Flow Control July 2009

Q&A : A P r im er o n SI S A ir f lo w M an age m en t P re ve n t ive vs .
Pr e dic t ive Ma in te n an c e
July 2009 Vol. XV, No. 7 www.FlowControlNetwork.com
Facing
Production LOSSES
Printers Turn to a
Circle 1 or Request Info Instantly at www.FlowControlNetwork.com
july 2009
Vol. XV, No. 7
features
14 Spilled Ink new flowmeter makes its mark
on the printing industry
22 Q&A: A Primer on SIS understanding

process safety systems design
28 Airflow Troubleshooting strategies

for efficient air systems maintenance
14
A new piston-based flowmeter design is attracting attention from several large printing companies that have been
struggling with the accuracy and reliability of their ink
metering systems.
30 Heat Exchanger Performance effects

of pressure & temperature conditions
columns
4
VIEWPOINT what are your digital likes & dislikes?
12 APPLICATIONS CORNER considering capillary tubing

34 THE PUMP GUY vessel-to-vessel vs. open- or closed-loop
28
Effective airflow troubleshooting strategies can help ensure
that small process problems dont become big ones.
pumping systems
departments
6
NEWS WATCH preventive vs. predictive maintenance;

endress+hauser debuts largest magmeter calibration rig in U.S.
47 THINK TANK level measurement

48 QUIZ
CORNER component vs. system accuracy
products
26 FOCUS ON: Seals & Gaskets >>>>>
38 NEW PRODUCTS
34
The Pump Guy explains why the condition of static head
isnt an issue for the majority of the worlds pumps, i.e.
because most pumps operate in loop-based systems.
Flow Control (ISSN #1081-7107) is published 12 times a year by Grand View Media Group,
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46 ADVERTISER INDEX/PRODUCT INDEX

On the Cover: The flowmeter image featured on the cover of this issue of Flow
Control magazine is courtesy of INKnet Systems Inc. (www.link-techinc.com).
2 July 2009
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Flow Control, PO BOX 2174 Skokie, IL 60076-7874.
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Flow Control
FlowTechnology
World Class Flow Solutions
Ask the Expert:

Follow-up to March Ask the Expert,...
What are the benefits and

limitations of using a portable
Flow Transfer Standard (FTS)?
Lets start by looking at the limitations; there are
really no inherent limitations with an FTS
system. Clearly, the accuracy of the system will
not be to the level of a primary system, but with
correct selection and calibration of a transfer
standard meter this should not, 99% of the
time, be a limiting factor. FTS systems offer
many benefits:
1. Portability. These systems can be used to
calibrate meters in situ, thus eliminating the
expense and complexity of removing meters
from the processing line.
2. Cost, time savings and reduced process
down-time. Meters can be calibrated
accurately on-site without the need to ship
meters to outside calibration laboratories.
3. More frequent calibrations. Due to the ease
of use of modern FTS systems, it becomes
cost effective to perform more frequent
calibrations on process flow instrumentation.
This ensures that your process remains in
calibration and enables the user to detect
abnormalities in the process earlier.
4. Compliance documentation. Prepare valid
calibration certifications on-site as well as
maintain a back-up on the network.
Solve the Sudoku
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E-mail your solution to
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Correct solutions entered into monthly prize
drawing. Solution posted on website.
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viewpoint
What Are Your Digital Likes & Dislikes?
s you may have heard, the newspaper

and consumer magazine business is
experiencing an economic downturn
comparable only to what were currently
seeing in the automobile industry. And while
the business-to-business trade journal segment has been somewhat less affected by
the hardships experienced in the newsstand
sector, Id be a liar if I said we at Flow
Control werent monitoring the goings on in
the larger publishing world with raised eyebrows. Our hope is that we will be able to
learn some lessons from what is now going
on in consumer publishing to more effectively and efficiently maneuver around any
obstacles that may lie in our future.
Flow Control magazine strives to develop
valuable educational content for the consumption of engineers, operators and technicians involved with fluid handling systems.
And I think most of you would agree that we
do generally succeed in elevating the fluid
handling knowledge base.
So, we feel pretty good about the value of
the service we provide to the fluid handling
community. However, were just not so sure
how you want us to provide that service
going forward. The most obvious trend we
see in the publishing industry is the move
from print to digital/online information delivery, but is this a trend you support? And, if
so, how do you want your digital information? Do you want a digital rendering of the
print magazine? Do you want interactivity?
Do you want webcasts and video product
demos? Do you want webinars? I could go
on, but I think you get the picture.
These are the questions we are trying to
answer here at Flow Control. And Im sure
many of you are also, at the same time, trying to figure out what you like and dont like
about digital information delivery. Sure, we
have a Web site and an e-newsletter, and we
even have a digital edition of our print magazine, which is entirely viewable online. But
are these offering really meeting your needs,
or could we be doing more ... If so, what?
Rather than sending out a blind survey or
taking shots in the dark about the types of
digital/online products we should be offering, Id like to enter into an open dialogue
with you, the reader, about your digital likes
and dislikes.
4 July 2009
GV
G R A N D
E-mail your responses

directly to me at
matt@grandviewmedia.com.
As an incentive, we will
enter each person that
responds to this editorial
into a random drawing for a
$100 Best Buy gift card.
V I E W
M E D I A
G R O U P
PUBLISHER
JOHN P. HARRIS
(205) 408-3765
john@grandviewmedia.com
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
KEVIN J. McCARTHY
(815) 873-1701
kevin@grandviewmedia.com
EDITOR
MATT MIGLIORE
(610) 828-1711
matt@grandviewmedia.com
COPYEDITOR
SCOTT NESMITH
COLUMNISTS
LARRY BACHUS;
DAVID W. SPITZER; JESSE YODER
Here Ive provided four open-ended questions about digital information delivery, which
Im hoping youll take a moment out of your
busy schedule to respond to. E-mail your
responses directly to me at matt@grandview
media.com. As an incentive, we will enter each
person that responds to this editorial into a random drawing for a $100 Best Buy gift card.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR

BRONWYNE CARR CHAPMAN
bronwyne@grandviewmedia.com
MARKETING MANAGER
MARY BETH TIMMERMAN
SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS:
flowcontrol@halldata.com
FOR REPRINTS, CONTACT:
flowcontrol@grandviewmedia.com
Administrative Team
1. In what format do you currently consume
the majority of your technical information
print or online? Do you see yourself changing
formats in the next 2-5 years?
2. What is the most bothersome thing about
the digital delivery of technical/engineering
information? Is there anything in particular
that bothers you about the way technical information is provided in a digital format?
3. What is the most beneficial thing about the
digital delivery of technical/engineering information? Are there any specific capabilities
that a digital environment offers that you find
particularly useful and/or enjoyable?
4. Going forward, what would you like to see
in the area of digital delivery of technical/engineering information that you have not
yet seen? If you were publisher of Flow
Control, what would be the first online project
you would launch for readers? FC
GENERAL MANAGER
BARRY LOVETTE
VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
BRENT KIZZIRE
VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING
HANK BROWN
DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION & FULFILLMENT
DELICIA POOLE
VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE
BRAD YOUNGBLOOD
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Larry Bachus: Founder, Bachus Company Inc.
Gary Cornell: President, Blacoh Fluid Control
Blake Doney: VP of Instrumentation &
Analytical Products, ABB
Robert M. Donnelly: President, Compact Inc.
Jeff Jennings, P.E.: Vice President/Senior
Application Engineer, Equilibar LLC
Jerry Kurz, Ph.D.: Founder, Kurz Instruments Inc.
Peter Kucmas: Manager of Flow Products,
Endress+Hauser
James Matson: Senior Flowmeter Products
Manager, GE Sensing
John Merrill, PE: US Application Engineer,
EagleBurgmann Industries
David W. Spitzer, PE: Principal,
Spitzer and Boyes LLC
Tom Tschanz: Senior Consultant, McIlvaine Company
John C. Tverberg: President, Metals and
Materials Consulting Engineers
Jesse Yoder, Ph.D.: President, Flow Research Inc.
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
Matt Migliore, Editor

Matt@GrandViewMedia.com
Flow Control
news & notes
Maintenance Matters
Evolving from Preventive to Predictive Technology
by Matt Migliore
he words maintenance and headache are oft used in the

same sentence, typically one after the other, for good reason.
Maintenance, after all, is indeed, generally speaking, a headache.
However, as monitoring technologies continue to evolve, and plantand field-based instruments and systems grow more capable of providing diagnostic information about their operating conditions, the
worst-case maintenance scenario the dreaded unplanned downtime is becoming less and less of a concern. In fact, with the
price and size of sensors continuing to fall, and processing power on
the rise, predictive maintenance technologies are providing more
robust failure-mode monitoring than ever before.
Types of Maintenance
To fully understand the value of predictive maintenance for certain applications, users must first grasp how maintenance procedures are classified and how they differ from each other. In
general terms, maintenance can be classified into three different
categories: corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance,
and predictive maintenance.
Corrective maintenance is generally characterized by a system that is run to failure before it is taken off line for maintenance. This form of maintenance, sometimes referred to as
repair maintenance, is the most inefficient method of maintaining systems. It generally results in unplanned downtime for
the process and requires the system to be pulled out of service
without prior preparation or planning. Very few modern-day
processes would be able to survive if operated on a corrective
maintenance program. Further, depending on the process conditions of the application, a corrective maintenance program may
compromise the safety of plant personnel and the environment.
Preventive maintenance has been, and remains, standard
practice for many fluid handling systems. Preventive maintenance, in general terms, is any time- or count-based maintenance procedure. The aim of a preventive maintenance program
is to maintain the operation of equipment without incurring
unplanned downtime. Preventive maintenance activities may
include tests, measurements, adjustments, and/or parts replacements all of which would be performed on a scheduled
and/or planned basis in an effort to ensure the operation of the
process without unplanned downtime. While a more effective
approach than corrective maintenance, the key limitation of preventive maintenance is that it occasionally results in maintenance being performed on systems that may not actually
require maintenance. Thus, preventive maintenance can be labor
intensive, ineffective in identifying problems that develop
between scheduled inspections, and costly.
Predictive maintenance is a data-based method of maintaining the operation of systems. So, instead of waiting for a system to fail or performing maintenance procedures on a timebased interval, predictive maintenance programs use key pieces
of process information in an effort to more precisely determine
6
July 2009
Preventive maintenance includes periodic removal, cleaning and lubrication of transducers on a pipe. Here an ultrasonic flowmeter features
transducers that can be changed on the fly without having to break
the line, minimizing downtime and maintenance requirements. Photo
courtesy of Thermo Fisher Scientific (www.thermo.com).
when and what process systems actually require maintenance.

This approach, in theory, offers a more cost-effective and efficient platform for systems maintenance, as it strives to perform
maintenance only when warranted and when maintenance activity is most cost-effective and before equipment falls out of its
optimum performance range. However, diagnostic information
is required for users to employ predictive maintenance, which
generally calls for the implementation of advanced technology.
As such, end-users would be wise to carefully consider the
cost-benefit, as well as devise an implementation strategy, prior
to investing in predictive maintenance technology.
Whats Your Maintenance Makeup?

