Steam heating

As a rule, options are those properties and capabilities of the device that are structurally designed and included in the final configuration. For example, these can be various types of technological connections of the device to the process or specific signal protocols through which information exchange occurs between the device and, for example, a higher-level ACS TP.

Special versions differ from options in that it makes no sense to produce them serially, since each such version is strictly individual and intended to solve a local task. For example, one of the commercial products of oil and natural gas processing is sulfur. After sulfur is extracted from the starting raw material, it is purified, filtered, and prepared for transportation in liquid or solid form in a molten state. But before shipping to the consumer or to storage, the mass of molten sulfur must be measured. In molten form, sulfur is a capricious substance that crystallizes quite quickly when "underheated" or changes its viscosity unstably when overheated.

For measuring the mass flow of sulfur in industry, standard solutions based on Coriolis flow meters are used, which provide direct measurement of the mass flow of the measured medium. But to ensure the stability of the temperature and viscosity of sulfur during measurement, the flow meter must be heated to the temperature required by the technological process. Devices previously supplied to the Russian instrument market for such purposes were equipped with additional rigid semi-hermetic jackets to place the flow meter sensor in a saturated steam environment supplied through a separate steam pipeline.

Disadvantages of standard Coriolis sulfur flow meters

Although the temperature of the steam heating the flow meter sensor was approximately equal to the temperature of commercial molten sulfur at 150-155 degrees C, the sensor itself had to be ordered in a high-temperature version, and this option significantly increased the cost of the device. In addition, the reliability of such a solution left much to be desired. This was due to the fact that the parameters of the steam supplied to the device were often insufficient to maintain the temperature of the measuring module stably. Regular checks of the jacket's tightness also added trouble for the device owner's maintenance personnel. Overall, these measures significantly increased the "total cost of ownership" indicator. In critical cases, in the event of jacket depressurization, for example, device owners received a "brick" that was not intended for restoration.

Special sensor design

IZMERKON CM470 flow meters are free from such problems because, to heat the sensor to the required temperature, not an external detachable jacket is used, but a special design of the flow meter sensor itself – the installation of a sealed heating jacket directly on the device's measuring system. The advantages of such a design solution are obvious – in most cases, there is no need to use a high-temperature version of the device and no need for regular checks of the jacket's tightness. In addition, it becomes possible to use not only capricious steam but also quite predictable mineral or synthetic oil as the working medium for heating the flow meter's measuring system. Using oil as a heater allows the installation of a local individual heating system for the required device and, with predictable stability, not to depend on in-plant steam supply systems.

Have questions or need advice on selecting equipment for your production? Contact the specialists at "Izmerkon" — we will help find the optimal solution for your tasks.