Power Industry

Flow measurement is an important aspect of many operations in the power industry and a good understanding of the metering process remains central to efficient operation of a power station.  For example, fuel flows, steam flows, and cooling water abstraction and return all require metering.  The reasons for flow measurement vary from materials purchase, plant efficiency to environmental regulation.  The required accuracy of flow measurement varies with application from 1% for commissioning trials, up to 10% for environmental regulation.

 The diverse applications within the power industry call for a wide range of metering technologies.  The plant is necessarily complex, making access difficult and many meters are installed in situations that are far from ideal.

 Typical power industry applications include: measurement of inlet/outlet fuel; gas mixing for yield and pollution research; net fuel usage in boilers and engines; humidification of fuel cell gases; solar cell production; odorisation of natural gas; control of burner gases; scrubber gas discharge monitoring; cooling water flow monitoring; measuring effluent and other outflows.