Given the upside potential for more effective and efficient maintenance handling, predictive capability may be something endusers want to consider as part of the decision-making process
when evaluating new equipment. For existing and/or lower-end
systems, however, predictive maintenance generally wont be a
realistic option.
The problem with predictive maintenance on low-cost equipment is that there is often no automatic way of extracting data
or trends over time, says Andy Marsden, Americas services
manager for Thermo Fisher Scientific (www.thermo.com), In
contrast, more expensive equipment may have remote diagnostic capabilities in which the user not only can extract data, but
can often remotely take corrective action.
For older systems where process data is not readily available,
Marsden says preventive maintenance is likely going to be the
best option. For an older generation ultrasonic flow measurement system, for example, Marsden says a simple and effective
Flow Control
preventive maintenance practice would be the regular removal,

cleaning and lubrication of the transducers that attach to the
process pipe.
On the other hand, according to Marsden, newer systems on
the higher end of the spectrum are not only being designed with
predictive maintenance capability, but also with fewer moving
parts in an effort to increase the mean time between failure
(MTBF). He says these two trends together are helping to reduce
the amount of maintenance required.
Whatever the approach, be it predictive or preventive maintenance, Marsden says the end-user should strive to prevent
and/or mitigate the consequences of a system failure. He says
the possibility of human failure must also be taken into consideration. Competent and trained personnel should be utilized
and, if available, OEM training is beneficial, says Marsden.
Existing maintenance practices that have not worked well in the
past should be avoided.
Predictive Maintenance In Action

In general terms, while preventive maintenance is based on a
routine, predictive maintenance is based on information.
Predictive maintenance watches the equipment and quantifies
whether the equipment is healthy or not and determines if, and
what, needs to be done to bring the equipment back to a normal
state, says Sandro Esposito, global product marketing manager
Smart Products for Dresser Masoneilan
(www.masoneilan.com).
Esposito cites a smart digital positioner on a control valve as
a prime example of predictive maintenance in a real-world setting. He says current-generation smart positioners are capable
of monitoring such key control valve performance indicators as
the ability of the valve to yield the appropriate position; the
valves ability to prevent fluid from leaking to atmosphere; and
the valves ability to effectively throttle and shut off the fluid.
Using inherent sensors to monitor key performance indicators,
Esposito says smart positioners can determine if the process is
being operated in the prime operating range and, if it is not,
www.FlowControlNetwork.com
Current-generation smart positioners, such as the one shown at left

here, are capable of monitoring such key control valve performance
indicators as the ability of the valve to yield the appropriate position; the
valves ability to prevent fluid from leaking to the atmosphere; and the
valves ability to effectively throttle and shut off the fluid. Photo courtesy
of Dresser Masoneilan (www.masoneilan.com).
send an alarm to a resource management system that provides

determinative information to help the user identify the root cause
of the problem.
Esposito says smart sensors combined with monitoring software can give end-users a real-time view of the process and
provide valuable information that is truly helpful in identifying
performance degradation and pinpointing when equipment failure may occur.
One specific application where smart positioners have proven
to be valuable, according to Esposito, is in partial-stroke testing
of emergency shutdown valves (ESDs). In such a scenario,
Esposito says smart positioners not only ensure the ESD valve
will perform its duty when needed, but also provide a ready
source of archived data when required for regulatory auditing
purposes.
July 2009 7
news & notes

Predictive Maintenance
Interoperability
When developing a predictive maintenance program, integration is a key consideration. A device that has the ability to
monitor performance variables and capture information must also be able to
easily share that information with a control system in order to be truly useful to
the end-users. According to Esposito,
many early generation predictive maintenance control systems were proprietary
in nature. This created a situation where,
as Esposito describes it, users had to
struggle with islands of automation to get
precious data from the field.
Today, Esposito says most host system providers are providing solutions
that have the ability to read data from a
variety of different field devices. Further,
he says the movement toward open standards for wireless systems is allowing
users to capture more data without
adding complexity to their infrastructure.
On the device side, Esposito says the
key evolution in terms of integrating diag-
nostics has been in the emergence of

Device Type Manager (DTM) technology,
which is essentially a software device
driver for interfacing with the host system. According to Esposito, DTM gives
end-users plug-and-play capability when
implementing new devices into their predictive maintenance architecture. It
opens up all the possibilities of the device
in an open-frame architecture, says
Esposito. Ultimately, he says DTM
enables the user to choose the device
application without worrying about the
integration of predictive diagnostics. As
such, Esposito says end-users should be
looking for DTM-based devices to ensure
interoperability into the future.
Predicting the Future

The pinnacle of predictive maintenance is
100 percent failure-mode monitoring.
However, in order to provide this level of
monitoring with todays generation of
technology, the devices would either be
far too expensive for practical application
or the power requirement of the device
would be too high or the devices would

be weighed down with so many sensors
that the diagnostics would disrupt the
process (or all of the above).
The current state of predictive diagnostics is that smart devices with inherent
sensors are available. These devices are
available in a form that is relatively integratable with open standards-based host
systems. Using the smart devices and the
software together, end-users can gain
added insight on the operating conditions
of the process on a real-time basis. With
this information, end-users can perform
root-cause analysis of possible failure
modes. In turn, this information can help
more effectively and efficiently identify
where failures may occur based on
process conditions. This is not to say
that todays predictive maintenance systems can identify with utmost precision
where and when a failure may occur.
[Todays predictive maintenance technology] can identify impending failures of
various sub-assemblies in a control
valve, says Esposito. But to be able to
July 2009
Flow Control
say precisely that the third packing row

around the stem housing is leaking,
thats kind of pushing the envelope at
this point.
However, Esposito says predictive
maintenance will become more determinative as sensors continue to get smaller
and less power hungry so they can be
integrated and packaged with smart
positioners. Energys always the constraining element to work around without adding more wires to the field, says
Esposito. Once you have the power
available or can harvest energy, the sensors are available, and they can be packaged in a way to diagnose close to 100
percent of possible failure modes.
More importantly, Esposito says he
sees the linkage of information throughout the lifecycle of equipment as a key
enabling trend for predictive maintenance technology. He says he envisions
a Valve-Opedia, similar to the popular
online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which
would provide a repository of fault models for different pieces of equipment. In
turn, end-users would employ such a

repository to identify the possible root
causes of their own equipment failures.
Using RFID (radio frequency identification) tags, Esposito says equipment failure information could be automatically
logged in a central database to be shared
with other users around the world.
Imagine a technician at a plant in Los
Angeles fixes a valve; that equipment is
fixed and the root cause is identified
because of the fix, says Esposito. At
the same time, a person in Singapore is
experiencing similar symptoms, but the
root cause is different. All of this information is gathered and recorded in a
repository where another user can leverage it to help identify what the possible
root causes of a failure are, he says. In
essence, it is like linking the life experiences of all users with the data from
smart devices.
While Esposito says he sees a system
of this sort being employed on a manufacturer-to-manufacturer basis, he also
see the possibility of an ISA- or IEC-
based standards movement that would

establish some common sets of symptoms and remedies for control valve failures, for example.
Meanwhile, Thermo Fishers Marsden
sees modular systems design as a key
element of predictive maintenance in the
future. He says that by establishing commonality of parts between systems, endusers will be able to more efficiently perform root-cause analysis of failure
modes, as well as eliminate the need to
keep many parts on hand to maintain
various instruments within a given
process. As instrumentation evolves
and new technologies become available,
manufacturers [will] seek to eliminate
failure and minimize maintenance
requirements, he says Remote capabilities such as alert level alarms, automatic
calibration routines, built-in redundancy
and plug-and-play modules are examples.
Matt Migliore is the editor of Flow
Control magazine. He can be reached at
matt@grandviewmedia.com.
July 2009 9
news & notes

industry news
E+H Debuts Largest Magmeter Calib. Rig in U.S.

Endress+Hauser (www.us.endress.com)
held a ribbon cutting ceremony last
month to debut its new $18 million
flowmeter production and calibration
facility at its U.S. headquarters in
Greenwood, Ind. The facility, which is
designed for the manufacture and calibration of electromagnetic flowmeters,
features a calibration rig capable of
supporting meters with line sizes up to

48 inches, making it the largest calibration rig in the United States. In addition,
Endress+Hauser showed members of
the press and key customers its new
Coriolis flowmeter calibration rig, which
it says is the most accurate Coriolis calibration lab in the world.
During the ribbon cutting ceremony,
Hans-Peter Blaser, general manager of
Endress+Hauser Flowtec Division USA, Klaus
Endress, CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group,
Charles Henderson, mayor of Greenwood, Ind.,
and Gerhard Jost, Ph.D., Managing Director of
Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG, handle the ribbon
cutting duties at yesterdays official debut of
Endress+Hausers $18 million magnetic
flowmeter production and calibration facility in
Greenwood, Ind.
Klaus Endress, CEO of the

Endress+Hauser Group, said
Endress+Hausers investment to build
state-of-the-art manufacturing and calibration facilities in Greenwood, Ind.
shows its belief in the U.S. market.
This facility shows our trust in the
American market; our trust in the skills
of the people here, said Endress.
Further, he said, Endress+Hausers
investment in Greenwood, Ind. is a
reflection of its overall values of corporate and social responsibility. He said
Endress+Hauser strives to make decisions with the best interests of its customers, shareholders, associates, and
the environment in mind. He said while
other companies may be moving
abroad to take advantage of the lower
manufacturing costs and lower costs of
labor in other parts of the world,
Endress+Hauser feels a social responsibility to maintain operations in the
United States to provide jobs, as well as
the highest quality products for its customers.
Charles Henderson, mayor of
Greenwood, Ind., also spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony, thanking
Endress+Hauser for its contribution to
his city. The City of Greenwood looks
10
July 2009
Flow Control
industry news
at Endress+Hauser as our crown jewel of
industry, said Henderson.
Endress+Hauser, which is a familyowned business, moved its U.S. operations from Beverly, Mass. to Greenwood,
Ind. in 1974. At that time, the U.S. operation employed only a handful of people.
There are now more than 300 employees
working at Endress+Hausers
Greenwood, Ind. campus, with more
than 50 jobs added in the last three years.
To view an online tour of the E+H magmeter calibration facility, visit
www.us.endress.com
ISSYS, E+H Partner on MEMS

Flow Technology
Integrated Sensing Systems, Inc.
(ISSYS, www.mems-issys.com), a manufacturer of microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS)-based flow sensors,
has entered into a strategic partnership
Integrated Sensing Systems CEO,

Nader Najafi, Ph.D. (right) and
Endress+Hausers CEO, Klaus
Endress (left), signed a partnership
agreement earlier this month. The
agreement aims to foster collaboration between the two companies to
develop MEMS flow technology for
existing and emerging applications.
with Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG

(www.us.endress.com), a global manufacturer of industrial flowmeters. The
objective of the partnership is to collaboratively develop and commercialize
advanced sensing fluidic products
based on ISSYS MEMS technology.
According to ISSYS, target markets
for the collaboration with
Endress+Hauser will include both the
traditional industrial process industries,
as well as emerging process and OEM
applications that demand novel, highperformance measurement capabilities.
At the official announcement of the

partnership at ISSYS headquarters earlier this month in Ypsilanti, Michigan
were Klaus Endress, the CEO of the
Endress+Hauser Group, Gerhard Jost,
Ph.D., the managing director of
Endress+Hauser Flowtec, and Joerg
Herwig, a director at Endress+Hauser
Flowtec, as well as Michigan State
Senator Elizabeth Brater, State
Representative Alma Wheeler-Smith and
Vice President of the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation,
Ned Stabler.
July 2009 11
applications corner
by David W. Spitzer
Considering Capillary Tubing

How the Application Affects Tubing Length Requirements
n the last two months we examined the installation of impulse

tubing in high-pressure steam flowmeter applications and
removal of high-pressure steam flow transmitters from service.
We found that measurement error can occur due to the different
densities of the liquids in the impulse tubes in non-horizontal
impulse tubing runs. A similar effect can occur when diaphragm
seals are used with differential-pressure transmitters. Differentialpressure transmitters with diaphragm seals are not commonly
applied to flow measurements, but they are quite commonly
applied to level measurements.
A common rule of thumb is to purchase the capillary tubes
of the same length for both the high-pressure and low-pressure
sides of the transmitter. This would seem to make (mechanical)
sense for flowmeters because the flowmeter element taps are
generally close to one another, so the distance from the transmitter to each tap is similar.
In level applications, however, the nozzles can be in quite different locations. For example, a transmitter may be located one
meter from the lower nozzle (near grade) and eight meters from
the upper nozzle (near the top of the vessel). The rule of thumb
would stipulate that the transmitter have (say) 10 meters of capillary tubing on both sides of the transmitter. This would seem reasonable for the upper nozzle and excessively long (and costly) for
the nearby lower nozzle (where the capillary tubing would typically
be coiled for convenience). However, this analysis only takes
physical dimensions into consideration.
The capillary tubing contains liquid that transmits the pressure
from the diaphragm seal to the transmitter. The density of this liquid changes with its temperature, so the installation should be
designed to maintain the liquid in both capillaries at the same
temperature. This is similar to the concept that was discussed for
steam flow measurement transmitters.
However, the liquid in the capillary tubing is different from the
steam flowmeter seal in the sense that the liquid in the capillary
tubing is captive. Therefore, expansion of the liquid in one capillary will cause the liquid volume to change and affect the differential-pressure measurement. By nature, the differential-pressure
transmitter will approximately cancel the expansion and density
effects for capillary tubes of equal length (and liquid volume)
when the capillaries are at the same temperature. However,
unequal lengths of capillary tubing (and unequal liquid volume) on
each side of the transmitter can affect the measurement because
the different capillary lengths (and volumes) result in different
amounts of expansion. Therefore, it is desirable for the capillary
tube lengths to be not only equal, but also at the same temperature. FC
David W. Spitzer, P.E., is a regular contributor to Flow Control. He
has more than 30 years of experience in specifying, building,
12 July 2009
The capillary tubing contains liquid that

