Feature sponsored by Flow, level & control


opening the pipe, which means that, unlike inline instrumentation, no seals are required. The sensors never come into contact with the liquid medium, so aggressive, corrosive or abrasive liquids are therefore not an issue on the instrumentation side. Clamp-on also means that they can be retrofitted into existing systems without interfering with the piping system while the


process is running. There is currently a need for this in auxiliary circuits or energy-relevant circuits, for example, which originally required no or only very simple instrumentation from a process control perspective, but now need to be recorded more precisely, for example for energy balancing and optimisation. A clamp- on measuring point can also be set up temporarily, for example to verify the function of existing in-line instrumentation.


EX AND NON-EX APPLICATIONS “Prosonic Flow W 400 was originally designed with water and wastewater technology in mind, and Prosonic Flow P 500 for process technology, i.e. for a wide variety of liquids such as hydrocarbons or chemicals,” says Thomas Jahn, head of Ultrasonic Product Management at Endress+Hauser. However, this history has no influence on the actual areas of application. “The real requirements of the measuring point are always decisive when selecting the system. Ex, SIL, temperature and requirements for inputs and outputs are the most important keywords here,” adds Thomas Jahn. Prosonic Flow P 500 guarantees functional safety in accordance with IEC 61508 (SIL) and can be used in safety-related applications; it has the usual international approvals for potentially explosive atmospheres and can therefore be


used in hazardous areas, while Prosonic Flow W 400 is more suitable for basic applications. Both devices share basic technical data; the measurement performance and precision are the same for hardware generations from May 2024. Both cover nominal pipe diameters from 15 to 4000 mm, which is sufficient even for high-pressure pipes in storage power plants. The ultrasonic sensors themselves are robust stainless steel constructions, and there are transducers for all common pipe materials, including plastic and GRP, with and without liners. Depending on the nominal diameter, the permitted media temperature is from -40°C to +130°C (W 400) or -40°C to +550°C (P 500), and the measuring range is 0–15 m/s.


TURBULENCE IS NO LONGER A DISRUPTIVE FACTOR Pressure, density and conductivity of the medium do not influence the flow measurement with ultrasound for most liquids, but for others they must be taken into account. For crude oil and refined oil products in particular, or more generally for hydrocarbons, the actual volumetric flow is determined through pressure and temperature compensation.


Endress+Hauser provides a special petroleum application package that calculates the necessary correction values based on API MPMS and ASTM calculation tables. Software-based compensation also straightens the measurement results at other points and allows Prosonic Flow devices to be situated at almost any location in the pipeline system. Constrictions and bends cause turbulence in the medium, which typically distorts the data if the measuring point is positioned too close to these points. Endress+Hauser has equipped both flowmeters with the in-house FlowDC function, where DC stands for disturbance compensation. FlowDC is a software- supported function that only requires a few details, in particular the length of the inlet section and the type of disturbance factor, e.g. a pipe bend. With the help of FlowDC, the measuring point can be moved as close as twice the pipe diameter to the point of interference, where


Instrumentation Monthly June 2024


Continued on page 34... 33


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