Industrial air blowers and dryers are necessary in a wide range of materials process control applications. They are used extensively in the production of bulk catalysts, flavourings, fillers, granules, particles, polymers, powders—generally, in fact anytime that raw materials must be dried to remove excess moisture content that would interfere with their production or quality.
The installation of Fluid Components International (FCI) ST50 Series Flow Meters in the process control loops of industrial air blower and dryer systems provides highly accurate hot air flow rate monitoring. The use of mass flow meters ensures precise rate of flow measurement and totalised flow measurement for zone control and overall system operational efficiency.
Relying on FCI’s accurate thermal dispersion mass flow sensing technology, the ST50 meters provide accurate and repeatable direct mass flow measurement. With the ST50 there is no need for the temperature sensors, flow computers or the other devices required with orifice plates, Venturis, Vortex shedding and other flow meters. The ST50’s unique design also provides built-in temperature compensation for reliable measurement over a wide temperature range with almost no pressure-drop.
Offering a wide flow range, the ST50 Flow Meter measures air, compressed air or nitrogen from 0.75 to 400 SFPS (0.23 to 122 MPS) in line sizes from 2 to 24 inches (51 to 610 mm). Flow meter accuracy is up to +1% of reading, +0.5% of full scale, with repeatability of +0.5% of reading. The meter operates at temperatures from up to 0 to 250°F (-18 to 121°C). Turndown ratio is up to 100:1.
The flow range of the ST50 Series can be field-configured in either standard mass flow or volumetric engineering units. In features dual analogue outputs: two 4-20 mA outputs, which are field assignable to flow rate or temperature and an RS232C I/O port. A 0-500 Hz pulse output for totalised flow is also available as an option. All configurations are easily user set in the field with any standard laptop to the RS232C port and/or via the wireless IR link/PDA.