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Positive Displacement (PD)

Positive displacement flowmeters measure the
volumetric flow of fluids in pipes, such as water,
hydrocarbons, cryogenic liquids, and chemicals. Some
designs can measure gas flow although liquid flow
applications are much more prevalent. In liquid service,
increasing viscosity decreases slippage and increases
the pressure drop across the flowmeter. Surprisingly,
accuracy can actually improve at low flow conditions in a
given positive displacement flowmeter when viscosity
increases and slippage decreases.

D I C E T Flow Measurement

Positive Displacement
 Overview
• Principle of Operation
- Measures discrete volumetric segments
- Repeatedly entraps a known quantity of fluid
- Senses the entrapped fluid by generating a pulse
- Fluid quantity calculated by summing discrete fluid
quantities

• Typical accuracy of 0.25 to 1% of rate

• Line sizes between 1/4 and 16 inches
• Rangeability of 2:1 to 10:1

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Positive Displacement (PD) Meter

 Common Applications

– Depends on type of PD flowmeter, but usually

fluids must have some degree of lubricity : Most
hydrocarbons
– Clean, non-abrasive, medium-to-high viscosity
liquids are best
– Generally applied to clean fluids

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Oval Gear Meter

Have two-rotating, oval-shaped gears with synchronized,
close fitting teeth.

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Oval Gear Meter

– Two meshing oval gears rotate as fluid flows through them
– Gears trap a known quantity of fluid as they rotate
– Each complete revolution of both the gears = 4 * amount of fluid that
fills the space between the gear and the meter body
– volumetric flow rate is directly proportional to the rotational velocity
of the gears

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Oval Gear Meter

Oval gear flow meters are used primarily to measure volumetric flow of
high viscosity fluids, such as: heavy petroleum products, epoxy resins,
paints, etc. that are too difficult for most other types of flow meters, due to
Reynold's number constraints.

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Operating Principle
Incoming liquid (upstream pressure) exerts a pressure differential against
the (upstream end) lower face of oval gear A, causing the two interlocked
oval gears to rotate to position 2. In this second position, the flowing liquid
enters the cavity between oval gear B and the flow meter body wall, while
an equal volume of liquid simultaneously passes out of the cavity between
oval gear A and the flow meter body wall.

Meanwhile, upstream pressure continues to force the two oval gears to

rotate to position 3. At this position, a predetermined quantity of liquid has
again filled the cavity between oval gear B and the flow meter body.

This pattern is continuously repeated moving four times the liquid capacity
of each cavity with each revolution of the rotating gears. Therefore, the flow
rate is proportional to the rotational speed of the gears.

D I C E T Flow Measurement

Magnets, imbedded in each end of the rotating oval gears, are used to
open and close a reed switch output signal, activate a microprocessor
or Hall Effect Pickup to transmit the internal motion (rotational count)
to a usable output signal.

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Gear flow meter

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Lobed-Impeller Meter
In the lobed-impeller meter two rotors revolve with a fixed relative position
inside a cylindrical housing. The measuring chamber is formed by the wall
of the cylinder and the surface of one-half of one rotor. When the rotor is
in vertical position, a definite volume of fluid is contained in the measuring
compartment. As the impeller turns, owing to the slight pressure
differential between inlet and outlet ports, the measured volume is
discharged through the bottom of the meter. This action takes place four
times for a complete revolution, the impeller rotating in opposite directions
and at a speed proportional to the volume of fluid flow. Meters of this
design can handle from 8 gal/min (30 L/min) to 25,000 barrels/h. They
perform well at temperatures up to 400º F (204º C) and pressures up
to 1200 psi (8276 kPa). They are used for gases and a wide range of light
to viscous fluids, including asphalts, and are best suited to high rates of
flow.

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Lobed-impeller flowmeter

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Piston Meter/Rotary Piston

- piston meters, also known as rotary piston or semi-positive
displacement meters

- are used for almost all meter sizes up to and including 40 mm (1½ʺ).

The piston meter operates on the principle of a piston rotating within a

chamber of known volume. For each rotation, an amount of water
passes through the piston chamber. Through a gear mechanism and,
sometimes, a magnetic drive, a needle dial and odometer type display
are advanced.

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Principle of operation of
oscillating-piston meter. (Brooks
Instrument Division, Emerson
Electric Company.)

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Nutating-disk
Pressure of the medium causes a disk to rock in a
circulating path without rotating about its own
axis.

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Nutating-disk

Sectional view of a
Operating principle of a
representative nutating-disk
nutating-disk meter.
meter.

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Rotary Vane Flow Meters

These meters use the well-established, low
maintenance rotary vane impeller-type
measuring mechanism. Designed with
minimum moving parts, these meters provide
reliable, trouble free operation.

