Experimental stydy of the orifice plate with a cone swirler flow conditioner

The sensitivity of orifice plate metering to poorly conditioned and swirling flows are subjects of concerns to flow meter users and manufacturers. The distortions caused by pipe fittings and pipe installations upstream of the orifice plate are major sources of this type of non-standard flows. These distortions will alter the accuracy of metering by up to 7% of the standard discharge coefficient, an unacceptable degree. So the design of orifice plate meters that are independent of the initial flow conditions of the upstream is a major object of flow metering. This goal is usually achieved using a flow conditioner. The work described here is the development of an orifice plate combined with swirler flow conditioner that is broadly insensitive to upstream disturbances. The experimental results by using the new swirler flow conditioner shows this flow conditioner can attenuate the effect of both swirling and asymmetric flow on metering to an acceptable level.

Keywords:

orifice , asymmetric , swirling flow , swirler flow conditioner