Heater Feed Flow Measurement

[Claudio CarmonaParticipant]

Hi everyone,

Regarding feed flow measurement to heater I wanted to ask you some few questions:

* Which is the best technology to measure heater feed flow? Can you share some experiences?

* Have you ever experienced orifice plate fouling due to feed quality or feed pipeline asymmetry?

Looking forward your help. Thanks!

[Evan HydeKeymaster]

Hello

Pass flow has seen many evolutions over the years. But recently, we have been standardizing around
1. Wedge meters, large taps (2″ or more) close coupled, with very, very good insulation
2. Ultrasonic, inline. live vibration needs to be considered

Very, very rarely, we see coriolis in this service. Its the best but very expensive.

[Claudio CarmonaParticipant]

Evan, thanks for replying

Currently we have Wedge Meters, but taps are smaller than 2″. We’ll also check correct insulation.
We have 4 flange taps, two for measurement and two for the FLI(co), and both pairs behave in the same way. So we estimate that we’re having some issues in the orifice plate.

I’m also asking about feed lines aymmetry because we see that one pass meter fouls frecuently and the others remain in perfect conditions. Can symmetry have some impact on this?

Thanks.

[Evan HydeKeymaster]

Do you have orifice or wedge? I’m confused by your last post.

If you have orifice plates,
+ continuous purging the taps
+ orienting the taps at 2 and 10 o’clock (free draining)
+ eccentric orifice plates
could help

Assymetry, seems possible. Coke fines could preferentially build up in 1 leg. Can’t say that I have seen this before but I think almost all the heaters I have experience with have symmetric feed pass piping.

[Claudio CarmonaParticipant]

Sorry Evan, it was a misunderstanding.

We actually have orifice plates measuring passes flow.

Currently, we are performing a troubleshooting. When we have some results I will share them with you.

Thanks for your help!

[ebonydegaris9Member]

we have orifice plates but have been having lot of issues wiht plugging. we are considering to change those to the new Quad Vortex Technology whihc has 4 vortex transmitter, 4 sensors, and 2 shedder bars. i am sure we can overcome the hihg maintenance issue that we have from existing differential pressure technology. any thoughts from people here about the vortex technology

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