Detecting and Correcting Calculated Fluid Density Errors in Coriolis Meters Due to Ambient Air Temperature Changes

  • Gordon Lindsay

    Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisProfessional Engineering Doctorate

    Abstract

    Coriolis-based sensing technology is widely used within the oil and gas industry for measuring mass flow rate, density and temperature of fluids within pipelines. It is common for Coriolis mass flow meters to be installed within environments that are subject to variations in ambient temperatures due to factors such as direct sunlight and third-party equipment (pumps and heat exchangers). To date, however, little research has been conducted to quantify the extent of errors that can be induced by such conditions.

    Through experimentation and data analysis conducted at the United Kingdom’s national standard for fluid flow and density measurement (NEL), this work investigates how the thermomechanical effects induced in Coriolis flow meters by variation in ambient air temperature affects the error in the calculated fluid density value output by the technology.

    The results reveal that a common measurement problem exists in multiple Coriolis meter designs with respect to the technology’s ability to determine fluid density in conditions where there is a significant differential between the process fluid present within the device and the ambient air temperature. This work has also shown that the fluid properties will affect the extent of the measurement error.

    In addition, a new correction model was developed in this work which is capable of determining meter error due to the combined effects of fluid properties, ambient temperature and fluid temperature. This thesis shows through experimentation and data analysis that when the solution is implemented on two distinct models of Coriolis meter, the devices are capable of live correcting for the errors observed.
    Date of AwardMar 2020
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • Coventry University
    • TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory
    SupervisorJames Brusey (Supervisor), Seyed Shariatipour (Supervisor), Manus Henry (Supervisor) & Norman Glen (Supervisor)

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