transmits the pressure from the
diaphragm seal to the transmitter. The
density of this liquid changes with its
temperature, so the installation should be
designed to maintain the liquid in both
capillaries at the same temperature.
installing, startup and troubleshooting process control instrumentation. He has developed and taught seminars for over 20 years
and is a member of ISA and belongs to the ASME MFC and ISO
TC30 committees. Mr. Spitzer has written a number of books concerning the application and use of fluid handling technology,
including the popular Consumer Guide series, which compares
flowmeters by supplier. Mr. Spitzer is currently a principal in
Spitzer and Boyes LLC, offering engineering, product development, marketing and distribution consulting for manufacturing
and automation companies. He can be reached at 845 623-1830.
www.spitzerandboyes.com
Industrial Flow
Measurement Seminar
Sept 22-24, 2009 - St. Louis, MO
David W. Spitzer, P.E., is bringing his highly regarded
three-day Industrial Flow Measurement Seminar to
St. Louis, MO. This exclusive training event is designed
for individuals who desire to become more productive
through improvement of their flow measurement skills.
For more information and to register, visit :
www.spitzerandboyes.com/seminar/semifm.htm.
Early-Bird Deadline: July 31st
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technology spotlight
by Matt Migliore
Spilled Ink
New Metering System Makes Its Mark on the Printing Industry
ome of the largest printers in the printing industry are also

manufacturers of ink. For these companies, which churn out
massive quantities of printed product on a daily basis, it is
often more economical to manufacture their own ink rather than
purchase it from an outside supplier. However, this approach does
not come without its own inherent costs.
For example, one printing company that was producing 20 million pounds of ink per year to support its business recently found
itself puzzled after discovering a 7 percent variance in its volume of
ink from production to consumption. Due to the discrepancy, the
printer estimated it was not accounting for 54,000 lbs. of ink per
year. After a thorough analysis of the process and the distribution
system, the printer came to the conclusion that the loss could only
be traced back to the flowmeters it was employing to measure ink
use. As such, the printer began to search for alternative metering
systems to account for its ink consumption.
This photo shows the
largest mass distribution plumbing system
dedicated to ink in North
American. It provides
ink flow from one pump
to six dual-web
stretched Sunday
Heidelberg presses. This
system allows presses
to run simultaneously
with consistent ink flow.
By the late 1980s, the printing industry as

a whole moved toward a high-volume
approach. The 47-gallon drums were
replaced by totes that could hold up to
2,700 lbs. of ink, allowing the printers to
feed multiple presses with a single continuous-duty pump. While this seemed like a
positive evolution of the process, what the
printers failed to account for was the
change in viscosity and how that would
affect their ink flow measurements.
the meters leak path. As a result, the meter was producing inaccurate measurements, which only grew more significant as the volume of the printing process rose.
After concluding that its ink measurements were inaccurate, the
printer sent out a general command to all of its facilities to perform
a calibration analysis of its existing meters. In every case, the
meters were found to be off varying from 5 percent to 50 percent. What became evident was that the meters in use would
require stringent calibrating techniques to show some, if any,
accuracy. And, upon further investigation, it was typically found
that the meters in use only showed an acceptable level of accuracy
at the time of calibration.
How Did Things Get So Inaccurate?

Ink Meter Shows Accuracy Problems
The meter design in use at the printer in question here was specified prior to the emergence of high-volume printing processes.
When used for the previous generation of low-volume batch printing scenarios, the meter performed up to application needs.
However, as the scale of the printing process was ramped up, the
meter developed some drawbacks, the most troublesome of which
was its sensitivity to changes in viscosity.
As higher volumes of ink moved through the meter under continuous-duty operation, the viscosity of the ink dropped. This
change in viscosity was particularly problematic because the meter
in use had an inherent leak path, which wasnt such a drawback
when the viscosity of the ink was high, but as the ink heated up
and the viscosity fell, more and more ink was being lost through
14 July 2009
Given the details of the application outlined here, one might wonder how the printer in question could have possibly operated for
so long with an ink meter that was performing so poorly. The
answer to this question can be traced back to the late 1980s. At
this time, viscosity wasnt a big issue for ink flow measurement, as
printing presses were fed ink from 47-gallon drums, and each
press had a dedicated pump. In this environment, the key characteristic printers were looking for in a meter was the capability to
reliably flow ink without clogging. For many printers, if the meter
could flow ink effectively, that was enough. The issue of inaccurate
flow measurement only arose when the printer continued on with
the same technology despite drastically changing application characteristics.
By the late 1980s, the printing industry as a whole moved
toward a high-volume approach. The 47-gallon drums were
Flow Control
Ink Meter Performance Comparison

set of problems, particularly in regard to Delta P.
Whereas the previous meter could flow ink without
the risk of clogging, the gear meter presented an
extremely high Delta such that the resistance to
media movement posed a significant hindrance to
application success. Moreover, the gear meter
being evaluated was found to be susceptible to
contamination in ink flow applications, which
raised the risk of the meter getting jammed into
position and blocking flow.
While the gear meter did not require a minimum and maximum flow to calibrate, its sensitivity
to viscosity changes required the user to have
some limited knowledge of how to calibrate to
cover nonlinear discrepancies. If the operator didnt
have such knowledge, the user was left to assume
that any dispensed media would retain the same
quality of reading throughout its entire flow range,
which was not necessarily the case with a gear
meter under consideration here.
Coriolis Mass Meter: Initially the printer was
optimistic about the Coriolis mass flowmeter it
was evaluating as an alternative solution because
it had no moving parts, was thought to provide
no resistance to flow, and possessed an almost
indefinite life expectancy. However, upon further
examination, it became apparent that if accuracy
in the range of 0.1 percent of reading was
This document shows the specific gravity variant in production heat-set inks. It also shows
required, Delta P became an issue. This is
each of the meters listed on Fog and their inability to see the specific gravity variant. The
because to achieve accuracy on the level of 0.1
lower chart on this document shows the potential error generated by miscalibration due to
percent with the Coriolis flowmeter the printer
the specific gravity at the time of calibration.
was considering, the flow tube had to possess a
very small inside diameter. At such a small
replaced by totes that could hold up to 2,700 lbs. of ink, allowing
diameter, the material viscosity generates an aggressive Delta,
the printers to feed multiple presses with a single continuous-duty
causing the ink flow to slow down the printing press. On the
pump. While this seemed like a positive evolution of the process,
other hand, if the printer were to employ a larger-diameter
what the printers failed to account for was the change in viscosity
Coriolis flowmeter to overcome the Delta P issue, the accuracy
and how that would affect their ink flow measurements.
level would fall into the range of 2-3 percent.
While the meters in place were good at flowing ink, they were
Another issue the printer ran into with the Coriolis flowmeter it
designed for fixed-viscosity fluids. As such, the change to highwas evaluating for ink flow was a delay in measurement response
volume printing processes had a tremendous negative effect on
(approx. 0.5 seconds). Most ink levelers are open for 10 seconds
the accuracy of the ink meter, opening up an inherent leak path,
and off for upwards of five minutes. If the flowmeter has a 0.5
which allowed large quantities of ink to disappear without the
second response time, about 5 percent of the reading is missing.
printer even knowing it.
In a typical printing application, this happens every time a fountain
is requesting ink, which can occur as many as 20-30 times in a
window of 15-20 minutes on any given press.
An Alternative Solution Emerges
Regarding calibration, the Coriolis mass flowmeter under conIn evaluating alternative metering systems, the printer under consideration required a minimum flow and a maximum flow in order
sideration here tested several different flow measurement devices
to strike the mean line for constant readings. On a high-speed
before arriving at its ultimate solution. The meters evaluated were
printing press, providing such information could be difficult,
as follows:
because a printing press can have an extremely small flow when
Gear Meter: A gear meter attracted some moderate attention
one valve is asking for ink and an extremely large flow when multibecause it didnt have an inherent leak path. However, the meter
ple ink valves within the same color ask for ink. Thus, calibrating
design under consideration ultimately presented its own unique
the Coriolis mass flowmeter for ink flow was also determined to
July 2009 15
be a potential problem for the specific application under consideration here.
Volumetric Linear Piston Meter: Ultimately, the printer decided
to replace its existing meters with a volumetric piston-based
measurement device. This positive-displacement system was
specially designed to eliminate the common drawbacks of piston
meters, such as the connecting shaft and a phenomenon called
the top-dead center. The top-dead center in any conventional
design is a phenomenon of a large degree of crankshaft movement to an extremely small amount of piston displacement.
The replacement meter under consideration here was specially
designed with four piston chambers each of which was recThis is a view of the linear piston meters internal mechanism. Parts
are described in order:
bottom is the port plate,
meter body; inside the
meter body is the rectangular box frame;
next to that is the oscillator; and inside the
oscillator is the valve
disc, which captures the
rotational shaft; and on
top of the shaft is the
magnet wheel.
tangular in shape and developed by sliding components moving on a flat plate. Two of the chambers were one volume size,
while the other two were of a smaller volume size. Unlike conventional piston flowmeters that receive their fluid for displacement
from a valve mechanism delivering it to the piston chamber from
the top, the replacement meter delivered fluid to the piston chamber from the bottom.
In addition, a conventional piston meter typically connects to a
rotational mechanism called a crankshaft, which means it sees a
top-dead center as it maneuvers through the crankshaft rotation.
This generates a diminished amount of flow to an increased
amount of movement. The replacement meter, on the other hand,
used a valve disc as the pivot point for all of its oscillating parts,
delivering measurable material to the chambers. With an opposing milled out design on the valve disc on its bottom, the meter
removed material that had been put into the piston chambers 180
degrees out from one another i.e., when each chamber was
filled as the valve disc was aligning its orifice with the appropriate
piston chamber orifice 180 degrees out, the opposing valve orifice was aligning to empty it. This happened continuously as the
mechanism rotated each chamber being a precise volume of
measurement displacing the same amount of liquid each time.
The mechanism detailed above allowed the replacement piston
meter to eliminate the top-dead center issue typically associated
with conventional piston designs, enabling the meter to maintain
linearity throughout the entire operational RPM range of the
mechanism. With such a consistent linearity, the flowmeter was
This is a typical four-color linear piston meter installation for a high-volume, dual-web heat-set web press that generally consumes 30 and 45
thousand pounds of ink per month.
found to be able to handle a wide variety of viscosities without

hindering its accuracy output.
This mechanism was also designed with extremely close tolerances, such that all parts were identical in shape and size. Thus,
each time the mechanism rotated from meter to meter, the displacement per piston was identical, which meant that once one
meter was put online, the subsequent meters were identical to it
in their volume displacement and how they functioned. This was
a key characteristic, as it eliminated the need for the printer to calibrate the meters after initial setup.
The meter proved to maintain accuracy from one gram of ink
dispensed every hour to 15 gallons per minute. Since the meter
16 July 2009
Flow Control
8 Hour Runability Test
was also designed to eliminate the need for
high-pressure seals, it was extremely sensitive
to bi-directional fluid movement. This proved
to be an essential characteristic in the mass
distribution process, as varying pressure levels throughout the distribution system were
found to rock meters back and forth on occasion, thus producing reverse flow in some situations. This reverse flow had been a problem
in the past, as it would further compound
measurement inaccuracy issues. The replacement meter, however, with its capability for
subtracting reverse flow and only adding positive flow to the reading, eliminated this issue.
Other Printers Take Notice

Brown Printing (www.bpc.com), a printing
company with facilities located in Minnesota,
Illinois and Pennsylvania, also recently moved
to the volumetric piston-based flowmeter
design detailed above. Likewise, this move was This chart represents an eight-hour runablility test conducted by Brown Printing on a standard
high-speed web press with an automated color control system without a temperature controlled
made after Brown discovered its previous
ink train. This illustration represents a pictorial reflection of ink being applied onto the paper,
flowmeters were producing inaccurate results.
demonstrating the degree of ink that is being absorbed into the paper.
We didnt necessarily think when we were
buying [our previous] meter that we were getting such poor accuracy and reliability, says
David Rapp, quality assurance manager for Brown Printing. One
of the things that was overlooked was that ink is a very abrasive
material, and what we saw with the [previous] design was that [the
ink] literally destroyed the inner workings of the meter because of
the rotating motion that the meter relied on to produce a measurement. Rapp says the previous ink meter design employed by
Brown was completely wearing through its internals, thus causing
a total loss of the measurement.
Rapp says it was pretty clear from very early on that the meters
werent working out because they had to be replaced so frequently.
He says Brown had some difficulty identifying a better alternative,
though. Further, he says Brown was really unaware of just how
much ink was being lost.
We keep inventories of our ink use, he says. But because we
pump ink from a tote station to multiple presses, it was tough for
us to measure our ink on a press-by-press level.
Faced with ongoing ink metering issues, Rapp says Brown
began to monitor its ink use more closely in 2002. He says the
analysis ultimately revealed that there was anywhere from a 5 percent to 10 percent variance from what Brown had in inventory to
what the ink meters were showing. Even from month to month,
we were seeing these really large discrepancies, says Rapp.
Once all the analysis was in, Rapp says he started to feel some
pressure from upper-management to find an alternative ink metering solution. Eventually, through some industry contacts, Rapp
says he was led to a company by the name of INKnet Systems Inc.
(www.link-techinc.com). After some initial discussions, Rapp says
he brought INKnet in to demo its ink metering system. He says the
results were impressive, but the initial quote of $60,000 per press
caused some hesitation. The full system was just too much of a
jump, and we werent sure it was going to provide enough of a
18 July 2009
Flow Control
Book Em
A Printer Finds Lost Ink On a High-Volume Project
A new metering system provides much-needed
application insight to a printer struggling with a highvolume press run that repeatedly showed a loss.
high-volume project was scheduled

for a continuous 15-hour 12 million
book run on an M-3000 press operating at 2400 FPM using 1.4 lbs of ink per
minute. After just eight hours, the run was
reduced to 2200 FPM due to poor drying
characteristics. This caused major concern, as it was not initially evident what
properties were causing the poor drying.
After four more hours of continued struggles, the meters ink consumption had risen
to three pounds per min.
Production Challenge
With the ink consumption changing from 1.4 pounds per minute
to three pounds per minute, the process was totally out of
control. Plant management and press personnel wondered what
could be the cause of ink consumption rising that fast and where
all the ink was going.
The initial assumption was that the newly installed flowmeter
was defective. The metering system was tested though, and was
determined to be reading accurately. The second assumption was
there must be a leak within the system. Or, perhaps, something
was wrong with the setup of the process line. As such, a decision
was also made to run check on the press and distribution system.
Checking the System

