1224 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 48, NO.

6, DECEMBER 1999

A Novel Method of Using a Control Valve

for Measurement and Control of Flow
M. A. Atmanand and M. S. Konnur

Abstract—The control of flow through a pipe requires mainly For the control of fluid flow, it is essential to introduce
three devices—a flowmeter for the measurement of flow, a control a variable restriction in the flow. A control valve precisely
valve to control the flow, and a controller. The controller gives does this [5]. Control valves were in use for a very long time,
an appropriate signal to the control valve depending upon the
difference between the measured flow rate and the set flow beginning perhaps from the time when dams and irrigation
rate. Conventional flowmeters produce a differential pressure systems were first designed [6]. Even though, due to advances
in the flow, which is measured and suitably scaled to get the in mechanical engineering, many of the latest types of control
flow rate. Incidentally, a control valve uses the principle of valves have been developed, the basic principle of the control
restricting the area for flow which in turn produces a differential valve (i.e., introducing a variable restriction in the flow) has
pressure. From the above, it is seen that if a relationship is
developed between the differential pressure produced by the remained the same. This method of flow control introduces a
control valve and the flow through it, the valve itself could differential pressure across the control valve.
function as a flow meter also, apart from acting as a control valve.
A relationship for this was established based on the equation II. PRINCIPLE
for control valve capacity (Cv ) for different valve positions. The
expression requires knowledge of the differential pressure across For a fluid flow control loop, however sophisticated a
the valve, the static pressure, temperature, the valve position, flowmeter is, it is essential to have a control valve that
and the Cv Vs valve position characteristics in order to measure operates in a conventional way. Thus, in a flow control loop, a
and control the flow rate. Error analysis is performed for the
expression and to suggest means to improve the accuracy level. An
differential pressure is generated across the system due to the
iterative approach is necessary in order to obtain a particular flow control valve. If this differential pressure itself can be related
rate using this method. This necessitates the use of a computer to the flow rate through the valve, then the flowmeter can
or a processor-based system, similar to present day intelligent be entirely eliminated from the flow control loop. This idea
controllers, to implement the scheme. A prototype was made in has been developed mathematically and experimentally. Even
the laboratory using a 50-mm conventional control valve with
pneumatic actuator, working as the control valve and flowmeter.
though the idea can be implemented for all types of fluid flow
An HP data acquisition and control system (DACS), used as the control, for the sake of this paper only, flow control of air is
controller, was also used to provide the appropriate output signal considered.
to achieve the necessary flow control. The unit was calibrated at The flow rate through a conventional differential
the air flow laboratory to an accuracy of 61:5%. pressure-producing flowmeter is given by
(1)
I. INTRODUCTION
where is the discharge coefficient, and is the differ-
M EASUREMENT and control of fluid flow is very much
essential in any process-control plant. Many types of
flowmeters, both inferential and noninferential, have evolved
ential pressure measured across the meter. Fig. 1 shows the
schematic of a conventional flow control loop.
A salient parameter of a control valve, called the control
over the years [1]. Flowmeters which produce a differential
valve capacity states that the flow capacity of a valve is the
pressure in the flow, which in turn is related to the flow rate,
U.S gallons per minute of water at a temperature of 60 F that
were some of the first kind of flow meters [2]. Orifice plates,
will flow through the valve with a pressure loss of one pound
venturi meters, and the like fall into this category [3]. Due to
per square inch at a specific opening [7]. Even though the units,
the advent of modern electronics, many types of flow meters
for the sake of definition, are given in the foot-pound-second
like the electromagnetic flowmeter, coriolis mass flowmeter,
(FPS) system, they are appropriately converted to SI units for
cross-correlation flow meter, etc., have been developed and
the purpose of calculations. For the valve in the fully open
are widely used in process plants [4]. The major advantage
condition, for compressible fluid flow, the equation relating the
of some of the latest flowmeters is that they do not introduce
control valve capacity to the flow rate , differential pressure
a differential pressure for measurement of flow unlike their
across the valve, static pressure , temperature in
conventional counterparts. This amounts to a saving in energy
the line, expansion factor , compressibility factor and
for pumping of the fluids.
gas specific gravity for compressible fluid is given by
Manuscript received February 1, 1998; revised September 16, 1999.
M. A. Atmanand is with the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Indian (2)
Institute of Technology, Madras 600 036, India (e-mail: [email protected]).
M. S. Konnur is with the Fluid Control Research Institute, Palghat 678 623,
India. where and is a numerical constant to take care
Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9456(99)09593-5. of the appropriate units [8].
0018–9456/99$10.00  1999 IEEE
ATMANAND: NOVEL METHOD OF USING A CONTROL VALVE 1225

TABLE I
CALIBRATION RESULTS OF PROTOTYPE FLOWMETER

Fig. 1. Conventional flow control loop.

