | Email | Site Map | Search | FAQ | Advertise

Copyright ©2002, Witter Publishing Corporation

Email: FlowControl@WitterPublishing.com

http://www.flowcontrolnetwork.com/article_index.cfm?article=366 7/31/02
FlowControl Network Page 3 of 3

Flow Control Network

is the technology
resource for the fluid
handling industry's
critical disciplines of
control, containment
and measurement. F
wi

http://www.flowcontrolnetwork.com/article_index.cfm?article=366 7/31/02