ULTRASONIC CLAMP FLOW METER TUF 2000 TESTING AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Testing the device in ideal and non-ideal requirement, Tips and Trick for Installation Troubleshooting
We have tested Ultrasonic Clamp Flowmeter TUF 2000 under ideal installation compared with less than requirement conditions to identify whether the device can be used in a nonideal installation. We buy the brand news sensor, the package is consists of a Transducer (TM01 for 50 mm - 700 mm Pipe Diameter), a display unit including integrated transmitter, transducer cable, Clamps, Product certificate, and the Manual Book not including the pasta for the transducers.
We use a 12 V adaptor to supply the power, the first test is a basic function, such as display, Menus based on the manual book, Analog Output 4-20 mA for interfacing with Datalogger and strength signal as the installation quality indication.
Installation Requirement
Flowrate measurement needs steady hydraulic flows, we can not measure the turbulence. Based on the Installation Guidance, the Placement of transducers must be at least more than 10 x D (pipe diameter) from the inflow and more than 5 x D from the outflow.
I am requested by my client to check the performance of the system under non-ideal installation due to the limited length of the exposed pipe at the site. The diameter of the pipe is 600 mm, the length available is only 6 m.
Minimum required length at least ( 10 x D + 5 D + measurement space), 10*0,6+5*0,6+1= 6+3 +1 = 10 m. Therefore, the available length is only 60% of the requirement.
TEST
We downscale using 50 mm PVC water pipe, ideal length in cm = 10*5 +6*5 +20 = 100 cm, 60% is 60 cm. For the ideal installation we use 2 m pipe > 1 m (minimum required length).
We test at the different discharge (2, 2.3,2.5) m/h. We found that measured discharge in 60 cm pipe is slightly lower than 2 m Pipe. The average difference is 5.5% compared with 2 m pipe. We need to check the device at the bigger velocity to check the consistency of the data. We test at minimum diameter, (50-700 mm range), also very small velocity (max speed is 10 m/s), 1% from full scale. To get a regression equation, we need more data at various velocities between the minimum and maximum range.
Troubleshooting
We want to share the troubleshooting for TUF 2000 Installation. I found many questions about how to solve some folowwing problems in Installation.
No signal detected
The Maximal cable length of the cable from the Transducers to the display unit is 2 m. If cables are too long the transducer signal won’t be detected. Maybe you receive a long cable and you just cut it divide into equal lengths.
Check the connection, the connector of transducer cable make sure it’s tight enough. The cabling must be confirmed with the Required diagram in the manual book
Bad Signal Quality (required is 60)
If the distance between transducer is too close, the signal will drop, try to adjust the distance (sometimes the automatic distance between transducers calculation need to be adjusted to reach a good signal.
Another possibility is wrong or bad cabling, connection or you forget to use the couplant (pasta /gel) for transducers.
Tips:
You can use USG Gell with much cheaper price compared with Couplant.