The Uses of Turbine Flow Meters in the Oil and Gas Industry
There are a lot of types of flow meters, and trying to find the one class that you need for your operation can be an overwhelming task to do. However, there is a versatile flow meter, which can be used to measure liquid and gas flow across multiple industries especially the Oil and Gas industry.
Turbine flow meters’ various applications are beneficial. For this reason, a lot of industries use this type of flow meter in their primary operations. But what is a turbine flow meter, and how does it work?
What is a Turbine Flow Meter?
A turbine flow meter is a type of meter that measures a gas or liquid flow by the use of a rotor. It is created with a rotor and blades that utilize the mechanical energy that the flow creates. The blades of the meter use the flow stream to transfer power to rotational energy.
As the current increases its pressure, the spins proportionally get faster. The shaft rotation’s data is then picked up mechanically or by getting the reading from the movement of the rotors.
You can also detect the movements of the rotor by the use of magnetism. The movement of the rotor generates a magnetic pulse, and as the fluid goes faster, more pulses are generated. These pulses are picked by an external sensor, which is optimal to avoid foreign substances and the pipe’s material of construction. The rotation per minute is directly proportional to the flow velocity of the content within the tube.
How Turbine Flow Meters Work
This type of flow meter is optimal if you want to measure clean and moderate flows of fluids that are low in viscosity that are most common in a pump-intensive Oilfield. They also maintain their structural integrity and measurement accuracy, even in dealing with highly abrasive and corrosive substances. Because of this, turbine flow meters are widely used in different fields, especially the gas and oil industry.
The fluid being measured in the turbine flow meter passes in a flow straightener, which reduces the flow’s pressure and pattern. When it passes within the main body, it goes through a rotor and causes it to rotate which is directly proportional to the flow’s velocity. That means that the rotors rotate according to the flow’s pressure.
As the substance rotates the rotor, a magnetic field is generated, which is then picked up in an alternating pattern. The magnetic pulses themselves provide a frequency output that depends directly on the volumetric flow.
Turbine flow meters could also be combined with a flow monitor that provides local reading and options for system integration. The monitor will show rates of flow, and the total measurements live via LCD or have it transmitted to another user interface by the use of Modbus RTU.
Applications of Turbine Flow Meters
Below are the common applications of flow meters.
Chemical Injection
Petroleum operations require an accurate and reliable mass dosing for pipelines, downhole, and oil and water treatment to minimize the use of chemicals and increase its cap efficiency. With that said, turbine flow meters are used to measure gas and liquid additives.
Natural Gas Pipelines
A turbine flow meter can be used in a plethora of pipeline installations. This includes but is not limited to metering stations, chemical injections, and offloading to small-sized pipelines that are intended for delivery like truck loading stations.
Disposal Wells
Water produced from wells typically go into a pit or transferred to trucks located onsite from the location it is trucked or piped to a disposal site. They are put in a tank which is then injected below ground for the reason of permanently storing it by the use of pumps. A turbine flow meter is used to measure the water.
Fracturing
Fields of oil require a metering system that is reliable and accurate for their processes during treatment. Turbine flow meters are primarily used to measure the reclaimed used water. They can also view the chemicals that the facility used for water treatment.
Test and Production Separators
Three-phase separators that are primarily used for production measurement and well testing that includes bitumen for operation in oil sands require metering systems that are coupled with a monitoring feature and can measure a wide variety of water-based liquids. That said, the use of turbine flow meters is an optimal choice.
Takeaway
These field applications and a lot of other situations that require a flow meter showed this type of flow meters is efficient in dealing with highly corrosive chemicals, low to steady flow pressure, and debris-contaminated liquids in the gas and oil industry. What is also a big bonus is the flow meter’s ability to be coupled with a digital reading system and its feature to be used with a heat trace. If you are looking for a low cost and low maintenance metering system, turbine flow meters from smartmeasurement are the answers.
Author’s Bio:
Working as a writer and a blogger, Sylvia Hopkins specializes in email marketing campaigns and ghost blogging. Due to her knowledge in liquid flows, she writes about flow measurement instrumentation, flow measurement application, and technology. Sylvia also enjoys the company of her family and friends when not working.