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Rotary-vane
Have spring-loaded vanes that entrap increments of
liquid between the eccentrically mounted rotor and
casing. Regularly used in petroleum industry.

D I C E T Flow Measurement

Operating Principle
Rotary vane meters are manufactured in several designs, but the
principle of operation is identical for all of these meters. Liquid enters the
cylindrical measuring chamber and is forced to separate into two equal
streams, traveling in a 360 loop. The streams are further channeled, by
the special configuration of the measuring chamber, into a series of
vortices which cause the rotary vaned impeller to rotate in direct
proportion to the flow rate. These dual flow streams are recombined into
a single stream at the meter outlet. The rotary impeller is connected to
the meter register by a magnetic drive assembly. Each impeller rotation
is mechanically tabulated and displayed by the meter register.

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Sliding vane meter: (a) Smith type showing blade (vane) path
(reproduced from Baker 1983; with permission of the author);
(b) Avery Hardoll type (after the manufacturer's literature)

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(c)

(c) VAF J5000 (reproduced with permission of VAF Instruments

and Industrial Flow Control Ltd.)

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Positive Displacement Meter

 Benefits/Advantages

– Moderate cost
– No Reynolds number constraints
– No upstream/downstream piping requirements
– High accuracies achievable - 0.25 to 0.5% of rate
– Can measure very low flows with high viscosity

D I C E T Flow Measurement

Positive Displacement Meter

 Limitations/Disadvantages

– Moving parts
– Typically create significant pressure drop
– Can be damaged by slugs of air
– Moderate amount of maintenance necessary
• Flowmeter must be disassembled and cleaned if it plugs due to dirty
liquid
• Subject to deteriorationdue to wear, corrosion, exposure to dirt,
and abrasion. Output usually low relative to actual flow

– Instrument cost moderate to high

– Measures discrete amounts of fluidnot flow rate
– Affected by viscosity – shift in k-factor
– Slippage when used on low viscosity fluids
– Meter failure causes pipe to choke

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Multirotor Meters
There are several designs of meter with multiple rotors. Figure (a)
has two rotors that seal against each other; each rotor carries
liquid through the meter as it rotates. Figure (b) shows another
two-rotor meter, but in this case the main rotor consists of four
vanes that form metering compartments. The second rotor is a
sealing rotor that returns the vanes to the inlet side of the meter.
The second rotor may be two or three-lobed, and its rotation will
be precisely linked to that of the main rotor. It transmits a net fluid
flow across the meter equal to the volume of the vane that it
returns to the inlet. The mechanism, its design and engineering, is
complex and, unless manufactured to a very high standard of
precision, may lead to high pressure loss and interference
between rotors and housing. Figure (c) shows a design with a
large rotor and two small rotors.

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Multirotor meters: (a) Two rotor (reproduced from Baker and Morris 1985; with
permission of the Institute of Measurement and Control); (b) Two rotor, main rotor has
four vanes (reproduced from Baker and Morris 1985; with permission of the Institute of
Measurement and Control); (c) Multirotor: large rotor with two small rotors (after Baker
1983 and Baker 1989)
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Fluted Rotor Meter

Meters of this type are used in the flow measurement of
crude and refined petroleum products and a variety of
other commercial fluids. Frequently they are used on
product loading racks and small pipelines. Usually the
meters are equipped with direct readouts and often with
ticket printers to provide authentically recorded
documents for liquid-transfer transactions.

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Operating principle of a Brooks BiRotor possitive-displacement flowmeter. As the

product enters the intake of the measuring unit chamber, the two rotors divide the
product into precise segments of volume momentarily and then return these
segments to the outlet of the measuring unit chamber. During what may be referred
to as “liquid transition,” the rotation of the two rotors is directly proportional to the
liquid throughput. A gear train, located outside the measuring unit chamber, conveys
mechanical rotation of the rotors to a mechanical or electronic register for totalization
of liquid throughput. (Brooks Instrument Division, Emerson Electric Company.)

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Helical Rotor Meter

Two radially pitched helical rotors trap liquid as it flows
through the flowmeter causing the rotors to rotate in the
longitudinal plane. Flow through the meter is
proportional to the rotational speed of the rotors. It can
be used on high viscosity liquids, but increased slippage
may occur with low viscosity flows and reduce the
accuracy. The rotors form a seal with each other and
with the body of the flowmeter so that these parts must
be manufactured to a high degree of precision.

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Applications are to polymers and adhesives, fuel oils,

lubricating oil, blending, hydraulic test stands, high
viscosity, and thixotropic fluids. This type of meter
has also been developed for multiphase flows in
North Sea oil applications (Gold et al. 1991).

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Helical rotor meter (reproduced from Baker and

Morris 1985; with permission of the Institute of
Measurement and Control)

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PD Flowmeters

Advantages

 Ideal for viscous fluids

 Custody transfer
 Batching
 Minimal straight piping requirements

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