The entire press was checked, and no leaks were found.
Plumbing from press to totes looked good, and no leaks were
found. The totes were also checked, and it was determined that no
ink was going anywhere except to the press. So now plant personnel faced the reality that for some unknown reason the job in
question was consuming almost double the amount of ink than
was previously estimated.
A review was performed on the individual sheet registrations
coming off the press. In addition, a review was preformed on antidotal information, such as:
How much gas was consumed on the press dryer?
How much gas was consumed on the afterburner on the roof?
What was the total percentage of ink coverage compared to density from the beginning of the run to present?
Have there been any major changes in press settings and conditions from the beginning of the run to present?
What were the ink and water settings from startup to present?
Upon completion of this examination, the startling reality was that
gas consumption on the press dryer was peaked out. It was at
max, and the printer could only run at 2,200 FPM. The afterburner
was not consuming any gas, and it was at 97.5 percent compliance, meaning it was fueled at 100 percent of the solvents being
flashed off in the dryer. This condition was something the printer
had never seen before. Putting all of this information together, the
printer came to the conclusion that as the temperature of the
press rose throughout the eight-hour run, the ink was excessively
heated, which changed its viscosity to the point that the ink was
actually being absorbed into the paper. (See chart on page 18 for
visual representation of a similar condition.)
Press densitometers are generally designed to automatically
read and correct for all image density and ink coverage and consumption issues. The process conditions experienced in the application under consideration here were interpreted by the densitometer as too much water and ink, when in reality the ink was
going into the paper. But since the densitometer took its reading
as an interpretation of loss of density, it put more ink onto the
paper. Since thats the only thing a densitometer knows to do,
thats what it did, which effectively doubled ink consumption in a
way that was invisible to the naked eye (and the previous ink
metering system).
As a result of this error, this project showed a total loss of
roughly a million dollars.
The Solution
After discovering the problem with the application detailed above,
the printer in question was led to the conclusion that perhaps its
other high-run production projects were also being squeezed in a
similar fashion. The real question, however, was why didnt the
printer see this operational variance before? What was it about its
previous ink meter that didnt pick up on these operational variances? The answer to these questions was actually quite simple.
The previous ink meter featured a leak path that had a direct
relationship to viscosity. So, as the viscosity of the ink was changing with the rising temperature of the press during the high-volume run, the leak rate of the meter increased and readings were
constantly skewed. In fact, readings were skewed to the point that
the 1.5 pounds of ink that was documented at the beginning of
the project looked like 1.5 pounds eight hours into the press run
because of the leakage rate by the meter.
As such, every time the printer printed the type of product
detailed above with high-volume ink coverage for the total project,
it took a loss and yet could not figure out where and why it was
producing at a loss. This was because the operational variance
was invisible with the meter the printer was using and was not
realized until it bolted in the INKnet meter, which provided .1 percent accuracy and self-calibration within a wide range of changing
viscosities.
According to subsequent application analysis, when producing
small print runs, the printer under consideration here estimated
that its previous ink meter was off 1.5 percent to 2 percent. On
large runs that lasted over eight hours, it estimated its ink meter
readings were off by as much as 50 percent.
July 2009 19
payback, says Rapp. As such, the push to move to a new metering system died out for bit.
The initiative was bumped back up to priority status rather
abruptly when Brown saw four of its existing meters wear through
in the span of one week. INKnet came back to Brown with a new
quote for a stripped down ink metering system, which brought the
price point down enough for Brown to make a purchase.
When I realized that we had to replace all four meters, I was
really adamant that it would be really stupid to replace with the
same meters that we had identified werent really meeting our
needs, says Rapp. As such, he says Brown narrowed its search
for replacement meters to the INKnet meter and a gear-driven
meter that was highly sensitive to changes in flow and highly accurate. Ultimately, Rapp says the decision was to go with the INKnet
meter because Brown was already very impressed with the design
from the earlier demo.
Once the INKnet meters were in place, Rapp says Brown immediately recognized backward flow in the process. The previous
meters were not responding to this backward flow, which was
throwing the accuracy off. In addition, the new meters provided six
pulses for every 40 CCs (approx. 2.400 pulses per gallon), while
the old meter was only providing one click per gallon, regardless of
whether the flow was forward or backward.
One of the key requirements for proper operation of the INKnet
meter is proper filtration ahead of the device. As such, Rapp says
Brown has been working to tailor its application to meet the
required level of filtration. With 100 micron ink filtration, the INKnet
meter has a proven life of more than four years. However, without
filtration, the lifetime of the meter is less than 90 days.
Ultimately, Brown plans to transition all of its ink meters to the
INKnet design. As each of the old meters fails, Rapp says Brown
will replace it with the INKnet meter.
Buffalo News Press (www.buffnewspress.com), a regional fourcolor commercial printer of weekly newspapers, tabloid and broadsheet inserts, booklets and catalogs, started to monitor its ink consumption about nine years ago. At that time, the company invested
in some mechanical gear ink meters, which the company soon
realized were not capable of meeting the application requirements.
This is the INKnet touch screen, which is designed to provide data

retrieval in both pounds and gallons with a detailed history report on
each meter connected to it. The unit provides Ethernet output for information distribution throughout the operation.
20 July 2009
Jim Burke, pressroom manager for Buffalo News,

says the gear meters proved to be quite inaccurate
and were subject to pressure variations. Ultimately, Burke says
Buffalo News was forced to look for an alternate solution. Buffalo
News was referred to INKnet, and after some initial meetings, the
company purchased four INKnet meters.
To test the accuracy of the new meters, Burke says Buffalo News
ran them through a 30 lbs. calibration test, where 30 lbs. of ink was
repeatedly pumped through the metering system to determine how
accurately the meters were measuring ink flow. According to Burke,
the INKnet meters always read within a couple of ounces of 30 lbs.
By contrast, Burke says the previous meters could be off anywhere
from 10 lbs. to 100 lbs., depending on the size of the print run.
With multiple presses running off the same ink source, you cant
afford that kind of variation, says Burke.
Since Buffalo New made its first purchase of INKnet meters,
Burke says he hasnt had a need to consider ink metering again.
Theyve given me exactly what I want, he says.
Daytona Beach News-Journal Corporation (www.newsjournalonline.com), publisher of the Daytona Beach News-Journal
newspaper and local shopper coupon catalogs, implemented a new
system for distributing ink to its printing presses about four years
ago. Rather than pumping ink from totes, the new system piped
the ink directly to the presses. Thus, ink flow measurement became
a necessity.
To measure its ink use, Daytona Beach News first employed a
Coriolis mass flow device. However, Terry Grubbs, machine shop
supervisor for Daytona Beach News, says the mass meters were
found to be ineffective at lower flows. If we were opening a valve
to make a color for PMS flow, they worked fine, says Grubbs. But
when we got down into a small flow or no flow, we couldnt get the
zero point to where it would register no flow. In fact, Grubbs says
the meters would sometimes show flow readings when the presses
were down and/or they would show variable flows on jobs where
the printing requirements didnt change.
After several unsuccessful attempts by the mass flowmeter manufacturer to resolve the low-flow issues, Grubbs says Daytona
Beach News decided to look for other options for its ink measurement needs. Ultimately, Daytona Beach News discovered the
INKnet metering system and purchased three units. According to
Grubbs, the only problem Daytona Beach News has had with the
INKnet meters, which have been in operation for about three years
now, was an electronics failure on one of the meters about a year
ago. The electronics were replaced though, and the meter was back
up and running in two days.
Grubbs says the accuracy of the INKnet meters was checked
upon purchase by pumping several three-gallon buckets of ink.
Grubbs says the meters came in right at three gallons for each
bucket pumped, and the meters have been running without calibration since. Theres nothing to do with them once you put them in,
says Grubbs. You put them in, turn on the system, and theyre
ready to go. At least for us, they were really easy to install. FC
Matt Migliore is the editor of Flow Control magazine. He can be
reached at matt@grandviewmedia.com or 610 828-1711.
Flow Control
q&a
by Mike Boudreaux
A Primer on SIS
Understanding Process Safety Systems Design
Mike Boudreaux is the DeltaV SIS product manager at Emerson Process Management in Austin, Texas. Prior to joining Emerson, he previously filled various engineering, sales and marketing roles at AkzoNobel and Alcoa. While at AkzoNobel, Mr. Boudreaux gained his experience specifying, designing and implementing safety instrumented systems. He earned a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from
the University of Houston and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a member of the ISA 84
functional safety standards committee and he is a co-chair for ISA 99 Working Group 7 on safety and security. Mr. Boudreaux can be
reached at Mike.Boudreaux@emerson.com or 512 832-3547.
Q: How did the concept of safety instrumented systems come to
be? How has SIS design strategy evolved since its inception to
where it stands now?
A: Industry incidents, such as those that have occurred in
Flixborough, England, Seveso, Italy, Bhopal, India, and
Pasadena, Texas, as well as others, have led to an increased
interest in process safety. Much of the focus has been to reduce
process risk through inherently safe design and independent layers
of protection (IPL). Safety instrumented systems are one of the
many layers of protection that are used to deliver increased
process safety.
Modern safety instrumented systems are based on functional
safety design concepts that are provided by IEC 61508 and IEC
61511. Over the past 25 years, SIS design concepts have mirrored
process control system developments. Control systems have
evolved from pneumatics and hardwired panel boards to centralized DCSs to digital plant architectures. Similarly, SISs have progressed from relays and switches to PLCs with redundant architectures to logic solvers with advanced diagnostics capabilities.
SIS design has evolved from using rules of thumb and prescriptive
requirements to designing safety loops based on the functional
safety requirements of the process.
Q: From a general process safety perspective, why are safety
instrumented systems important? What capabilities do SISs
generally offer the end-user for process safety improvement?
A: When a process cannot practically be designed to be inherently
safe, an SIS can be used to reduce risks to an acceptable level. An
SIS can be designed to deliver a specified safety integrity level
(SIL) of risk reduction. IEC 61508 defines SIL 1 through SIL 4,
with each SIL designating a relative level of risk reduction provided
by a safety instrumented function (SIF) by an additional order of
magnitude.
Q: What role do standards play in the world of SIS? What
should end-users know about standards related to SIS?
A: The modern concept for SIS in the process industries is based
on IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. IEC 61508 is a generic functional
safety standard that can be applied across all industries. IEC 61511
22 July 2009
is a functional safety standard that applies specifically to the

process industry sector. ISA (www.isa.org) has adopted IEC 61511
as ANSI/ISA 84.00.01-2004 (ISA 84), with the addition of a grandfather clause. Other industry sectors have standards based on IEC
61508, such as IEC 62061 for machinery safety and IEC 61513 for
the nuclear power industry.
In the United States, OSHA (www.osha.gov) has stated that ISA
84 is recognized and generally accepted as good engineering practice for SIS. This means that if a process manufacturer uses ISA
84 as a basis for SIS design, this manufacturer will be considered
in compliance with OSHA PSM requirements for SIS. IEC 61511
has similar recognition as a best practice under the SEVESO II
Directive in the European Union. Some other countries have similar regulations that recognize IEC 61511.
Q: What are some of the common pitfalls end-users need to be
aware of when devising their SIS design and implementation
strategies?
A: During the analysis and implementation phases of the safety
lifecycle, there are two major activities that can have a significant
effect on the performance of the SIS. When developing a safety
requirements specification (SRS), process manufacturers sometimes go overboard and make the SRS too complex to be practical, or they go in the opposite direction and dont provide a consistent set of documentation where the safety requirements are clearly specified. Clause 10 of IEC 61511 contains an itemized list of
information that should be included in a SRS, but at the most
basic level, the SRS should provide a functional description and
the integrity requirements for each SIF. The SRS is the document
against which all of the safety lifecycle activities are verified and
validated. As such, it is important that this documentation be simple to use and maintain.
Other activities that can have a significant impact on the performance of the SIS are SIF design and SIL verification. This task
requires significant engineering knowledge, training, and experience. The basic PFDavg calculations can be automated via safety
lifecycle tools, such as exSILentia. Knowing which devices to use,
selecting the appropriate hardware fault tolerance, correctly applying prior-use data, and designing the most economical SIF to minimize capital and operating costs while maximizing availability, can
be a difficult task. End-users should make sure the people perFlow Control
q&a
forming this work are competent in the area of process safety systems design and, more specifically, SIF design and SIL verification.
Q: What are some key steps end-users should take to ensure
they are employing SIS in a way that will provide the most benefit in terms of process safety?
by the ISA 84 committee to provide better

