PF500 shuttle tilt flow meter

Examples of use

The pulse flow meter with a tilting double shuttle with a volume of 500 ml is designed for monitoring small water flows in the range from 0 to 5 l / min. The tilting shuttle can work even at higher flow rates, but the measurement error resulting from the used measuring principle increases disproportionately (tilting time influenced by inertia of filled shuttle, kinetic energy of flowing water, inflow also during tilting time, water spray at higher inflow).

člunkový průtokoměr PF500

The installation of the flow meter requires a height drop of at least 250 mm at the measuring point and a directed water supply above the center of the flow meter. On the other hand, the construction of the usual triangular specific overflow and the level sensor are eliminated. The flow meter also does not require any supply voltage and pulses can be recorded for a long time in a device powered only by a battery. The durable stainless steel design of the flowmeter is also not endangered by freezing, which endangers the sensitive membranes of hydrostatic level sensors.

Due to its simplicity and operational reliability, this type of flow meter can be used, for example, in the following applications:

Leakage measurement in construction and geology
Measurement of yield of small springs
Measuring the amount of water flowing out of melting snow
Measuring the amount of drainage water

Basic description

The robust stainless steel construction of the PF500 flowmeter contains two interconnected trays with a capacity of 2x 750 ml, which are mounted on a rotating shaft. Using rubber stops and balancing fittings, the flow meter is set so that the trays are tilted at a water volume of 500 ml. Each tilting of the trays causes a short closing of the relay contacts, which is then stored in the connected recording unit.

In conjunction with the telemetry unit M4016, H1, H7 or STELA, this robust flow meter can be used to monitor the instantaneous flow and to calculate the total flow, including automatic transfer of measured data to a database on the Internet and graphical and tabular visualization of measured flows and volumes.

One of the first designs of a shuttle flow meter in practice

Installation and recalibration

The basic calibration of the flow meter is performed by adjusting the height of the rubber stops and moving the balancing fitting before the flow meter is shipped in production. If the flowmeter is placed in a horizontal position using height-adjustable feet during installation, then no additional calibration will be necessary for about 1 year from installation (time depends on the frequency of tilting) and only the pulse volume constant needs to be set in the connected recording unit. which is supplied with the device - the usual value of this constant is 500 ml / pulse)

Due to the seating and wear of the rubber stops, the set volume constant may change after a certain period of operation. The operator can easily recalibrate the PF500 rain gauge on his own without having to change the stop settings and balance of the rain gauge. During such recalibration, it is sufficient to slowly pour water from the measuring cylinder into the trays of the rain gauge and then to store the average value from several such measurements in the volume constant in the connected recording device.