What is Flow Meter Calibration?

A flow meter is a test device used to calculate the flow rate of process fluids and gases in industrial plants and facilities. The flow rate denotes to the speed at which a process fluid is moving through pipelines, orifices, or vessels at a given time. Control and instrumentation engineers measure this value to screen and regulate the speed and efficacy of industrial flow processes and devices.

Ideally, test devices must be ‘reset’ from time to time to stop having inaccurate readings. For example, a bathroom scale that indicates 10lbs when nobody is standing on it needs to be recalibrated to specify an initial zero value.

In industrial settings, Liquid Flow Calibration is performed to ensure that measurements are accurate permitting operations to proceed in a safe and timely manner.

What is Flow Meter Calibration?

Flow meter calibration is the procedure of comparing the pre-set scale or metering of a flow meter to a standard scale of measurement and adjusting its metering to conform to the standard. Calibration is a vital aspect of instrumentation in a broad range of industries that require high-accuracy measurements with a tiny percentage of error e.g. in Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, and manufacturing.

Flow meters are calibrated by comparing and adjusting their metering to agree with a predefined standard. Flow meter manufacturers normally calibrate their products in-house after production or send them to an independent calibration facility for adjustment.

Flow meter calibration comprises comparing the measurements of a flow meter in operation to that of a standard flow measurement device under the same conditions and regulating the scale of the flow meter to be in close agreement with the standard.

Process Flow Calibration involves calibration of a flow meter which is at present in use. Periodic recalibration is needed as flow meter readings will often go ‘out of phase’ over time due to variable conditions involved in industrial processes.

The main difference amid the two procedures is that flow calibration is done before the meter is sent out for use while recalibration is done after the flow meter has been in operation for a while. Software tools can also be used to verify the correctness of measurements after a flow meter has been calibrated.