Three flow meters for rugged environments

A Fluid Components International product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 10, 2006

With a thermal dispersion mass flow sensing element and transmitter electronics, flow meters provide air and gas flow measurement with ease of installation, low maintenance, long life and low cost.

Designed with a thermal dispersion mass flow sensing element and transmitter electronics, the ST98, ST75 and ST50 flow meters from Fluid Components International provide accurate air and gas flow measurement with ease of installation, low maintenance, long life and a low life cycle cost.

The flow meters are for rugged environments typically found in the oil, gas, chemical, electric power, pulp, paper and waste-water treatment industries.

Their no-moving parts, non-clogging flow sensing element provides direct mass flow output and includes built-in temperature compensation.

They are for use in process and plant gas applications, including compressed air, hydrocarbon gases and inert gases.

The rugged ST98 is a reliable thermal mass flow sensor in a smart electronics package.

It operates from 0.21 to 172m/s in air with a standard flow accuracy of +/-1% of reading, +/-0.5% of full scale.

It is for air and gas flow measurement, including natural gas or methane monitoring, compressed air metering, industrial HVAC systems, nitrogen blanketing and combustion air.

With the addition of Profibus communications featuring device type manager, the ST98 is easy to set-up, configure, trouble-shoot and maintain.

Its transmitter electronics accept universal AC (85 to 260V) or 24V DC input power.

It is housed in an IP66-rated enclosure with optional Atex, FM, CSA and Cenelec system approved explosion-proof electrical enclosures.

The ST75 is a direct mass flow meter for air or gas measurement applications in smaller line sizes from 6 to 51mm.

The flow range spans 0.07 to 1425m3/hr in air, with an accuracy of +/-2% of reading, +/-0.5% of full scale.

It is suitable for service in various industrial processes, including burner and boiler fuel and air feed lines, industrial furnaces, heat treating gas controls, chiller air flow and dosing and gas injection rate controls.

With FCI's optional wireless infra-red link, any Palm-OS based PDA can communicate with the ST75, which simplifies configuration updates and calibration downloads.

Standard triple analogue outputs include a fully scaleable 4-20mA and 0-10V, which are user assignable to flow rate or temperature, as well as a 0-1kHz pulse output of total flow.

Input power can be specified as 24V DC or 115/230V AC.

Electronics are housed in a small, compact all-metal, IP66-rated enclosure.

Agency approvals include Atex, FM, CSA and CRN.

The ST50 is an insertion-style mass flow meter for air, compressed air or nitrogen flow measurements.

Designed for line sizes from 51 to 610mm, it installs easily through a single tap point and configuration set-up takes minutes.

The ST50 operates over a flow range of 0.23 to 122m/s in air, with an accuracy of +/-2% of reading, +/-0.5% of full scale.

With its reliable thermal dispersion mass flow sensing element, the ST50 is for applications such as waste-water treatment, aeration, energy audits and efficiency of compressed air systems, nitrogen flow, HVAC duct and damper control and more.

The ST50 also has FCI's optional wireless IR communications.

It is designed with dual analogue outputs, 4-20mA and 0-10V DC, which are field assignable as flow rate or temperature.

All models include a standard RS232C serial I/O link for data communications.

The electronics are packaged in a rugged, yet compact all metal IP66-rated enclosure.

All ST flow meters have an advanced thermal dispersion type mass flow sensing element, which uses two matched, precision platinum resistance temperature detectors (RTDs).

One RTD is heated relative to the reference RTD, and the temperature difference between the two is linearised and conditioned to measure directly the gas' mass flow rate.

The sensing elements have no moving parts and are non-clogging to achieve long-term reliability with virtually no maintenance.