Liquid Flow Meter Calibration Capacity Expansion

Flowmeter calibration against traceable standards

Titan Enterprises has been performing all its calibration requirements in-house since 1994 using their positive displacement oil or water flow rigs. All flowmeters manufactured by Titan (except for the small beverage meters) are calibrated against traceable standards, tested and issued with a calibration certificate.

New rig extends calibration capabilities

Twelve months ago, Titan decided to make the significant investment in a new calibration rig which would both increase their capacity and improve their capability to calibrate their liquid flow measurement devices. Having just received delivery of this new rig, it is being commissioned, calibration software installed, and will be ready to be put to use within the month.

Jeremy Thorne, Operations Manager at Titan Enterprises, commented: “Historically the production of our flowmeters has been limited by the flowmeter calibration capability. The new flow rig will increase our calibration capacity at the lower flow rates below 4 L/min. This will enable us to increase our production throughput as well as expanding Titan’s total range of flow calibration.”

Why should flow meters be calibrated?

Engineers, scientists and measurement specialists rely on a flow meter’s accuracy to maintain or improve the financial viability, quality and safety of a product or process. Used within a wide variety of applications, including pharmaceuticals, aerospace, food and beverage, energy, and agro/petrochemical, where accurate flow measurement is critical, regular calibration ensures these measuring devices continue to operate within acceptable limits.

Jeremy added: “As well as calibrating our flow meters during production, we also offer a re-calibration service to our customers. The performance and accuracy of flowmeters, even the most rugged ones, will degrade over time. Mechanical meters will wear, and electronic ones can suffer minor degradation in the electronics or mechanical damage from impact or corrosion.”

Flow Meter Calibration Methodology

Titan Enterprises use piston provers for flow meter calibration, our primary rigs rated from 0.002-40 L/min and 0.05-160 L/min. With the new rig our low-end flow calibration can be reduced to 0.05 ml/min. The calibrators use a piston within a smooth bore tube to act as a moving barrier between the pressurising gas and the displaced test fluid. All Titan flow calibrations are traceable to national standards and have real time temperature compensation to accommodate changes in the fluid properties. Our piston prover systems are calibrated annually against certified weigh scales and are pneumatically or hydraulically driven to ensure a constant flow rate.

Like the main flow rigs the volumetric throughput for Titan’s new calibration rig is traceable to national standards via a water draw test. Flows as low as 0.05 ml/min may be calibrated using this rig, which has a repeatability value of ±0.02% and operates at an uncertainty of 0.03%.

Jeremy concluded: “Titan will also be increasing its production staffing levels to meet increasing demand, optimise our production rates and functionality that the new rig will give us.”

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