Ultrasonic flow measurements without compromising drinking water safety
Supplying drinking water over long distances requires complex pipeline networks and high pumping capacity.
Replacement of Damaged Invasive Measurement Probes at Highly Demanding Measurement Points in the Long-Distance Water Supply System
Transporting drinking water from remote hydroelectric power plants to the municipal utility’s transfer stations—including overcoming differences in elevation along the way—all the way through to the distribution of drinking water and supply to end customers in a region, requires an extensive pipeline network and extremely high amounts of energy in the form of pumping capacity. Often, several pumping stations are involved in carrying out this task, which can result in high water pressures within the pipeline network. While these high pressures—which typically occur before the water enters distribution stations—are necessary for transporting the water, they can also lead to certain problems at the end of a long-distance water transmission line.
A flow measurement point operated by an East German long-distance water supplier—which was extremely challenging due to these high pressures—required a new measurement system solution, as a vortex meter previously installed at this location could no longer withstand the water pressure loads during full-load operation and was damaged. The defective measuring probe was to be replaced with a non-contact measurement principle—a permanently installed ultrasonic clamp-on solution. It was essential to avoid any contact between the measurement system and the high-pressure medium. An even more important reason ultimately left the customer with little choice but to consider only a non-intrusive flow measurement method: maintaining the hygienic conditions of the drinking water.
The customer had already had positive experiences with two portable, non-invasive KATflow 200 flow meters. Thus, after inspecting the very confined measurement site, the decision was made to install a stationary ultrasonic flowmeter of the KATflow 150 type with a variety of output options for integration into the customer’s network via an analog output and a Profibus interface. The measurement system to be installed was required to deliver measurement results quickly and reliably, as the pipeline network ran through a critical area beneath a highway, and damage to the building structure was feared in the event of a leak.
Commissioning of the measurement system was also part of the overall package and was carried out by Katronic. Thanks to the very simple installation of the sensors—using a clamp-on technique—included with the ultrasonic flowmeter, no process interruption, modification, or opening of the pipeline was necessary. From that point on, periodic flushing to remove deposits from invasive measurement sensors was no longer necessary. The acquisition costs of the new measurement system were significantly lower than those of comparable invasive measurement technology, and the personnel and logistical costs for commissioning were many times lower.
The installed measurement system delivered reliable data to the control room without interruption, ensuring continuous monitoring of the affected network section and rapid intervention in the event of a failure. The customer expressly praised the measurement accuracy of the ultrasonic flowmeter, which was verified by comparative measurements; as a result, Katronic will also be consulted for future measurement tasks.
