Need for a clamp-on pressure meter?

[lakrits]

I have a method for measuring pipe pressure with a field/clamp-on system. Before I develop this further I would like to know if there are any applications for this.

The method works with measuring how vibrations change with stress and measures absolute pressure when attached to a pipe (without calibration).

The accuracy depends heavily on the diameter and wall thickness. The best accuracy is for thin walled large diameter pipes.

A realistic estimated accuracy is within 0.4 bars for a 4” schedule 40 pipe.

The free length of the pipe should be at least 10 times the diameter

Metal or plastic pipes are ok but concrete or ceramics are not.

The pipe needs to be free, so that it’s not covered with soil or insulation.

I greatly appreciate any feedback.

 

[MikeHalloran]

A few years ago, I could have used a clip-on tach sensor for medium speed Diesels.

The pipes are small, with thick walls, and suffer really big pressure spikes. Field installable sensors are available, but they assume that you're going to leave the sensor on the engine permanently; not applicable in my case.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[itsmoked]

WOW. So many variables to deal with. I can't see how you can achieve much accuracy short of some sort of calibration scheme. Pipes come with varied annealing and hardness even with the same material. Then there's corrosion and work hardening of the pipe.

Be pretty dang cool though!

You should probably ask this in forum378.
The difference between these two forums is enough to not consider it a cross-post.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[zdas04]

This feels a lot like ground penetrating radar. If it works as advertised it is wonderful. If it ever fails to pick up a buried flow line (or reflect the pressure transient that you are looking for), you'll never trust it again.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[danw2]

My buddy works for a valve house. Lots of his customers have no clue what and where the pressure drops are in their system. Even talking pressure drop is dicey because a good number of his customers "want a valve that controls flow but doesn't drop any pressure". Yeah, I know . . .

If this thing were portable and could be taken around to see what the relative pressures at various locations and repeatable enough so that an estimate of the error could be made at spot where there was working pressure gauge, he would find a use for it.

 

[ccfowler]

It seems a bit to good to be true, but if it really does work, it would be most attractive. If the cost is reasonable, the market should be huge.

Valuable advice from a professor many years ago: First, design for graceful failure. Everything we build will eventually fail, so we must strive to avoid injuries or secondary damage when that failure occurs. Only then can practicality and economics be properly considered.