The Different Applications of Flow Meters

What are flow meters? A flow meter measures the flow rate of a liquid or gas, done by measuring the linear, nonlinear, mass, or volume. It’s important to monitor pressure and prevent any mechanical failures that could lead to problems like ruptures.

All kinds of industries use this relatively unknown device, like water treatment plants, food and beverage, and manufacturers.

Explore the different applications of flow meters!

Applications of Flow Meters

Industries that we rely on daily use flow meters to monitor leaks, improve efficiency, and increase product quality. For example, your gas meter is a flow meter, measuring the amount of natural gas your home uses every month. But what are the other features of flow meters in industrial settings?

Water Treatment

Water treatment plants produce biogas to treat our drinking water through a process called anaerobic digestion, which adds bacteria to eat illness-causing pathogens and other debris. This process creates biogases, and, like any gas, the pressure needs monitoring. Plants use flow meters to measure the amount of biogas and the oxygen the bacteria need.

Manufacturing

Flow meters help all kinds of manufacturers create products, too:

• Aluminum and steel production uses flow meters to measure oxygen and nitrogen; oxygen removes excess carbon to make steel stronger, while nitrogen purifies aluminum to prevent stains.
• Even the paper industry uses flow meters! Carbon dioxide controls the pH level of the paper, which is important information for artists.
• Chemical manufacturing, anything from cleaning products to household items, needs boilers to distill crude oil into plastics. Flow meters watch the gas supplying the boilers.
• Like chemical plants, glass and ceramic manufacturers need to fire their kilns and furnaces and flow meters measure the gas powering them.

Food and Beverage

Don’t forget our food! The food and beverage industry also uses flow meters. Carbon dioxide is ubiquitous in this industry to carbonate things like soft drinks and in cooling systems to keep our food fresh during processing, shipping, and storing.

If a process uses any form of gas, the manufacturer or company needs to monitor the pressure to ensure quality and detect leaks, creating so many different applications of flow meters!