How do circular gear flow meters work?
The principle of operation is very similar in nature to that of an oval gear meter and other positive displacement type variations. Liquid is trapped through voids as it passes through the mechanism. Each void is precision designed to trap an equal amount of liquid.
In order for this to happen, the circular gears are manufactured to a tolerance which prohibits a leak, this preserving the equal amount of volume captured by each full rotation of the circular gears. Since the gears possess teeth, they will be naturally driven to rotate as liquid passes through owing to a positive pressure created by a liquid’s positive flow.
The teeth can also detect flow without having to rotate the full cycle, as you can see each tooth movement acts as a sort of graduation proportional to flow.
This technique has been adopted and widely accepted as an accurate method of obtaining accurate flow rates and totalized volumes as long as the circular gear meter is not compromised by the presence of solids and air bubbles. To protect the longevity and repeatability of the circular gears, it is always advisable to install a strainer upstream of the measurement device.
What kind of applications is the circular gear meter popular in?
This all depends on a few things that the manufacturer may need to know before making an offer. The most important might be chemical type of the liquid flowing through the meter and its minimum and maximum temperature.
Are the meter's internal wetted parts chemically compatible? What flow range is required?
For some, low flow measurements are important, since the chemical or liquid being used might be expensive. It might also be important for the low measurements to be precise since the meters are often used for mixing. A wrong mixture could mean a poor-quality finished product at the factory.
