May i know the difference between a flow meter and a totalizer? Google says a totalizer is part of the flow meter but P&ID shows separate symbols. FQ, FT and FE

 

A flowmeter measures the instantaneous flow--in engineering units such as litres-per-hour, or kg-per-minute.

A totalizer calculates the total flow--in engineering units such as litres or kg. Some totalizers only count in a certain period, such as one day. Others just keep counting and counting and counting and counting and....

Many totalizers use the output from a flowmeter to calculate the total flow. So if 50 litres-per-hour was flowing for 18 hours the value calculated by the totalizer would increase by 900 litres in that 18 hour period (if I did my maths correctly not using a calculator or pencil and paper).

Hope this helps!

 

Some flow meters have a totalizer built-in and display a total.

Some flow meters output a pulse ever X volume units (say, every 100L) and a counter can count the pulses to get a total.

Some flow meters output a flow rate signal which is totalized by an external totalizesr.

 

David_2,

Well said!!!