guidance to process manufacturers so they
can more easily apply IEC 61511 to these applications. This will
continue into the future, with the aim of IEC 61511 ultimately eliminating the need for many of the existing FGS and BMS standards.
A: The IEC 61511 safety lifecycle is the best

model for designing, implementing, and
operating an SIS. The safety lifecycle activities are often grouped into three basic phases: analysis, implementation, and operation.
During the analysis phase, it is important that
end-users first try to design their processes
to be inherently safe. Some ways to do this
are to implement simpler process designs
and to carry out PHAs early in the design to
allow for inherent safety in the design
process. If this is not practical, then non-SIS
DeltaV SIS is part of Emerson's smart SIS solution, which is an extension of the
layers of protection should be applied to
PlantWeb digital plant architecture, providing an integrated approach to complete safety
reduce risk to an acceptable level. An SIS
loops. As illustrated here, the DeltaV SIS platform includes SIS soltions from sensor to
should be implemented only after this has
logic solver to final control element.
been done, and not by default.
Many end-users try to avoid SIL 3 SIFs
altogether. In cases where SIL 3 integrity is required, end-users
Q: How do you envision SIS evolving going forward? How will
should make a second attempt to go back and reduce the process the SIS of tomorrow be better than the SIS of today?
risk in other ways before implementing an SIL 3 specified SIF.
During implementation and operation, it is important to have a
A: Process manufacturers are realizing the benefits of an integratgood safety management system (SMS) in place to ensure that
ed control and safety system (ICSS). Existing single-vendor ICSS
the SIS is delivering the functional and integrity requirements
platforms have shown that an integrated system can meet the IEC
specified in the SRS. A good SMS will provide competency track61511 requirements for independence, diversity, physical separaing for safety lifecycle roles, well documented design, operating
tion, and common-cause failures between protection layers. New
and maintenance procedures, and routine function safety assesstechnologies will continue to challenge the existing conceptions
ment and auditing. A well-run SMS will prevent systematic failures about how to deliver both separation and integration of BPCS and
from undermining SIS performance.
SIS. Business needs for lower engineering and lifecycle costs,
reduced training and maintenance expenses, and improved asset
Q: What are some of the technology application environments
and event management will continue to drive the trend of ICSS
that typically benefit from SIS? Please explain how each appliadoption as the preferred solution for process manufacturers.
cation benefits from SIS in some detail.
Improved device diagnostics is being driven by technology
advancements in microprocessors and device design. Diagnostics
A: There are many types of SIS applications, including emergency reduces the dangerous undetected failure rates for devices.
shutdown systems (ESD), fire and gas systems (FGS), burner
Automated online proof testing and device diagnostics will deliver
management systems (BMS), and others. An SIS that is used as
safer systems, because failures will be detected whenever they
an ESD is the last line of defense to prevent a hazardous event
occur. For the diagnosed failures in field devices, digital communifrom being initiated. In this kind of application, an SIS will bring
cations will send device status information to the logic solver so
the process to a safe state when an abnormal situation is detected. that the process can continue running safely while the device is
An FGS is another type of SIS, but these systems typically alert
repaired. For manual tasks that require maintenance personnel,
personnel or initiate actions in order to mitigate the consequences
automated workflow will be integrated with the SIS and asset
of a hazardous event. A BMS is a safety solution for control and
management systems. Automation of the diagnostics and proof
monitoring of burner units that employs sequencing and interlocks tests will make it economically feasible to perform them frequentto allow the burner unit to go safely through all the relevant states: ly; it will ensure that the tasks are completed correctly; and it will
from start-up, to operation, to shutdown.
provide electronic documentation to ensure completion. FC
IEC 61511 is replacing many of the older, prescriptive application standards. However, IEC 61511 doesnt map perfectly to FGS
www.emersonprocess.com
and BMS applications for a variety of reasons. Work is being done
24 July 2009
Flow Control
focus on: seals & gaskets

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26
July 2009
Flow Control
best practices
by Nwaoha Chikezie
Airflow Troubleshooting Strategy

Achieving Production Efficiency Through Proper Air Systems Maintenance
any industries utilize air for production purposes like mixing,

pressurizing, atomizing and agitating applications. Applications include oil
and gas, food, pharmaceutical, etc. By
managing compressed-air systems and
controlling airflow in such scenarios,
users can improves production efficiency
by up to 50 percent.
Compressed air flows as a result of
pressure differential. This implies that
pressure drop is the major cause of insufficient airflow. To maintain adequate airflow, much attention should be focused on
the pressure losses that are caused by
obstacles in the compressed air systems.
Figure 1. A newly installed air compressor
Common Obstacles to
Proper Airflow
Obstacles in a compressed airflow system
alter the pressure of the flowing air. As the
push to optimize production continues, it
becomes imperative for production personnel to always identify and combat such
problems.
Air Quality: Air cleanliness affects the
required airflow. Atmospheric air contains a large amount of airborne contaminants ranging from dust, dirt, water
vapor, and, in an oil related industry, oil
vapor in the form of unburnt hydrocarbons.
In many applications, dirt and dust particles can pass through the air compres28 July 2009
Compressed air flows as a result of pressure differential. This implies that pressure drop is the major
cause of insufficient airflow. To maintain adequate
airflow, much attention should be focused on the
pressure losses that are caused by obstacles in the
compressed air systems.
sor and gradually form deposits on the
interior surface of the compressor. As
these deposits accumulate, friction
increases and the compressor losses it
ability to generate the required
head for airflow.
While many operators are concerned about the risk of dirt and
dust particles, oil vapor and water
vapor in the air stream poses a
problem. During compression, oil
vapor and water vapor escape
with the compressed air, and after
compression the air is cooled in
the interstage cooler, resulting in
condensed vapors. If this condensate is not removed, it causes
corrosion and blockage to the compressed-air systems, thus reducing airflow and production efficiency. To prevent this, filters must be properly located
in the system, and an interstage
cooler with automatic drain traps
must be fitted into the air compressor.
causes similar contamination problems

as the condensed oil and water vapors.
In addition, the type of compresssor
also affects proper airflow. A turbinedriven air compressor, for example, utilizes more lubricating oil and cooling
water for operation than an electrically
driven compressor. This infers that a turbine-drive compressor is more susceptible to lubricating oil and/or cooling water
seepage.
Improper Configuration of Distribution
Systems: The main objective of proper
sizing and configuration of distribution
systems is to transport the maximum
expected volumetric airflow from the
compressor to the point of use with
minimum pressure drop.
Poor distribution system configuration
can lead to insufficient airflow, and thus
Air Compressor Type and

Operation: The air compressor
can also be an obstacle to air flow.
Air compressors make use of
lubricating oil for sealing and lubrication, and use cooling water
(mostly applied) for cooling.
During operation, cooling water
and lubricating oil may seep into
Figure 2. The author adjusting cooling water in an air
the compressed air as a liquid or
compressor system.
aerosol. The resultant leakage
Flow Control
TROUBLESHOOTING INSUFFICIENT AIRFLOW

AIR FLOW PROBLEMS
REMEDIES
1.1 LOW AIR PRESSURE AT POINT-OF-USE
Is the distribution piping leaking?
If so, refer piping for inspection and

maintenance.
Is filter element clogged?
Clean the filter element.
Is pressure regulator faulty or not

properly installed?
Refer pressure regulator for

maintenance, or check manufacturers
manual for installation procedures. If
not, install pressure regulators at
different points in the system.
Is the air receiver leaking?
Request for inspection.

Check status and refer for repairs.
1.2 LIQUID IN AIR LINES

Is the drain trap too small?
If so, install a properly sized drain trap

Is air compressor cooling system leaking?
Refer cooling jackets for maintenance, or
install a new one.
Is the drain trap clogged?
Clean, repair or replace the drain trap.
Is the compressed air dryer undersized

or faulty?
Check status of air dryer.

Refer the dryer for maintenance.
Is the compressor sealant leaking?
Refer for sealant replacement.
1.3 LOW AIR PRESSURE AT

COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE
Is the suction pressure adequate?
Maintain suction pressure.
Is it leak free?
Check compressor for leakages.

Refer for maintenance.
Is the discharge valve worn out?
Install a new valve.
Is air capacity system adjusted improperly? Refer to manufacturers recommendation

for adjustment of air capacity systems.
1.4 DIRT OR SCALE IN AIR LINES

Is the filter application correct?
Check filter status, and install proper sized

micron based on application.
Is the distribution-piping aging or corroded? Install a new distribution piping. Check for
moisture content in the air stream, and
install filter along the line.
1.5 LOW AIR LEVEL IN RECEIVER

Is the level indicator in good working
condition?
Confirm status.
Refer for repairs or install a new indicator.
Are the loading valves functional?
Refer faulty valves for maintenance.
Is the air receiver leak free?
If so, request for inspection and refer for

maintenance.
affect the discharge pressure, robbing

the user of expensive compressed air
power. This is not limited to the interconnecting piping from the discharge
of the air compressor to the header. It
also applies to the air storage system
and the distribution line conveying air
to production areas. To prevent this,
international quality standards and
guidelines must be strictly adhered to
when sizing distribution systems.
Troubleshooting
Quickly diagnosing and correcting application issues will help ensure that small
problems dont become big ones. Thus,
it is important to always keep in mind
the old truism: A problem identified is
half solved. Table 1 provides guidance
on troubleshooting five common problems. FC
Nwaoha Chikezie has previously
worked as an operator (student trainee)
with Port Harcourt Refining Company
(PHRC,
www.nnpcgroup.com/index.php) in
Nigeria, and is currently working on
several research projects involving flow
systems design, including an initiative
with the Caribbean African Student
Exchange Initiative (CASEI). As part of
his research, Mr. Chikezie has authored
a number of engineering articles in
leading international journals. Mr.
Chikezie is a member of SPE, ASME,
AIChe, IMechE, ICE, IGEM and Nigerian
Gas Association (NGA). He can be
reached at +234-703-135-3749, or
chikezienwaoha@yahoo.com.
For another best practices

article with troubleshooting
remedies by Nwaoha
Chikezie, see Increasing
Heat Exchanger
Performance on page 30.
July 2009 29
best practices
by Nwaoha Chikezie
Increasing Heat Exchanger Performance

Examining the Effects of Pressure & Temperature Conditions
eat exchangers are typically

employed in the process industries
as a means of providing heat transfer between two streams of fluid across a
medium. The heat exchanger ensures the
conservation of heat energy otherwise
known as heat economic operations. The
heat exchanger is designed to foster contact between materials in a conduit network, with one material exchanging heat
and the other material flowing within the
network either counter-currently or cocurrently. Heat exchangers can be classified by mode of service or by design.
Mode of service classifications include
cooler, condenser, exchanger, vaporizer,
reboiler, etc. Design classifications include
shell and tube, finned-tube, etc.
Effects of Operating Variables

To optimize and improve heat exchanger
performance, process personnel must
operate the exchanger within its designed
and specified limits. Also, personnel must
identify those operating parameters that
can affect heat exchanger performance.
Key operating parameters to monitor
include feed material, high degree of fouling, poor maintenance culture, climatic
effects, etc. This article will focus on the
main control points, including heat
exchanger operating pressure, heat
exchanger operating temperatures, and
the nature and properties of the heat
exchanger.
A heat exchanger undergoing maintenance.
30 July 2009
Table 1. HEAT EXCHANGER TROUBLESHOOTING

1.1 DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE DOES NOT HOLD
Possible Cause
Remedy
Are the exchanger interiors confirmed?
Shut down, and inspect tubes and

baffles.
Is the streams pressure adequate?
Check pressure gauge.
Is the heat exchanger leak tested?
Check status. Conduct leak test.
Is the stream purity on spec?
If so, take stream sample for

analysis.
1.2 TEMPERATURES ARE ABNORMAL

Possible Cause
Remedy
Is the stream composition normal?
Analyze the sample.
Is the heat exchanger fouled?
Check status. Inspect heat

exchanger for fouling.
Is the stream flowrate adequate?
Check flowmeter. Ensure flowmeter

is showing an adequate flowrate
reading.
Are the stream inlet and outlet

temperatures normal?
Check inlet and outlet data.

