Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur

Subject- Industrial Instrumentation

Tutorial-5 (Flowmeters)
Q. 1. A rotameter is installed to measure the water flow rate. It consists of a linearly tapered
tube (vertical height: 40 cm, minimum diameter: 2.4 cm, maximum diameter: 4 cm) and a
spherical float of diameter 2.4 cm. Density of water and float is 1 g/cm 3 and 10 g/cm3,
respectively. Assume CD = 0.76
(a) Estimate the flow rate when the float is at position of 12.5 cm from the bottom end of the
tube. (265. 74 cc/s)
(b) Determine the position of the float when the float rate is 300cm3/s. (13.96 cm)
Q. 2.A rotameter is calibrated for metering a liquid of density 1000kg/m3 and has a scale ranging
from 1 to 100 liter per minute. It is intended to use this meter for measuring the flow of gas of
density 1.25 kg/m3 with a flow range between 20 to 2000 liter per minute. DEtermine the
volume density of the new flot, if the original one has a volume density of 2000 kg/m3 .The
shape and volume of both floats is assumed to be same.(501.25 kg/m3)
Q.3. A submarine fitted with a pitot tube moves horizontally in sea. Its axis is 12 m below the
surface of water. The pitot tube fixed in the front of the sub-marine and along its axis is
connected to the two limbs of the U-tube mercury manometer, the reading of which is found to
be 200 mm. Determine the speed of the submarine. Assume no losses.(24.97 kmph)
Specific gravity of sea water is 1.025, Specific gravity of mercury is 13.6
Q.4. The flowing of cooling water is measured by a horizontal venturimeter with 200 mm inlet
and 100 mm throat. The U-tube manometer connected between the inlet and throat of the
venturimeter shows a differential pressure of 220 mm of mercury. Calculate the water flow rate if
CD = 0.98, specific gravity of mercury is 13.6, density of water is 1 g/cm3. (58594 cc/s)
Q. 5. An electromagnetic flow meter is used to measure the flow rate in a cylindrical pipe of 0.1
mm diameter. The flux density of the electric field applied has a peak value of 1.4 T. The output
from the electrodes was fed to an amplifier of gain 10 and input impedance of 2.2M. The
internal resistance of the fluid is 200k. (a) Determine the fluid velocity when peak-to-peak
output voltage is 4 V. (b) Find the output error (in terms of reading) if the conductivity has
increased by 10 % for same fluid velocity. (1557.85 m/s, +29 mV p-p/0.725 %)
Q. 6. A turbine flow meter consists of four mild steel blades rotating at an angular velocity given
by the following relation = 50000.Q, where Q is the flow rate in m3/s. Total flux linked with the
coil of the magnetic transducer is given by = 4 + cos 4 mWb, where is the angle between
the blade assembly and the transducer. Range of the flow meter is 0.5 to 5 litre/s. Calculate the
amplitude and frequency of the transducer output at maximum and minimum flow rates.
(0.1V, 1V; 15.915 Hz, 159.15 Hz)
Q. 7. A transit time ultrasonic flowmeter is used to measure the velocity of a fluid in a pipe.
Transit time during zero flow was found to be 1.2 ms. When there was a flow, the differential
transit time was 115 s. The angle between the line connecting the transmitter/receiver and flow
direction is 30.
1
(a) Find the velocity of the fluid. Velocity of the sound in the fluid is 500 m/s. (27.6024 m/s)
(b) What would be the change in the differential transit time for a 2 % increase in the velocity of
the sound? (110.52 s)
Q. 8. Explain the relative merits and demerits of the excitation schemes that can be used in an
electromagnetic flow meter. Mention one instrument that can be used for the calibration of other
flow meters. Give one reason why circular plate orifice meter is not well suited for slurries.
Q. 9. Water is pumped through a 75 mm diameter pipe with a flow velocity of 760 mm/sec. Find
the volume flow rate and mass flow rate. (3355.875 cc/s, 3.3558 kg/s)
Q. 10. Water is pumped in a pipe having a diameter of 50 mm. An orifice having a diameter of
25 mm and a manometer is used to measure the flow rate. Manometer reading across the
tapping is 15 cm of Hg. Assume correction factor = 1 and density of water is 1000 kg/m 3.
Determine the volumetric flow of water in m3/hr. (11.11 m3/hr)
Q. 11. Determine the nominal flow velocity at the orifice (diameter: 20 mm) kept in a pipe of 40
mm diameter. Reynolds number Ra is 105. Assume density of water = 1000 kg/m3 and
kinematic viscosity is 102 cm2/s. (10 m/s)

Q. 12. A pitot tube mounted on an aircraft is connected to a pressure gauge which reads a
pressure of 12.5 kN/m2. Determine the flying speed of the aircraft? Density of air at that height
can be taken as 1.290 kg/m3. (501.16 kmph)

Q. 13. A rotameter uses a cylindrical float of 3.5 cm height, 3.5 cm diameter and density of
3900 kg/m3. The maximum inside diameter of the metering tube is 5 cm. Determine the
maximum flow rate handling capacity of the rotameter if the fluid is water. Assume CD = 0.7.
(0.99 x 10-3 m3/s)

Q. 14. A cylindrical float (volume: 500 mm3, diameter: 15 mm) is used with a tapered glass tube
to measure the flow rate. The tube allows vertical range of movement of 250 mm and the float is
made from aluminium of relative density 2.7. Its included angle taper is 5 and the internal
diameter of the measuring tube at the bottom is 18 mm. Determine the range of flow of this
setup if paraffin is used as a process fluid which has a relative density of 0.8. (28.22 to 1022.75
cc/s)

Q. 15. A nozzle is fitted in a horizontal pipe of diameter 15 cm, carrying a gas of density 1.15
kg/m3, for the purpose of flow measurement. The differential pressure indicated by the U-tube
manometer containing oil of specific gravity 0.8 is 10 cm. If the coefficient of discharge and
diameter of the nozzle are 0.8 and 5 cm, respectively, determine the flow of gas through the
nozzle flow meter. (0.0583 m3/s)