UFW-100 Fixed Transit Time Flow Meter

Common applications:

• Water (Hot water, cooling water, potable water, sea water etc…)
• Petroleum products
• Chemicals, including alcohol, acids, etc…
• Beverage, food and pharmaceutical processors
• Secondary sewage, waste treatment, etc…
• Mining industry, power plants for various processes
• Fire suppression system testing
• Pipeline leak detection and inspections
• Flow measurement surveys
• HVAC systems

If you are not sure if this model is well suited to your needs, please send us an email and describe your application and maybe even a photo of your proposed measurement site and mounting area and we might be able to indicate if the meter may be suited or possibly recommend a different type if necessary.

Suited pipe materials:

• Pipes made of materials that allow stable transmission of ultrasonic waves. Such as steel, stainless steel, cast iron, ductile cast iron, PVC, FRPM, etc. Note that applicable pipe bores may vary depending on the pipe material and condition.
• You can select from the pre-configured pipe materials: Steel, ductile iron, cast iron, copper, stainless steel, PVC, FRP, acrylic, or ‘user defined’
• If you have any other liquid, please select ‘user defined’ then subsequently you can manually enter the pipe sound speed in m/s for that given material
• Please be aware, there will be some pipes it cannot work on; HDPE is a common one that we are asked about which while it may work, it really depends on the specific application. Often the pipe wall thickness is so thick that the ultrasonic sound/signal cannot get through it properly.
• It’s difficult to say what ‘will’ and ‘will not’ work – as a rough guess thicker than around 20mm you may have signal issues, we suggest to enquire so we can ask the OEM for your specific application on suitability.

Can be used on pipes with liners:

• It can also measure on pipes with liners when configured accordingly, you can select from the pre-configured liner materials: ‘None/No Liner’, Epoxy, Mortar, rubber, PVC, or ‘user defined’
• If you have any other liner, please select ‘user defined’ then subsequently you can manually enter the liner sound speed in m/s for that given material

Suited liquids:

• It work’s only on clean liquids (not necessarily clear, so oil is okay for example) with little or no particles and entrained air bubbles.
• They will not work with too much suspended solids in the liquid, as a rough guide we typically advise around 5% suspended solids should be the cut off point, though it can vary between applications.
• You can select either water, sea water, or ‘user defined’
• If you have any other liquid, please select ‘user defined’ then subsequently you can manually enter the fluid sound speed in m/s for that given liquid
  • You will need to find out that value which often you can find with a web search.
  • Setting parameters accurate is important for an accurate measurement, If sound velocity is entered incorrectly – the further you are from the ‘true’ value the less accurate the measurement will be, or it may not measure at all.

General information:

• This is a ‘transit time’ flow meter. Transit time works on the principle of sending a sound signal up stream and then downstream from a pair of sending and receiving transducers. It measures time shift with and against the flow in calculating flow rate.
• When selecting a measurement site, it is important to select an area where the fluid flow profile is fully developed for an accurate measurement.
  • Choose a section of pipe that is always full of liquid (signal does not pass through air), such as a vertical pipe with flow in the upward direction or a full horizontal pipe.
  • On horizontal pipes it is best to mount the transducers on the side of the pipe. Avoid the top and bottom of the pipe to eliminate issue if air/gas has accumulated at the top of the pipe and sediment collected on the bottom of the pipe.
  • You want to measure where flow is stable and laminar, avoid turbulent areas. Generally, for best results a straight pipe run is required 10 pipe Diameters upstream and 5 pipe diameters downstream, but the recommendations vary depending on the situation, the datasheets have a section on this, see “transducer installation”
• You will need to know: Pipe outer diameter, pipe wall thickness, pipe material, liner details (if applicable), and what the liquid is, you set these parameters and it will give you a transducer spacing which is the distance to separate the sensors on the pipe.
• Included couplant (grease) is to be generously applied to the sensing area of the transducers, then you will need to mount the transducers on the pipe at that specified distance
• These transducers typically need to be strapped on, the flow meter includes metal straps which can be used for mounting to smaller sizes, for larger pipes we can offer a set of ratchet straps for a quick and easy mounting solution (additional cost)
• Something else to note is ultrasonic flow meters are not ideally suited for intermittent flow duration’s (EG a pump powering for 20 seconds on and then flow off, or with diaphragm pumps for example)
  • The reason is that the signal typically will take at least a few seconds to stabilise and display accurate readings
  • They are also not suitable for accurate low dosing, or custody transfer applications as they will “miss” some of the totalised flow while the signal attenuates and the flow measurement ‘ramps up’ to it’s measurement accounting for the dampening function setting.
  • Though of all the models we have tested UFW-100 is the most responsive!