How to handle glass rotameters in heat-traced pipelines?
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A saturated solution is conveyed (sometimes supersaturation causes the precipitation of fine crystals); the pipeline is heated with steam, and a glass rotameter is installed in the pipeline to regulate the flow rate. Due to the batch operation, when the flushing solution is introduced, as soon as it comes into contact with the glass rotameter, crystals form on the walls of the glass tube, immediately blocking the meter. May I ask the experts here ； 1. How can this problem be solved without modifying the glass rotameter? 2. Which type of flow meter with on-site indication is suitable? Thank you all.
Glass rotameters cannot be used in environments with excessively high temperatures; a metal rotameter equipped with heating could be considered as an alternative
The temperature of the solution inside the pipe is 100°C, and the temperature of the heating steam is 0.3 MPa; both values are not high. Are you referring to a metal tube float flow meter?
It should be, but a steam-heated version is required (with a heating jacket connected to your steam heating pipe)
Adding an insulating layer to the glass tube hinders reading, which is quite inconvenient. For the material used by the original poster, a metal tube rotor + steam jacket would be a more suitable choice, and the steam can be in operation at all times (or activated before feeding starts).