Flow Conditioners Support Flow Meter Accuracy & Process Efficiency

Plant, process and instrumentation engineers who want to learn more about flow conditioning devices to improve the performance, accuracy, and repeatability of flow meters and other flow profile critical process equipment will be interested in a new brochure from the Vortab Company (USA), available for download online.

A pipe straight-run is required in flow meter and pump installations to overcome the swirl, asymmetrical flow profiles and otherwise un-repeatable flow that are created by elbows, pipe expanders or reducers, valves, dampeners and other disrupters in the process pipe. In process piping systems, finding or adding a suitable amount of straight-run to accommodate the flow meters, pumps and other critical components is often impractical or un-feasible, either technically, economically or both. Flow conditioners, sometimes referred to as flow straighteners, are a practical and cost effective engineering solution to overcome this lack of available straight-run.

The Vortab Company manufactures flow conditioners that utilise proven principles of operation combining proven swirl removal technology with the patented Vortab flow conditioning process to achieve the most repeatable and efficient flow profile available. The various inline and insertion style Vortab Flow Conditioner products consist of a short section of swirl reduction tabs combined with multiple arrays of profile conditioning tabs. This design produces rapid cross-stream mixing, minimises swirl and velocity profile distortions and produces a highly repeatable flow profile that is measurable across a broad flow range.

Flow disturbances caused by irregular pipe runs, valves and other conditions often adversely affect the accuracy and repeatability of flow measurement and control instrumentation. Vortab flow conditioner products are specified for use with and successfully applied with a variety of flow meter technologies including: differential pressure, turbine, vortex shedding, ultrasonic, thermal and magnetic flow meter technologies. In today’s demanding plant environment, the Vortab Flow Conditioners ensure flow instrumentation accuracy and repeatable performance for improved process control.

Vortab Flow Conditioners feature a very low-pressure loss design. Non-recoverable pressure loss can reduce maximum flow capability in process lines, creating process inefficiencies and requiring greater energy expenditures to move process liquids and gases. Perforated plates, tube bundles, screens and other flow conditioning technologies produce a much greater pressure loss than the Vortab Flow Conditioners.

The Vortab technology provides unmatched performance with little pressure loss and swirl-free, repeatable, conditioned flow profiles. This tab-type technology is ideal for use with critical process equipment including flow meter installations, pumps, compressors, control valves and others. The open tab design is non-fouling and will not trap dirt, or be clogged by debris in the flow stream. Traditional Vortab models are for use in air, gas, and liquid applications. Vortab products are installed today in applications around the globe supporting a variety of flow instrument technologies in partnership with major flow instrument manufacturers.

Vortab Flow Conditioners are available with carbon steel, 316 stainless steel or Hastelloy C-276 construction and with several process connections—ANSI flanges, male NPT threads, butt welded preps or retaining wafers. Delivery time is available in less than six weeks, depending on size. Custom configurations are also available.