ABSTRACT

This experiment has been done to measure the flow rate and associated pressure losses by
utilizing the three devices which is venturi meter, orifice meter and rotameter. Another
objective of the experiment is to compare flowrate measurement of mass flow rate meter and
rotameter. The flowrate of gas was fixed for the whole experiment which is start from 10
LPM, and increasing to 12 LPM, 14 LPM, 16 LPM, 18 LPM and 20 LPM. From the result,
the values of mass flowmeter at standard condition are 20.55, 25.09, 28.56, 31.93, 35.28 and
39.09 LPM and the value of rotameter at standard (STD) condition are 22.06 LPM, 26.93
LPM, 30.65 LPM, 34.27 LPM, 37.79 LPM and 41.95 LPM respectively for initial pressure,
Po=1.0 bar. While, for initial pressure, Po=2.0 bar, the values of mass flowmeter at standard
condition are 39.95, 47.57, 55.50, 61.02, 67.25 AND 74.57 LPM.. The value of rotameter at
standard condition are 42.87 LPM, 51.05 LPM, 59.57 LPM, 65.49 LPM , 172.17 LPM and
80.03 LPM respectively. Both mass flowmeter and rotameter at STD condition are increasing
but rotameter gives higher value of flowrates for initial pressure, Po, 1.0 bar and 2.0 bar as
referred to the result table. Regarding to the Gas Law Formula, as pressure decreases, the
velocity increases when fluid forced through hole. While working with gas under pressure;
the gas flow measurement reading must be accurately noted with precision and quickly
THEORY
Basically, the implementation of this experiment is complemented with the use of Gas Flow
Measurement Bench Model FM: 120. This instrument is designed to provide a study of the
fluid flow measurement by using different flow measuring devices. The measuring devices
are the orifice, venturi, mass flow meter and rotameter. The set-up of the gas flow meter as
follows:

Figure: Set-up of Gas Flow Meter

i) Mass Flow meter

Mass flow meter is a device that measures the mass flow rate of a fluid that passes through it.
Different from venturi and orifice, mass flow meter does not measure the volume flow rate
passing through it, but only measuring mass per unit time. The volume flow rate can also be
obtained from this device by dividing the mass flow rate with the fluid density. The fluids that
flow through the mass flow through it can be related with the ideal gas law equation which is
given by :

ii) Venturi
Flow in a venturi tube will experience the reduction in fluid pressure as results of fluid flows through
a narrow pipe. Fluids velocity increases as it flow through narrow area based on the principle of
continuity whereby its pressure decreases according to principle of conservation of mechanical
energy. These two fluid velocity and pressure somehow can be correlated from a combination of
Bernoullis principle and continuity equation. As for incompressible flows, the theoretical pressure
drop can be represent as:

When fluid flows through a venturi, the fluids experience expansion and compression which
cause pressure change inside it. Once the pressure difference is known, then the flow rate can
be identified. It is given by:

iii) Orifice
Basically, as a fluid is passing through an orifice plate it will experience a pressure drop and
subsequently this can be used to measure the fluid flow rate. Same as venturi, orifice also
holds on the Bernoullis principle which denotes that there is a correlation between fluid
velocity and its pressure, whereby as velocity increases the pressure decreases and vice versa.
As fluid passes through the orifice, the pressure slightly increases and when it is forced to
converge through the narrow hole, the velocity starts to increase while the pressure began to
decrease. At particular point, the velocity will eventually reaches its maximum and the
pressure reaches its minimum. By measuring the pressure difference of fluids across the tube,
the flow rate finally can be identified from Bernoullis equation. The equation is as follows
[5]:

Figure: Orifice flow diagram

APPARATUS

Figure: Gas flow measurement Bench

Figure: Gas air compressor

PROCEDURE
General Start-up procedure
1. Close all valves.

2. Connect the compressor to the gas flow measurement bench using PU tubes.
3. Regulate the compressor pressure to 1 bar.
4. Turn on the main switch on the panel.
5. Open desired valves according to the experimental procedures.

General Shut-down procedure

1. Release all the pressure in the piping.
2. Turn off the main switch on the panel.

Experiment 1: Determination of the operation and characteristic of mass flow meter

and rotameter.
1. The pressure tubing was connected and set the compressor pressure to 1 bar.
2. Valve V1, V2 and V13 were opened.
3. Valve 13 was regulated to 10 LPM.
4. After the reading has stabilized, the temperature reading, TT1, pressure reading, PT1 and
mass flow meter, FT1 readings were recorded.
5. Step 3 and 4 with different flow rates were repeated.
6. The experiment was repeated with different compressor pressure.

Experiment 2: Determination of the operation and characteristic of venturi meter.

1. The pressure tubing was connected and set the compressor pressure to 1 bar.
2. Valve V4, V5, V9 and V10 were opened.

3. Valve 13 was regulated to set the rotameter to 10 LPM.

4. After the reading has stabilized, the temperature reading, TT1, pressure reading, PT1, mass
flow meter, FT1and differential pressure reading, DPT1 were recorded.
5. Step 3 and 4 with different flow rates were repeated.
6. The experiment was repeated with different compressor pressure
Experiment 3: Determination of the operation and characteristic of orifice meter.

1. The pressure tubing was connected and set the compressor pressure to 1 bar.
2. Valve V7, V8, V11 and V12 were opened.
3. Valve 13 was regulated to set the rotameter to 10 LPM.
4. After the reading has stabilized, the temperature reading, TT1, pressure reading, PT1, mass
flow meter, FT1and differential pressure reading, DPT1 were recorded.
5. Step 3 and 4 with different flow rates were repeated.
6. The experiment was repeated with different compressor pressure.

RECOMMENDATION

1. Ensure that there is no air bubbles for better accuracy and to avoid readings error.

2. Take the reading at the eye level to avoid parallax error.

3. Make sure the initial pressure is the same by referring to both digital and analog
manometer.