SUC clamp-on ultrasonic flow meter

• Suitable pipe surface: The surface should be clean, smooth and free from rust, uneven paint residues or insulating material to ensure good signal transmission.
• Fill the pipe: While automatic wall thickness measurement is also possible on empty stainless steel pipes, plastic pipes must be completely filled with the medium to ensure reliable measurement.
• Stable measurement location: Stable pipe sections with minimal vibration improve signal quality and measurement accuracy.

• Unsuitable pipe surface: Do not install the sensor on rusty, icy or heavily soiled pipes. Weld seams and damaged areas should also be avoided, as they can affect signal transmission and distort the measurement.
• Flexible hoses: Do not install the sensor on flexible hoses. The sensor is designed for rigid pipework.
• Tightening: Do not overtighten the clamps, as this can cause deformation or result in insufficient coupling.

Importance of wall thickness in practice

If the exact wall thickness is not known, measurement accuracy is affected. This is where the challenge lies: industrial pipes can have manufacturing tolerances of up to ±10 %, while standard pipe schedules often differ from the actual wall thickness. Particularly in existing installations, reliable pipe data is often unavailable, meaning that values have to be estimated or entered manually, which can affect measurement accuracy.

Integrated wall thickness measurement in the SUC

Using its integrated wall thickness measurement, the SUC clamp-on flow meter determines the actual pipe wall thickness during set-up. The value can be adjusted at any time. As wall thickness directly affects the sound path and thus the calculation of the flow rate, automatic detection ensures significantly greater measurement accuracy and consistent results.