Long Term Performance Of V-Cone Flow Meters

By Mike Dyer & Jonathan Hollist

In recent years, there has been an emphasis in technical papers on meter diagnostics, but little has been reported on the actual long term performance of flow meters. This presents a problem for industry, especially with newer technologies that do not have many years of service to set guidelines on maximum service life, recalibration and replacement intervals. Currently there is an information vacuum regarding the long term performance of many newer technologies that lead end users and standards writing organizations to write specifications that are conservative. While this helps to ensure safe and accurate measurement in the long term, it also increases the total cost of operation of these devices and forces shut downs leading to lost production and up-time.

This paper presents the results of 12 V-Cone DP Flow meters tested over a period of 17 years. Service applications for the V-Cones included natural gas as well as coke oven gas measurement, a dirty aggressive fluid that is problematic over long period of time for most flow meters. All testing was conducted in air by a 3rd party calibration laboratory, CEESI Colorado. Results will be presented for each of the meters over the 17 year span. Conclusions and recommendations will be made to the long term performance and recalibration intervals for the V-Cone flow meter.