Confirm approach conditions.
Effects of heat exchanger

operating pressure: The
pressure differential
between the suction and
discharge of each fluid
stream is the main driving force of that stream.
The pressure differential
is affected by fluid flow
rates, pipe surface friction, number of heat
exchanger passes, bulk
density and viscosity.
Deposits, if present, reduce the available

surface area and increase the pressure differential, thus resulting in inadequate flow.
If a pressure difference is noticed, the system should undergo troubleshooting to
identify the cause (Table 1).
Effects of heat exchanger operating temperature: The heat exchanger operating
temperature affects heat exchange. In
refineries, stream temperatures can vary
due to changes in the operating procedures. Any alterations in the stream temperature will create a variation in the
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best practices
A De-butanizer reboiler in operation.
approaches; the exchanger duty and log mean temperature difference. A low approach difference will give a corresponding log
mean temperature difference, and high load vice versa. When the
operating temperature limits are exceeded, the material condenses
as a result of deposits and coats the internals of heat exchangers,
which produces a wall temperature that is lower than the bulk limit
temperature. To maintain the operating temperature, the inlet and
outlet temperature must be monitored (Table 1).
Effects of nature and properties of heat exchanger: Regarding
To ensure a long service life, process

personnel should have a firm understanding of material properties and their
corresponding effects at varying conditions. Further, process personnel should
take special care in the operation and
maintenance of the heat exchanger. For
example, steady sampling and analyzing
for metals, as well as monitoring surface thickness, is recommended.
the properties and nature of the heat exchanger, process personnel
must pay particular attention to the chemical relationship between
the heat exchanger materials of construction and the chemical
nature of the fluid stream in transit. For example, process personnel would be ill advised to use a heat exchanger designed to handle cooling water for a hydrocarbon application, as the materials of
construction would likely not stand up to the conditions of the
application.
To ensure a long service life, process personnel should have a
firm understanding of material properties and their corresponding
effects at varying conditions. Further, process personnel should
take special care in the operation and maintenance of the heat
exchanger. For example, steady sampling and analyzing for metals,
as well as monitoring surface thickness, is recommended.
Troubleshooting
As with any piece of process equipment, efficient and effective
troubleshooting is key to long-term operational success. When
considering a heat exchanger in particular, the first step in the
troubleshooting process should be to make sure that the operating
variables are maintained and controlled at the designed point.
Table 1 provides guidance on troubleshooting two common heat
exchanger problems. FC
Nwaoha Chikezie has previously worked as an operator (student
trainee) with Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC, www.nnpc
group.com/index.php) in Nigeria, and is currently working on several research projects involving flow systems design, including an
initiative with the Caribbean African Student Exchange Initiative
(CASEI). As part of his research, Mr. Chikezie has authored a number of engineering articles in leading international journals. Mr.
Chikezie is a member of SPE, ASME, AIChe, IMechE, ICE, IGEM
and Nigerian Gas Association (NGA). He can be reached at +234703-135-3749, or chikezienwaoha@yahoo.com.
32
July 2009
Flow Control
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the pump guy

by Larry Bachus
mailbag: Reader Raises the Issue of Static Head

Vessel-to-Vessel vs. Open- or Closed-Loop Pumping Systems
ast month, I received an overwhelming response to my May

column in Flow Control magazine, Book Smarts: A Young
Engineer Gets Schooled on Pump Basics (pages 36-40). All
told, more than 50 readers sent me written comments on this
installment of the Pump Guy. Here I provide you a few select
comments, with a response to a comment by Flow Control s very
own Applications Corner (page 12) and Quiz Corner (page 48)
columnist, David W. Spitzer.
Subject: A Young Engineer Gets Schooled on Pump Basics
I just read your piece in the May 09 issue of the Flow Control
magazine (Book Smarts, page 36). I learned the word obfuscation early in my career from observations, and decided that it is
an ultimate ploy by confusing the issue(s) it is likely that no
one will notice the underlying problems or errors.
Thanks for the clarity and candor.
Aida C.
###
Thank you for reminding us the emperor has no clothes
speed will result in some flow.

Some static head must be overcome in almost all liquid applications. Operating the pump at (say) 50 percent speed can produce
no flow in many (most?) installations. Therefore, flow is not necessarily proportional to speed.
Best,
David W. Spitzer
Mr. Spitzer is author of Flow Controls Applications Corner
and Quiz Corner columns, as well as a leading text on variable-speed drives, titled Variable Speed Drives: Principles
and Applications for Energy Cost Savings" (ISA 1987, 1990
and 2004).
Hello David,
Thank you for writing. Im glad you mostly agree. In the example cited in my last article, there was no static head (liquid elevation differential) to overcome. That particular system is an excellent application for a pump mated to a variable speed driver.
I am an advocate for all pumps, including process pumps. A
few years ago I would have agreed with you. But today, Id say
Thanks,
Bill H., PE
###
I taught high school science for many years, including chemistry
and physics. I noticed that I could divide my students into two
groups one group had a good deep understanding of math and
could apply it well to solve new problems; the other group could
do the math, but had no clue what they were doing, why they
were doing it, what it meant, or how to apply it to something
new. Both groups were otherwise equal. I never did figure out why
they were different.
A pipe loop with no

elevation differential
(i.e., static head)
Ray M.
###
A vessel-to-vessel
pipe system with
elevation differential
You state that the flow is proportional to speed ... and develop
relationships from there. This is correct in the application that you
cite/sketch, so the article is technically correct.
However, this is usually not the case. In particular, you show the
tank level to be above the return pipe so the pressure upstream
and downstream of the pump at zero flow is the same. Therefore,
there is no static head to overcome and any (non-zero) pump
34 July 2009
Flow Control
the pump guy

there are many more pumps in open and
closed loops (like the sketch and application in last months article) than you might
imagine.
These applications dont feature static
head (liquid elevation differential). Static
head (and pressure head) are standard
features in a vessel-to-vessel piping
system, common in most process
plants.
If you work in a refinery, chemical
plant or paper mill, your work week is
centered on process pumps that move

liquid from one vessel to another vessel. As such, you would tend to think
that most liquid applications feature
static head, pressure head, plus friction
and velocity heads in vessel-to-vessel
piping systems.
However, remember that every public
and private office building, skyscraper,
condo building, shopping mall, big box
store, university campus, airport, hospital and industrial complex will have
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pumps in open and closed loops for recirculated service water, chill water, boilers, air conditioning and hydronic loops.
There are more of these types of pumps
and systems in Manhattan proper than
all the process pumps in the surrounding NYC boroughs, plus Connecticut
and New Jersey (and maybe Delaware
and Vermont, too). We could say the
same for Houston, Peoria or Daytona
Beach.
Remember too, that even a pharmaceutical plant, oil refinery, or paper mill
will have many pumps in open and
closed pipe loops, although pumps in
vessel-to-vessel pipe systems will outnumber the loop systems that dont feature static head.
If we consider the number of pumps
re-circulating water in public and private
swimming pools, fountains, hot tubs,
spas and aquariums, the case is even
stronger for loop pumps in systems that
dont feature static head.
And, most automobiles (except
Porsches and old VWs) will have a radiator water pump moving cooling water
through a closed pressurized loop. And
amazingly, these pumps are variablespeed pumps. The velocity is a function
of your foot on the gas pedal.
As a pump-user advocate and maintenance practitioner, I say there are
many more pumps in open and closed
re-circulation loops (with no static
head) than pumps in vessel-to-vessel
pipe systems with static head. I believe
that sketch and the application will
ring the bells of most readers of
Flow Control. FC
Keep in touch,
Larry Bachus (a.k.a. Pump Guy)
Lechler Headquarters
Lechler, Inc. USA
Lechler,
L
echler, Inc.
Inc .
445 Kautz
445
Kaut z Rd.,
Rd., St.
St . Charles,
Charles, IL
IL 60174
60174
P
hone: 630.845.6817
630.845.6817
Phone:
F
a x: 630.845.6917
630.845.6917
Fax:
www.LechlerUSA.com
w
w w.LechlerUSA .com
environmental@LechlerUSA.com
e
nvironment al@Le
L chlerUSA .com
Larry Bachus, founder of pump services

firm Bachus Company Inc., is a regular
contributor to Flow Control magazine. He
is a pump consultant, lecturer, and
inventor based in Nashville, Tenn. Mr.
Bachus is a member of ASME and lectures in both English and Spanish. He
can be reached at larry@bachusinc.com
or 615 361-7295.
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36 July 2009
Flow Control
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July 2009 37
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Ethernet communication is now direct from the analyzer. The chromatograph has also been upgraded to
Division 2 by design, reducing analyzer cost and
enabling Division 1 certification to be achieved with a
simple y purge. A new mounting plate on its Micro Liquid Sample Inject
Valve isolates excessive loads on the sample chamber, eliminating premature wearing of the seals and damage to the steam.
Dynasonics TFX
Ultra clamp-on
ultrasonic flow
and energy
meter is
designed to provide accurate and
repeatable flow
measurement readings
for full pipe liquid applications, such as cooling lines, raw sewage flows, water
distribution and processes where system shutdown
is impossible. The TFX Ultra is also available as an
energy flowmeter measuring energy usage in BTUs
or Tons. Since the meter is a clamp-on device, there
is no need to shut down the process for installation
or maintenance, and the meter can be installed and
fully operational in minutes. With no moving parts,
there is no risk of mechanical wear. Features a compact aluminum enclosure, digital display, bi-directional flow measurement, and a totalizer featuring
forward, reverse and net total, and Modbus communications. An optional Ethernet connection and USB
programming port are also available.
Hybrid Ultrasonic Flowmeters

Blue-White Industries SonicPro Series hybrid ultrasonic
flowmeters are individually calibrated with water only and
include a calibration certification graph. The Class A calibration
standard test equipment is certified to provide
accuracy of +/-0.43 percent. Blue-White calibration
standards comply with MIL-STD 45662A and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1 and
are traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The
flowmeters have the ability to measure fluid flow using either Doppler or
transit-time ultrasonic methods. Additional features include noninvasive
clamp-on transducers; custom metric algorithms and DSP technology
for reliable, accurate measurement; easy reading display (320x240 pixels with backlit LCD); and NEMA 4X (IP 66) washdown enclosure.
Data Logger &

Temperature Sensor
Dwyer Instruments DW-USB
Series data loggers now offer
a thermocouple temperature
sensor or a carbon monoxide
sensor that can monitor in a
variety of environments. The user can select the sampling rate, start time,
high/low alarm settings, and temperature unit parameters with a Windowsbased application interface. Stored data can be downloaded by plugging the
module into a PCs USB port with no cable required. Alarm status and low
battery are indicated via built-in flashing LEDs. When the protective cap is
fitted, the data logger resists moisture to IP67 standards. These features
make the data logger a good fit for calibration labs, pharmaceutical plants,
environmental chambers and storage warehouses.
38 July 2009
ExtremeTemperature Turbine
Flowmeter
Flow Technologys
FT/DF (Diesel Fuel)
turbine flowmeter system is designed to
provide accurate
measurements of
diesel fuel consumption in a wide range of
industrial applications,
including automotive,
marine, aerospace and
power generation. Pairing Flow Technologys FT
Series turbine meter with the companys LinearLink
Temperature Compensated Interface (TCI), the FT/DF
system can accurately measure diesel fuel at temperatures as low as -50 F. The turbine flowmeter incorporates a fail open technology, which, in the event of a
malfunction, continues to feed fuel to the generator
ensuring there is no interruption of power to the
industrial operation.
Flow Control
You asked for it.

Sierras next generation
introduces unprecedented intelligence to
digital gas mass flow measurement and control, the result of over five years of user feedback.
Control
Reliable, stable and smooth gas mass flow control is
now within reach thanks to the proprietary Sierra
Frictionless-Hovering Valve TechnologyTM inside every
Smart-Trak 2. Experience the most advanced directacting control valve available, and unlike other
valves, it has shut-off capability.
Independence
With Smart-Trak 2, independently adjust calibration
in the field for any of the 10 pre-programmed
Dial-A-Gas gasses. The user-friendly Pilot Module
control/readout interface lets you view and adjust
critical control functions at any time.
Flexibility
Plug our innovative new CompodTM into the face of
your Smart-Trak 2 to streamline, simplify and save!
Smart-Trak 2 becomes a fully network-enabled, multidrop RS-485 / Modbus RTU device, allowing you to
reduce costs by automating complex gas processes
like gas mixing, gas ratio control, batch control, leak
testing and process monitoring.
Experience Our Passion for Flow!

