Hi all

We are having a typical application for Insertion type Flowmeter to measure the Flow rate of Crude Oil in a 24" line - not possible to cut the line - HOT tapping may be used.

Originally AVeraging pitot tube was proposed and the Diff. Pressure @ Minimum Flowrate (30,000 BOPD) is 0.127 inches WC (almost all the manufacturers advised pitot tube is not suitable for this application)

Max Flow rate: 175,000 BOPD (Barrels of Oil per Day)

Normal: 110, 000 BOPD

Is there any other suitable method to measure the above flow?

Any suggestions - welcome

Best Regards

PP Muthu

 

have you thought of using ultrasonic flowmeter.

 

PP Muthu

There are some strap on mag or ultrasonic type flowmeters which may work for your application, no hot tapping, they work well and I have used they to verify an inline flow meter, so they can be used as a secondary calibration standard or source.

matt hyatt
technical consultants
[email protected]

 

Try contacting; EMCO (Advanced Energy), Hoffer, Flow technology, or Thermo Flow Automation. All of them have insertion turbine meters. If the crude oil is warm (low viscosity) and not too dirty they will work fine with only minor maintenance.

John Catch
http://www.inflowinc.com

 

Insertion type is okay for clean water service but we always had trouble with them on our crude oil line, finally we had to junk them. Ultrasonic is okay if your composition allows it.

 

Well turbine meter types can work quite well. Downstream logging companies such as Sondex have one with folding blades that they put down oil wells where they operate under quite extreme conditions. However, for pipelines, you might visit http://www.jiskoot.com. I think they have one that can be hot-tapped.

But, not all turbines need to be as affected by soloids as others. The risk is there so make a point of asking the question of the individual manufacturers.

 

You should consider a calorimetric sensor for your oil flow measurement. It has no moving parts and can handle the dirty medium. Weber Sensors makes a good line of calorimetric meters and also have extended length versions that can be used for hot tap. www.captor.com

 

i also suggest ultrasonic