April, 2014

News from Bronkhorst USA

Mass Flow and Pressure

Measurement and Control

In This Issue

Spray Coating Solution

Direct Connection

Let It Flow

Good to Know

Laws and Guidelines

Quick Links

Bronkhorst USA

Spray Coating Solution
Mass Flow Pumps

Mini Video Pump Control Bronkhorst Cori-Tech combines pumps with Coriolis meters. The pumps are directly (speed) controlled by the Coriolis instruments with integrated PID-controller, thus creating a mass flow pump with many advantages.

Bronkhorst Cori-Tech Mass Flow Pumps will control flow very accurately and highly stable to a spraying nozzle, which results in a perfectly uniform coated layer.

This combination sprays a flow which is totally independent of factors such as temperature, viscosity, pressure or a tiny blockage in the flow line. The Coriolis MFM sends a signal to the pump which will result in the desired flow-output. In the current situation, the outlet flow may be affected by several external factors, since there is no sensor to correct for these influences.

Your benefits:

Real mass flow dosage instead of volume flow
No (re)calibration needed due to the highly accurate Coriolis mass flow instrument, which behaves like a scale for flowing mass
Reduction of wasted fluid due to a very fast stabilization of the set flow rate
Continuous flow control or batch dosing using integrated totalizer
Direct flow control to the spraying nozzle
No external control unit required: our (mini) CORI-FLOW instruments with integrated PID-controller (and totalizer) can be programmed using free software tools or via several available field busses

Direct Connection

NEW LabVIEW Drivers

Bronkhorst® has developed a driver for easy integration of FLOW-BUS based instruments in LabVIEW applications. The driver simplifies the communication with our instruments and reduces the time required for constructing a system set-up, due to the adoption of the FLOW-BUS protocol.

The Bronkhorst FLOW-BUS Driver is a National Instrument (NI) certified LabVIEW plug and play driver, compatible with all FLOW-BUS based instruments. This includes instruments with FLOW-BUS interface (fieldbus devices) as well as instruments with an RS232 connection, using FLOW-BUS as internal protocol. The driver offers functionalities to read and adjust the majority of the available parameters of a FLOW-BUS device. Advances functions that are missing can easily be added, thanks to the structure of the driver.

Drivers certified by National Instruments meet their standards for quality and usability. They are also endorsed by NI, which means that NI will support the drivers code (incl. updating the code for new versions of LabVIEW) and that NI will assist users to add extra functionalities.

To get started with the driver, start-up LabVIEW and install the driver from the Instrument Driver Finder, integrated in LabVIEW, or download the driver from the National Instruments Instrument Driver Network (IDNet) using the following link:

http://www.bronkhorstusa.com/en/downloads/labview

Let It Flow

Gas Contamination

M+W D-6300 w/fittings The D-6300 Mass Stream from M+W Instruments (a Bronkhorst Company) is ready to handle your tough, dirty, moist gas applications.

Just about any industrial gas source will have some amount of contamination which could interfere with the flow path of an instrument designed for analytical gas cleanliness.

The Mass Stream D-6300 from M+W Instruments uses CTA technology which has no by-pass sensor to clog. All gas flows through the flow stabilization sieves and down the flow path. Only the two stainless steel sensors in the flow path are used to measure the mass flow of the gas.

Through Flow

Keeping in mind that the D-6300 series is offered over a very wide flow range (0.1 l/min up to 5000 l/min, air equivalent) and also offers not only measurement but also mass flow control over that same wide flow range, the D-6300 becomes the smart choice for measurement and control of "less than ideal conditions" gas applications from compressed air to furnace gases.

Good to Know

Considering Fittings on MFC's

An NPT (National Pipe Thread) fitting is a tapered fitting. As the threads are compressed against each other at a slight angle eventually a seal is formed. It is recommended that tape (often Teflon) is used to provide lubrication between the threads. It is easy to imagine that as the threads move inward at an angle there is the possibility that the Teflon tape can be pushed forward as well, even to the point of entering the flow path of the gas. If your NFC is a through flow, or CTA, instrument (such as the M+W Instruments D-6300 Series) there is far less risk of clogging the flow path with tiny bits of debris as there is no by-pass sensor or laminar flow elements in a CTA device (see "Will It Flow" above).

BSPP (British Standard Pipe Parallel) is, as the name suggests, a parallel fitting. The threads are used to hold the F-201CV two pieces together and not to create a seal. The sealing is done by an elastomeric seal external to the thread. Because the seal is external to the thread there is no danger of debris in the threads being forced into the flow path of the gas. Typically BSPP threads are used on MFC's (such as the Bronkhorst High-Tech EL-FLOW Select) which use a by-pass sensor and laminar flow elements, both of which have extremely small tolerances.

As always, a thorough understanding of the application requirements will be the best guide in selection of a mass flow controller as well as fitting type.

Laws and Guidelines

Frisch's Law

You cannot have a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.