|
About DP
Meters
Anyone
who needs to do flow measurement today has a wide choice of technologies
and products. New-technology
flowmeters such as Coriolis and ultrasonic offer increased reliability,
reduced pressure drop, and high accuracy.
At the same time, suppliers are making improvements to the
traditional-technology meters, improving their performance.
Turbine flowmeters are being made with stronger bearings, offering
longer life. And improvements
in pressure transmitters mean greater stability and accuracy when they are
used to make pressure or flow measurements.
Market
researchers sometimes produce studies that compare the amount spent on
different types of flowmeters worldwide and in various geographic regions.
These studies also report on how many flowmeters of different types
are sold in a given period of time. Product
and marketing managers from flowmeter companies use these reports as a
guide to making decisions about what types of flowmeters to include in
their product lines, and what features these flowmeters should have.
These reports also help users understand better what types of
flowmeters their colleagues are buying, and for what applications.
Why
Determine Market Size?
Determining
the market size for different types of flowmeters is important, since it
helps both suppliers and end-users understand how much is being spent on
each type of flowmeter, and where these products are sold.
Tracking this data over time shows how the market changes from year
to year, and reveals trends that might not otherwise be apparent.
Looking at past data is also a guide to future trends, and is
valuable as a forecasting tool. Flowmeter
market size typically includes both how many flowmeters of a given type
are sold in a year, and the dollar value of those sales.
What
is the Size of the Differential Pressure (DP) Flowmeter Market?
Determining
the market size for a flowmeter can be fairly straightforward, when it is
clear what is included in the flowmeter.
Most flowmeters have a sensor and a transmitter, along with an
amplifier, transducer, and display. Typically,
the transmitter generates one or more output signals that represent
flowrate, and can represent other values such as pressure or temperature.
DP
flowmeters are different because of the complexity of the measurement.
DP flowmeters require some type of constriction in the flowstream,
created by a primary element. They
require a DP transmitter to provide a reading of the difference in line
pressure upstream and downstream from the constriction.
The primary element is essential to making the DP flow measurement.
But often end-users order the primary element separately from the
DP transmitter, and from a different supplier, so tracking primary element
sales values can be a challenge.
Types
of primary elements include orifice plates, Venturi tubes, averaging Pitot
tubes, flow nozzles, laminar flow elements, and wedge elements.
The costs associated with these products should be included in the
total value of the DP flowmeter market.
Simply considering the value of DP transmitters is not sufficient.
And when the value of primary elements is included in the DP
flowmeter market, it is among the largest of any flowmeter market in terms
of revenues.
The
DP flowmeter market appears to be holding its own, and possibly gaining
ground, when other traditional technology flowmeters such as turbine
meters are losing market share. There
are several reasons for this. One is that DP flowmeters still have the
largest installed base of any type of flowmeter. Secondly, pressure transmitter suppliers have been very
active in incorporating technological improvements into their products.
Third, the development of multivariable DP transmitters and
flowmeters has enabled customers to save money and reduce installation
costs. Finally, like vortex flowmeters, DP flowmeters are very versatile,
and can be used to measure liquid, gas, and steam flows.
DP
flowmeters are here to stay, and will continue to provide stiff
competition to new-technology flowmeters. And the market might be even stronger if suppliers would look
more seriously at primary elements. What
the world needs now is some new and improved primary elements to go with
those highly stable and accurate pressure transmitters.
Only when suppliers work to improve primary elements as they have
worked to improve pressure transmitters will we know the true potential of
the DP flowmeter market.
The
following are some of the supplier of DP transmitters used to measure
flow:
ABB
Bristol
Babcock
Emerson
Process Management
Endress+Hauser
Fuji
Electric
Honeywell
Invensys/Foxboro
Siemens
Smar
Yamatake
Yokogawa
For
further information on DP meters, including detailed market reports,
please see www.flowdp.com.
| 
