New pipe sizes for air monitor
April 1st 2005

The metris family of calorimetric mass flow meters, from ifm electronic, has now got bigger.

Theses units are designed to monitor compressed air at the level of individual pieces or small groups of plant where the majority of leaks occur.This development offers manufacturing and process operations an opportunity to ensure that this expensive resource is used effectively and economically.

The ifm metris units come premounted, originally designed for either 0.5” or 1” stainless steel pipes, these are now available for 1.5”and 2” pipes.They are designed for straightforward in-line installation in the drops and feeds to plant floor.

With impressively wide operating ranges, just these two varaints cover flow rates from 4 to 3750NL/min.

The metris monitors have integral displays which give a continuous readout of instantaneous air consumption. The displays may also be used to show peak flow rate or accumulated consumption.

The metris units also feature several output options.The default zero and span adjustable 4 to 20mA analogue facilitates remote monitoring and data logging.Or this output can be simply reconfigured using the two buttons on the unit to provide a pulse output every NL or Nm3 to interface with existing meter monitoring equipment.

An additional switched output can provide an immediate indication if the flow rate exceeds a preset value.This operating point for the switching output can be set by the user; choosing a value just above the plant’s normal peak (a memory feature within the metris records this value for you) allows the small increases in flow caused by leaks to be readily detected.

To ensure long-term reliability, accuracy, repeatability and fast response time metris compressed air monitors use platinum on ceramic sensing elements which have no moving parts. All measurements are scaled to standard units – NL/min or Nm3/h - and all are automatically compensated for variations in temperature and pressure.

ifm electronic specialises in the application of electronic technology to produce innovative and effective solutions for industrial control applications. Products include flow sensors; pressure transmitters and switches; temperature switches and transmitters; capacitive, inductive and photoelectric proximity sensors; and a full range of AS-i I/O modules and masters.

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