In crowded wastewater treatment plants, less than ideal straight pipe runs often result in swirling fluid flows and asymmetrical velocity profile distortions that affect the efficient, continuous operation of equipment, such as valves and pumps, and the accuracy of sensitive instruments, such as flowmeters. Flow conditioners from Vortab can help remedy that issue.
Wastewater piping often contains bends, elbows and other obstructions that create turbulent, irregular flow patterns. These disturbances can significantly affect the accuracy of flowmeters, leading to errors in measurement and potentially impacting operational efficiency. However, when flow conditioners are installed upstream of flowmeters, they can straighten and regularize the flow profile, removing swirl and creating a more predictable and uniform flow pattern. This ensures the flowmeter operates under conditions closer to those it was calibrated for, leading to more accurate and repeatable measurements.
According to Vortab, it can take up to 40 pipe diameters of unobstructed straight pipe run to eliminate both swirl and velocity profile distortions without conditioning. However, Vortab flow and process conditioners isolate such flow disturbances and create a swirl-free, symmetrical and repeatable velocity flow profile in just a few pipe diameters to keep equipment running efficiently.
The product line of inline- and insertion-type flow conditioners nearly eliminates the upstream straight pipe run requirements for many types of equipment and instruments. They condition the flow stream into a regular flow regime to mimic adequate pipe straight run. In addition, beyond conditioning the flow stream, the use of a flow conditioner eliminates the pipe cost and technician labor for the purchase of additional lengths of pipe straight run and the labor for its installation. Many times, however, sufficient plant real estate is simply not available to accommodate the required pipe straight-run and then flow conditioning is the best option.
Vortab Flow Conditioners feature tab-type flow conditioning technology, which the company says has been laboratory proven and successfully installed in hundreds of plants worldwide. In long lengths of straight pipe, swirl reduction and velocity profile correction occur naturally due to diffusion and turbulent mixing. With their antiswirl and inclined vortex generating profile correction tabs projecting from the inside pipe surface, the flow conditioners generate vortices that accelerate these natural pipe effects to create a uniform, nonswirling, symmetrical flow profile in a much shorter section of pipe.
760-736-6114; www.vortab.com