With over 150 offices in 50 countries, Sierra is uniquely
positioned to deliver your company the best possible flow
measurement solution for gases, liquids or steam.
Visit sierrainstruments.com/st2
NORTH AMERICA
5 Harris Court, Building L / Monterey, CA 93940 / U.S.A.
800.866.0200 / 831.373.0200 / fx 831.373.4402
ASIA-PACIFIC
Shanghai, China
+8621 5879 8521/22 / fx +8621 5879 8586
EUROPE
The Netherlands
+31 72 5071400 / fx +31 72 5071401
new products
Indicating Differential-Pressure Switch
Mid-West
Instruments
Model 121 indicating differentialpressure switch
is a heavy-duty
version of the
companys Model
120 design, featuring the same
rugged, fieldproven piston/housing. In addition, the heavy-duty industrialtype terminal strip can support either one or two switches.
Wiring is easy with 1/2 NPT conduit interface and a removable cover. A variety of switching configurations is available
with one or two hermetically sealed switches in SPST, SPDT
configuration with 240 volt, 3 Watt or 60 Watt ratings. The
switch is available in aluminum or 316 S.S. pressure housing
with 316 S.S. and ceramic internal parts. Safe Working
Pressure is 6000 PSIG (0-400 bar). Differential pressure
ranges from 0-5 PSID (0-.3 bar) to 0-110 PSID (0-7 bar) with
+/-2 percent accuracy. The weather-resistant gauge front is
reinforced engineered plastic for corrosion resistance.
Do You
Know & Understand
Your Pumps?
Larry Bachus ("The Pump Guy") is the
co-author of Everything You Need to
Know About Pumps, one of the best
selling technical books on pump systems in
the world. This book is written exclusively for
people who must maintain pumps. Whereas
other pump books are written from a design
point of view, this book is written with
maintenance in mind. While most technical
books sit on a reference shelf gathering dust,
this book gathers dirt smudges. Its pages get
creased and folded when mashed by the lid
of a photocopy machine. It gets sneezed on
and splashed with snot on cold mornings. It gets soaked with leaking oil, grease,
and coffee. Basically, it gets used ... because it's tremendously useful. The
straightforward guidance it provides will help you ensure the efficiency and
lifespan of your pumping systems.
To order your copy of Everything You Need to Know About Pumps,

call (615) 361-7295 or order online at
www.bachusinc.com/books.htm.
Differential-Pressure Flowmeter
McCrometers
V-Cone flowmeter is a corrosion-resistant
device designed
for high-accuracy
measurement
with virtually no
maintenance
under challenging conditions.
The flowmeter is
based on advanced differential-pressure technology and
requires no moving parts. Built-in flow conditioning allows
the flowmeter to achieve measurement accuracy of +/-0.5
percent, with a repeatability of +/-0.1. The meter operates
over a flow range of 10-to-1 and services line sizes from
0.5 to 120 inches. Standard configurations may be specified with either stainless steel or carbon steel materials.
Optional materials include Hastelloy C-276, Duplex 2205,
Chromeloy P22/P11, Monel K400/K500, Inconel 625 and
many more. With its ability to self-condition flow, the
flowmeter saves space, eliminating the need for up/down
stream straight-pipe runs required by other DP technologies, such as orifice plates and Venturi tubes.
Cartridge-Style Insert Orifices

The Lee Companys IMH Insert Orifices are designed for liquid
and gas applications where cartridge-style orifices are required.
Available in 2.5 mm and 5.5 mm diameters, these new cartridge-style orifices are the smallest, self-retained flow restrictors available, providing far more accuracy than an ordinary
drilled hole. Accuracy is confirmed by 100 percent flow testing
to ensure that every orifice is within +/-5 percent of its nominal
flowrate. Constructed entirely of stainless steel, the orifices are
available in a range of flowrates, with orifice sizes as small as
0.002 (.05 mm). Certain models are offered with an integral
safety screen. Installation is aided by Lees controlled-expansion
principle, which provides retention and creates a leak-tight seal
to prevent bypass leakage.
40
July 2009
Flow Control
Sanitary RTD Sensors
Multi-Path Ultrasonic Flowmeter
Omega Engineerings manufactured

sanitary RTD sensors feature two
types of probes the heavy-duty
probe stem has a stepped design for
additional strength; and the standard
duty is a 1/4 (0.250) diameter
probe. Both feature standard probe
lengths of three, four, five, and six
inches with other probe lengths
available. Both heavy duty and standard duty probes feature wetted surfaces that are 316L stainless steel
with a surface finish of 32 microinch or better. Both are a
good fit for CIP and sanitary process.
Thermo Fisher
Scientifics M-PULSe
multi-path ultrasonic
flowmeter is capable of
measuring fluids accurately from as low as
0.06 cSt up to 1,500 cSt.
The systems wider viscosity range was determined during recent testing and indicates its ability to further
optimize use of multi-product hydrocarbon pipelines. The
meter enables pipeline operators to run thick crude followed
by gasoline with no recalibration required between the hydrocarbons. To fulfill larger pipe requirements, the meter now features an extended spool size range to include 500 mm (20inch) and 600 mm (24-inch) spools along with the standard
100 mm (four-inch) to 400 mm (16-inch) spools. All spool
sizes measure as low as 1 ft/s and as high as 50 ft/s to provide the highest turndown ratio of 50-to-1. Users seeking to
reduce costs also now have the option of an economical carbon steel model in addition to the standard stainless steel. The
flowmeter has no moving parts and does not require calibration following replacement of a transducer which helps minimize maintenance and downtime. Accuracy of +/- 0.10 percent
of flow and repeatability of +/- 0.02 percent.
Coriolis Flow Products

Siemens Energy & Automations SITRANS F
C MASSFLO Coriolis line of flow products is
designed to deliver precise information for liquids or gas flows through a pipe, monitoring
mass flow, volumetric flow, density and
process temperatures. Applications include
dosing, blending and batching. The meters are
user-configurable, involving both software and
hardware. The intelligent USM II (Universal
Signal Module) platform allows users to retrofit the individual functions required, thanks to
an add-on module with optional functions.
Once installed, the module is automatically
detected and programmed to factory settings
via a SENSORPROM flow memory unit. A
dedicated mass flow chip with the latest ASIC
technology, the flowmeter has an improved
step response, which provides the fast
response needed for high-speed batching
applications. The USM II platform handles
most present communication protocols, e.g.,
HART, Profibus, Devicenet, Modbus or CanOpen. The design of the meter allows for the
upgrading of future protocols as they are
developed. The product line ranges from a 1.5
mm (1/16) sensor to a 150 mm (6) sensor.
July 2009 41
Fluid Handling Reference Shelf
Advertising Section
Literature Reviews
Thermal Mass Flow
Eldridge Products Inc.s full color catalog
includes the expanded Master-Touch
flowmeter product line for thermal gas
mass flow measurement. The product line
includes the patented Flow Averaging
Tubes for large ducts and/or difficult installations, and the LightWIRE infrared communications modules. To request a catalog, call 800 321-3569 or visit
www.epilfow.com.
FREE INFO: CIRCLE 200
Linear-PD Flow
Measurement System
INKnet Systems/Link-Techs Smart
Meter positive-displacement flow
measurement system features an
internal risk-based processor for
extended internal memory and
self-diagnosis. The meter provides 0.1 percent accuracy
when measuring either low- or
high-viscosity and thixotropic materials. The meter is impervious to
pressure changes running from 5
PSI to 5000 PSI. For more information and to request literature visit
www.inknetsystems.com or call 262 695-0499
PVC Hose & Tubing

Kuriyamas new Kuri
Tec PVC Hose &
Tubing catalog features
the companys new
Klearon 68 Series tubing with a 68 Shore A
rating; Series 3300, an
ether-based
polyurethane-lined clear
PVC tubing; and the
Series A1730, a flexible
FDA polyethylene hose
for handling a variety of
fluid-transfer applications. Contact Kuriyama of America, Inc. at 847 755-0360,
www.kuriyama.com, or sales@kuriyama.com.
42 July 2009
Hoses for Hydraulic Oil &

Lubrication Lines
Kuriyama of Americas
Piranhaflex 100R7 Hydraulic
Hoses are designed for
medium-pressure hydraulic
oil and lubrication lines. The
Series PF354 black and
Series PF354NC orange
(non-conductive) hoses are
constructed with a seamless
nylon inner tube. The Series
PF367 black and Series
PF367NC orange (non-conductive) hoses are constructed with a seamless polyester inner tube. All hoses are
made with braided high-tensile strength polyester reinforcement with an abrasion-resistant polyurethane
cover. Available in ID sizes -03 through -12. Packaged in
250 ft. reels & 50 ft. box lengths. To request literature,
e-mail sales@kuriyama.com.
Flow, Level & Environmental Handbook

Omega Engineerings Green Book, Flow,
Level and Environmental Handbook and
Encyclopedia 8th Edition contains over
1,300 pages of the latest information on
flow, level and environmental products,
such as flowmeters, valves and water
test equipment. The handbook also
includes a sanitary temperature, pressure and flow product section with technical reference information, as well as a
technical reference section with an
overview on flow measurement.
Progressive-Cavity Metering Pumps

seepexs MDP Series
progressive-cavity
metering pumps now
feature a rotating unit
made from Xytel
ST801, a super tough
nylon. The material is
virtually unbreakable, is
more resistant to abrasion than stainless steel, and runs reliably at low speeds and under high
pressure. The new MDP pump provides pulse-free metering of low- to
medium-viscosity fluids with repeatable accuracy up to +/-1.0 percent.
The pumps are available in four sizes with capacities from 0.1 to 580 l/h
(2.5 GPM) and pressures to 12 bar (174 PSI). To request literature on
this product, visit www.seepex.com or e-mail sales@seepex.net.
Flow Control
Advertising Section
Improve Efficiency in Drying Operations

Spraying Systems Co. is offering a new
catalog that focuses on ways to reduce
air consumption and noise with air nozzles. Included are selection guidelines,
technical references, application examples
and performance data on nozzles, air
knives and amplifiers that use compressed air and air knife packages that
employ regenerative blower air. To
request a catalog, visit
www.spray.com or call 800-95-SPRAY.
Gas Mass Flow & Vacuum

Instrumentation
Teledyne Hastings Instruments is a
trusted manufacturer of quality gas
mass flow and vacuum instrumentation. This year marks the companys
65th anniversary of providing reliable
solutions. Teledynes flowmeters and
controllers cover a broad range of
flowrates from 5 SCCM to 15,000
SLM. To request product literature, visit www.teledyne-hi.com.
Resource
Marketplace
FIND NEW
SUPPLIERS,
BUY/SELL USED
EQUIPMENT
AND MORE
IN THE
FLUID HANDLING
RESOURCE
MARKETPLACE
We Know Flow!
Consumer Guide to
spitzer and boyes, llc
complete consulting services
We help suppliers with:
market research
comparative analysis
technology transfer
expert testimony
seminars
We help end-users with:

sensor and flowmeter
selection
training and seminars
troubleshooting
advanced control
complex problems
For more information visit
or call +1 845-623-1830
July 2009 43
Advertising Section
Fluid Handling Reference Shelf

DotComs
www.cmeflow.com
www.signicast.com
Measure Gas Flow

Accurately
Industry Leader in
Investment Castings
CME offers a complete

line of laminar flow elements, analog and digital
flowmeters and flowmeter calibrators for both
laboratory and process
applications. Visit us
online to view our accurate, dependable, NIST-traceable flowmeters.
We satisfy our customers by delivering

a quality product on time at a competitive price. Through investment in
automation and vertical integration,
Signicast proudly offers the industrys
shortest lead time. Contact us today at
262 673-2700 or www.signicast.com.
www.checkall.com
www.smartflow-usa.com
Check-All Check Valves
Cooling Water Accessories
With worldwide service,

Check-All Valve Mfg. Co. manufactures a complete line of inline, spring-loaded piston-type
check valves for practically
every service application. Visit
www.checkall.com to view all
products.
Smartflow-usa.com features cooling

water-handling accessories, including
water manifolds, safety couplers and
mechanical and electronic flowmeters.
See all new features of the Tracer
Switching Flowmeter, now with analog
outputs for flow and temperature. The
Tracer includes Fluid Condition Indicator FCI for Turbulent Flow indication based on water temperature and line size.
www.harwil.com
www.veris-inc.com
Flow & Level Switches
No-Straight-Run Flowmeter
Reliable, low-cost flow and

level switches, temperature
sensors and pump controllers.
Harwil Corporation manufactures a variety of products,
using brass, stainless steel and chemical resistant plastics, for use with particulate dense fluids, and contaminated wastewater. For over 50 years, Harwil
Corp has been serving the specifications of OEMs and designers.
Verabar flow sensors by Veris Inc provide

unsurpassed accuracy and reliability in
gas, steam and liquid flow measurement
applications. The Accelabar combines
two DP technologies to produce extremely
high accuracy with no straight-run
required. Visit www.veris-inc.com or call
877 837-4700 for more information.
www.vici.com
www.norenproducts.com
Efficient Cooling for

