Product category:
Flowmeters and Flow Sensors
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Instrumentation + Automation) | Subject: Fischer and Porter flow meters
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 29 March 2007
Support keeps flow meters running after
20 years
UPM Shotton continues to enjoy reliable performance from Fischer and Porter meters originally installed 21 years ago.
Fischer and Porter flow meters installed over 20 years ago are still going strong thanks to continued support and expertise from ABB One example is UPM Shotton which continues to enjoy reliable performance from Fischer and Porter meters originally installed 21 years ago
UPM Shotton, located in North Wales, is the largest manufacturer of recycled newsprint in the UK.
It produces newsprint for national and regional press and has a capacity of more than 500,000 tonnes a year, providing more than 20% of UK demand.
The site uses electromagnetic flow meters to measure water and low-consistency paper pulp.
For the paper mill, using established technology is the best way to ensure successful metering in difficult applications.
ABB has a good familiarity with applications in pulp and paper and provides excellent support for the Fischer and Porter meters.
"They know what works", says Ray von der Fecht, UPM Shotton.
"Changes in the consistency of the pulp or the mixture of chemical additives for example, can often have a major impact on flow equipment, with some manufacturer's meters failing to work at all".
"There's a lot to be said for experience in this field", he adds.
The situation is slightly different at British Sugar in Allscott, Shropshire, which has been using Fischer and Porter meters dating back to before 1981.
Here, maintaining continuous operation and minimising downtime are the key considerations, according to Systems Engineer, Len Tunnell.
"Downtime is the critical issue", he says.
"It costs us GBP 1200 an hour, but it also has a knock-on effect".
"For example, if we're down for two hours and we process 250 tonnes of beet an hour, that means 20 lorries of beet are suddenly stuck outside unable to come in".
"It affects the logistics of the whole operation for days afterwards".
"The other consideration is the rapid delivery and fitting of replacements, to ensure that things can get back on track as quickly as possible if a problem does arise".
"When a meter fails we always try to buy in what we had before".
"That way we don't have to carry out any pipe modifications".
"ABB's ability to continue to provide Fischer and Porter technology is therefore invaluable", says Tunnell.
UPM Shotton and British Sugar are just two among many major industrial sites that rely not just on electromagnetic flow meters, but also on vortex, swirl and coriolis meters from ABB that are compatible with the Fischer and Porter units they were using up to 25 years ago.
ABB's new generation of electromagnetic flow meters are the direct descendants of the Fischer and Porter range.
They include: the FSM4000, which measures the flow rate of liquids, slurries, pastes and sludges with a minimum conductivity of 20uS/cm and standard, and 0.5uS/cm as an option; the FXE4000 (COPA-XE/ MAG-XE) caters for liquids with an electrical conductivity greater than 5uS/cm.
The COPA-XE is the compact electronics version, whilst the MAG-XE employs a remotely mounted signal converter.
The FXM2000 (COPA-/MAG-XM) suits liquids, slurries, pastes and sludges, and has the advantage of a high-power coil drive, resulting in unparalleled signal to noise performance.
For applications in difficult to access areas, the remote version can have its signal converter mounted up to 200m away from the flow tube.
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