measurement of differential pressure. The static pressure was

measured using a capacitance-type pressure transmitter with
an accuracy of %. The temperature was measured using
a resistance temperature detector (RTD) with an accuracy
better than %. The valve stem position was measured
using a spring-loaded linear variable differential transformer
Fig. 2. Block schematic of valve acting as flow meter. (LVDT) with an accuracy of mm. The valve stroke
was of the order of 25 mm. The signals proportional to the
above parameters were connected to a PC-based Hewlett-
The value varies with respect to the position of the valve.
Packard data acquisition and control system (DACS). The
From (2), one can get
data acquisition and computations were performed using the
(3) DACS, and the control signal for operating the control valve
was given from the DACS to the electro-pneumatic positioner
From the above equation, the flow rate at a particular valve of the control valve for operating the same.
opening can be calculated if the for that opening and
the various other measured parameters and constants are V. ERROR ANALYSIS
substituted in (3). Error analysis performed on (3) yields the maximum ab-
solute error in the measurement of flow using this novel
III. METHOD OF IMPLEMENTATION method:
The for the control valve is determined by testing it
(4)
in a laboratory, for various valve openings. The differential
pressure, static pressure, temperature and position of the From the above equation, it can be seen that the contributions
control valve stem are measured for this purpose. of the errors due to measurement of pressure, differential
When the valve is used also as a flowmeter, the for that pressure, and temperature have a lesser influence due to the
particular valve opening is determined from the calibration multiplying factor of associated with these terms. The
data already available. From this , the actual flow rate is major contribution to the overall error is due to which is
computed from (3) after measuring the differential pressure, a function of valve position. However, based on experiments
static pressure, etc. As in the conventional flow control system, in the laboratory, the error contribution due to is due to
the difference between actual flow rate and set flow rate is more than one factor.
calculated, and the valve is moved such that the difference One error component is due to the error in reading data
is minimized. Fig. 2 shows the block schematic of the valve from the . position graph stored in the system. Being
acting as flowmeter. a PC-based system, the effect of this error can be neglected
compared with the other major contributors. The next error
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS component is the error involved in determining the char-
For the purpose of verifying the scheme explained, a con- acteristics of the valve. This in turn is determined by the
ventional plug-type control valve of 50-mm size with a pneu- uncertainty of measurement instruments used in the laboratory
matic actuator and electro-pneumatic positioner was used. where the characteristics were determined. Another is due to
The position characteristics were determined by the the error in reading the position of the valve stem and thus
gravimetric method at the water flow laboratory. The control depends on the position transducer used.
valve was then connected in the air flow laboratory pipe lines For the experiments performed with transducers having the
for implementation of the scheme described. accuracies mentioned above and a laboratory uncertainty of
A capacitance-type differential pressure transmitter of ac- %, the maximum accuracy obtainable is % for the
curacy % was connected across the control valve for system.
1226 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 48, NO. 6, DECEMBER 1999

TABLE II
COMPARISON OF COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS FOR NORMAL FLOW CONTROL LOOP AND FOR THE PROTOTYPE DEVELOPED

VI. RESULTS various data, perform the necessary computation, and provide
The system developed was calibrated at the air flow lab- appropriate signals for actuating the control valve. This system
oratory of the Institute against a servo positive-displacement as described could also be modified for gas flow measurement
flowmeter having an accuracy of %. An overall accuracy in custody transfer, wherein the flow rate measured is to be
of the order of % was obtained for the system. Table I converted to the standard temperature and pressure (STP) or
shows the results obtained. As seen from the error analysis, the the normal temperature and pressure (NTP) condition. The
major cause of the error is due to the errors involved in the necessary equations derived from the gas law could be fed
measurement of differential pressure, pressure, and position. into the system. This processor-based system, installed in the
By using transmitters of higher accuracy, the overall accuracy field, could be integrated with the field-bus system, which is
can be improved. being standardized internationally.

VII. CONCLUSION REFERENCES

A novel system that utilizes the inherent pressure drop [1] A. T. J. Hayward, Flowmeters—A Basic Guide and Source Book for
available across a conventional control valve for measurement Users, 1st ed. New York: McMillan, 1979.
and control of flow is described. This system eliminates the [2] R. W. Miller, Flow Measurement Engineering Hand Book. New York:
McGraw Hill, 1983.
use of a conventional flowmeter in a flow control loop. While [3] “Measurement of fluid flow by means of orifice plates, nozzles and
the system works satisfactorily under laboratory conditions, its venturi tubes inserted in circular cross-section conduits running in full,”
use in a process-control plant is yet to be established. The eco- Int. Stand. Organ. ISO 5167-1980.
[4] Instrumentation Reference Book, Noltingk, Ed., 1st ed. London, U.K.:
nomic gain, using this scheme instead of the conventional flow Butterworth, 1988.
control loop, can be evaluated from Table II. The accuracies [5] J. L. P. E. Lyons, Lyons Valve Designers Handbook. New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold, 1982.
are comparable with conventional systems. However, for better [6] Water Measurement Manual, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1984.
accuracy, it is to be calibrated with standard instruments with [7] R. W. Zappe, Valve Selection Handbook. New York: Jaico, 1995.
higher levels of accuracy. The additional pressure drop and [8] “Control valve capacity test procedure,” Amer. Nat. Stand. ANSI/ISA-S
75.02-1982, Instrument Soc. Amer.
the consequent power loss due to the conventional flowmeter,
when used in a flow control loop, are absent in this case.
The marginal additional cost, which may accrue due to the
additional controller, will be compensated by the savings in M. A. Atmanand, photograph and biography not available at the time of
publication.
recurring costs for power, due to the absence of a conventional
flowmeter.
Even though the system developed uses a conventional PC-
based data acquisition system, this unit can be replaced by a M. S. Konnur, photograph and biography not available at the time of
microprocessor-based system having capabilities to acquire the publication.