Electrical Enclosures
Noren Products manufactures air-toair and air-to-water heat exchangers
for cooling electrical panels, while at
the same time preventing contaminants from entering the process
(including washdown and hazardous
locations).
Gas Flow Control

The VICI.com Web site features all products offered by
the VICI (Valco Instruments)
family. Included is the full
line of Condyne gas flow
controllers, pressure regulators, and combo valves.
44 July 2009
Flow Control
Advertiser Index
Find company Web sites and get free product information online at www.flowcontrolnetwork.com. Click on the Free Product Info link under the Current
Issue on the left-hand side of the page.
BC = Back Cover - IBC = Inside Back Cover - IFC = Inside Front Cover
Name
Page
RS #
Name
Page
ADS LLC Idex Corp
43
NA
Emerson Process Mgmt
Alicat Scientific
35
21
Rosemount
Assured Automation
Endress+Hausers Inc
Bachus Company Inc
40
23
Ernst Flow Industries
IBC
Badger Meter Inc
31
18
Flow Research Inc
BETE Fog Nozzle Inc
25
16
Flow Technology
Brooks Instrument
10
FMC Technologies
Burger & Brown Engineering
13
RS #
Max Machinery
30
Niagara Meters
41
26
43
28
Noren Products Inc
44
211
Omega Engineering Inc
1, 42
2, 204
33, BC 20, 31
Sanisite
seepex Inc
Check-All Valve Mfg Co
44
209
Harwil
44
210
Eldridge Products
INKnet Systems/
17, 42 12, 200
Emerson Process Mgmt

Micro Motion
27
17
19
13
1
15
18
IFC
Parker Fluid Control Division 23
INVALCO
GF Piping Systems
Collins Instrument
42, 42 202, 203

22
213
44, 48 208, 32
Kuriyama of America
Link-Tech
RS #
36
44
Products
Page
Lechler Inc
Smartflow
CME Aerospace Control
Name
42
201
Interstate Specialty
32
37, 42 24, 205
Sierra Instruments
39
25
Signicast
44
212
Spitzer and Boyes LLC
43
27
Spraying Systems Co
5, 43
4, 206
Products
11
Teledyne Hastings
ISA Expo 2009
45
29
Instruments
43
207
John C Ernst Company
16
11
Tyco Flow Control
21
14
Veris Inc
44
214
VICI Valco Instruments
44
215
PRODUCT INDEX
Page
ABB Process Analytics
38
104
Blue-White Industries
38
105
Dwyer Instruments
38
106
Dynasonics
38
107
Flow Technology
38
108
Products
26
100
Lubrizol Corporation
26
101
McCrometer
40
110
The Lee Company
40
111
Mid-West Instrument
40
109
Omega Engineering
41
113
41
114
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions 26
102
Thermo Fisher Scientific
41
115
WL Gore & Associates
26
103
Interstate Specialty
Siemens Energy &

Automation
46 July 2009
Flow Control
think tank
Level Measurement
May Winner: Pump Performance

Bill North, Purchasing Manager,
Mountain Country Foods
ACCURACY: The degree of conformity of a measure to a standard or a true value
Solve This Word Search

Win a $50 Best Buy Gift Card
One lucky entrant that has solved the puzzle correctly will win a
$50 Best Buy gift card. Best Buy is North Americas leading
consumer electronics retailer. You can use your gift card in the
store or online at www.BestBuy.com.
CAPACITANCE: The property of a system of conductors and dielectrics that permits the storage of electricity when potential differences exist between the conductors
DIELECTRIC: A non-conductor of electricity, especially a substance with electrical
conductivity less than a millionth of a siemens
Fax solution to: (205) 408-3799

If there are no completely correct entries, a winner will be selected from among the
entries with the fewest mistakes.
I would like to receive/continue Flow Control magazine: _____ Yes _____ No.
Signature:
Date:
Name:
Title:
Company:
FREQUENCY: The number of periods occurring per unit time or a representation

of cycles per second
LEVEL: the measurement of how much material is contained within a vessel or
tank
Address/City/State/Zip:
MICROWAVES: the term for the electromagnetic frequencies occupying the portion of the radio frequency spectrum from 1 GHz to 300 GHz
Phone:
NOZZLE: a length of pipe mounted onto a vessel that supports a flange
E-Mail:
OUTPUT: the signal that is transmitted as information from a level device to some
type of PLC
PARAMETERS: in programming, the variables that are given constant values for
specific purposes or processes
RADAR: a device that radiates electromagnetic waves and utilizes the reflection of
such waves from distant objects to determine their existence or position
RANGE: the distance from the transmitter to the material in a vessel
REACTOR: a vessel that contains usually a mixture of different constituents stirred
together and under pressure and temperature to derive an end result concoction
REPEATABILITY: the closeness of agreement among repeated measurements of
the same variable under the same conditions
STILLING WELL: something that is mounted inside of a vessel perpendicular to
the vessel wall, and is open to the vessel at the bottom
ACCURACY
RADAR
CAPACITANCE
RANGE
DIELECTRIC
REACTOR
FREQUENCY
REPEATABILITY
LEVEL
STILLING WELL
MICROWAVES
TRANSDUCER
NOZZLE
TRANSMITTER
OUTPUT
TURBULENT
PARAMETERS
TRANSDUCER: a device or sensor that converts input energy of one form into
output energy of another
TRANSMITTER: an electronic device that generates and amplifies an electronic
signal and transmits the electronic signal to some smart type controller
TURBULENT: violently agitated or disturbed and having a restless or high motion
crest to wave surface
This glossary of terms and definitions was contributed by Jerry Boisvert, product
manager of Microwave Technology for Siemens Energy & Automation
(www.sea.siemens.com/ia). Mr. Boisvert can be reached at
jerry.boisvert@siemens.com.
July 2009 47
think tank
quiz corner: The Difference Between Component & System Accuracy
flow measurement system consists of a flowmeter element, transmitter and indicator. If each of the three components has an accuracy of 1 percent, the performance of the flow measurement system is
approximately:
A. 3 percent
B. 1.7 percent
C. 1 percent
D. None of the above
by David W. Spitzer
lated by taking the square root of the sum of the squares of the
effect of each component. For this system, this would be calculated
as the square root of (12 + 12 + 12), or 1.73 percent. It might
appear that Answer B is correct, however further investigation would
show that the flowmeter element has a percentage of rate error,
while the transmitter and indicator have percentage of full-scale
errors. This means that the transmitter and indicator exhibit flow
errors in excess of 1 percent at flows below 100 percent of full-scale
flow. Therefore, the calculation that results in 1.73 percent performance is only correct at full-scale flow. Answer D is correct.
Commentary
The performance of the flow measurement system should be inferior to the performance of the flow element itself. Answer C could be
viable (given approximate in the wording of the question).
However, the magnitude of the performance of the other two components (1 percent) causes Answer C to be incorrect.
It is not often that all of the components in a measurement system
are in error by the maximum amount in the same direction at the
same time. Therefore, the errors for the three components in this
system would not be mathematically added to obtain 3 percent.
Answer A is not correct.
The overall accuracy of measurement systems is typically calcu-
GAS FLOW ACCURACY

ASSURED
with Model 60B Flow Computer
Additional Complicating Factors

Definitive calculations to determine the overall accuracy of a measurement system entail analysis of many factors that affect the measurement, including dimensional, physical, process, operational, calibration, ambient and measurement considerations. FC
David W. Spitzer, P.E., is a regular contributor to Flow Control. He
has more than 30 years of experience in specifying, building,
installing, startup and troubleshooting process control instrumentation. He has developed and taught seminars for over 20 years and is
a member of ISA and belongs to the ASME MFC and ISO TC30
committees. Mr. Spitzer has written a number of books concerning
the application and use of fluid handling technology, including the
popular Consumer Guide series, which compares flowmeters by
supplier. Mr. Spitzer is currently a principal in Spitzer and Boyes
LLC, offering engineering, product development, marketing and distribution consulting for manufacturing and automation companies.
He can be reached at 845 623-1830.
Model 60B Flow
Computer
FCS-9003 Portable Calibrator
The 60B Flow Computers constantly process pressure, temperature and

flow data from a Laminar Flow Element
(LFE) with a resulting accurate ( .75% of
point-NIST traceable) display of Standard
(Mass) and Volumetric flow. Totalizers and
optional outputs are available.
JUNE SOLUTION: FLOWMETER SPECIFICATIONS
Save downtime and money with the FCS 9003 portable Flow Calibrator. It utilizes
a custom Windows based program to provide superior calibration of many
different flowmeter types. The portability of the system saves test time and the
software compensates for flowmeter types and test conditions eliminating manual
calculations. Print and store compliance data reports after each calibration.
For more information on the Model 60B Digital Flow Computers, the FCS
9003 Portable Calibrator or any of these CME products:
Laminar Flow Elements Mass/Volumetric Digital Flowmeters Custom Test
Stands Analog Flowmeters Digital Manometers & Altimeters
Call Rich Kennedy, 800-845-0927
See us at: www.cmeflow.com

The originators of gas laminar flowmeters
/Div. of Aerospace Control Products, Inc.
1314 West 76th Street, Davenport, IA 52806 FAX: 563-391-9231
E-mail address: info@cmeflow.com

48 July 2009
Flow Control
Our calibration is worth its weight in gold.

Promass F
Coriolis mass flow measurement
Tested on the worlds finest production calibration rigs, Promass F shines not
only on the outside; it also shines thanks to its performance. With its robust
design and unparalleled stability in operation, it greatly increases the value of
your facilities. Promass F is ideal for virtually all fluids and measures several
process parameters directly in the pipeline: Mass and volume flow, density,
concentration as well as temperature. This means that expensive raw materials
and semi-finished products are measured reliably, strict quality requirements
are observed to the letter and maintenance costs are reduced significantly.
High degree of accuracy in application: immune to vibration, low
temperature and pressure effects
Optimum installation flexibility thanks to various process
connections from 3/8 to 10 (DN 8 to 250)
National and international approvals for custody transfer
Excellent measuring accuracy: Promass F 0.05%; calibration rig 0.015%
Internationally accredited, fully traceable calibration rigs according
to ISO/IEC 17025 (SAS, A2LA, CNAS)
Endress+Hauser, Inc
2350 Endress Place
Greenwood, IN 46143
inquiry@us.endress.com
www.us.endress.com
Sales:
888-ENDRESS
Service: 800-642-8737
Fax:
317-535-8498
Circle 30 or Request Info Instantly at


Flow Control July 2009

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Flow Control July 2009

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Q&A : A P r im er o n SI S A ir f lo w M an age m en t P re ve n t ive vs .

July 2009 Vol. XV, No. 7 www.FlowControlNetwork.com

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22 Q&A: A Primer on SIS understanding

28 Airflow Troubleshooting strategies

30 Heat Exchanger Performance effects

VIEWPOINT what are your digital likes & dislikes?

12 APPLICATIONS CORNER considering capillary tubing

NEWS WATCH preventive vs. predictive maintenance;

47 THINK TANK level measurement

CORNER component vs. system accuracy

Subscriptions/Customer Service: US - (866) 721-4807

46 ADVERTISER INDEX/PRODUCT INDEX

Ask the Expert:

What are the benefits and

Solve the Sudoku

Gecko... James Gecko

System accuracy driven by master

Portable calibration system designed for

User-defined calibration certificates

Gecko EZ-CAL User friendly graphical

Historical calibration database

NVLAP LAB CODE: 200799-0

E-mail your solution to

What Are Your Digital Likes & Dislikes?

s you may have heard, the newspaper

E-mail your responses

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Matt Migliore, Editor

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news & notes

he words maintenance and headache are oft used in the

when and what process systems actually require maintenance.

Whats Your Maintenance Makeup?

preventive maintenance practice would be the regular removal,

Predictive Maintenance In Action

Current-generation smart positioners, such as the one shown at left

send an alarm to a resource management system that provides

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news & notes

nostics has been in the emergence of

Predicting the Future

would be too high or the devices would

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say precisely that the third packing row

turn, end-users would employ such a

based standards movement that would

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news & notes

E+H Debuts Largest Magmeter Calib. Rig in U.S.

supporting meters with line sizes up to

Klaus Endress, CEO of the

ISSYS, E+H Partner on MEMS

Integrated Sensing Systems CEO,

with Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG

At the official announcement of the

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Considering Capillary Tubing

n the last two months we examined the installation of impulse

The capillary tubing contains liquid that

Early-Bird Deadline: July 31st

There are those who like hard,