Worldwide Flowmeter Calibration Facilities and Markets

Most flowmeter manufacturers maintain their own calibration facilities to calibrate the flowmeters they manufacture and deliver to customers. Some also recalibrate their own flowmeters and those of other companies. This study describes the calibration capabilities of selected flowmeter manufacturers of both gas and liquid flowmeters. The primary goal was to determine and to describe in detail the capabilities that these facilities offer, and how and why these facilities are of importance to flowmeter instrumentation users.

We created the set of studies, Worldwide Flowmeter Calibration Facilities and Markets, in 2016, but they are still pertinent. The set contains two studies:

• Core Study: The World Market for Gas Flow Calibration Facilities
• Module A: The World Market for Liquid Flow Calibration Facilities

The studies:

• Identify independent and manufacturer flow calibration facilities worldwide and by
  region
• Accurately describe the capabilities of these facilities
• Identify market growth factors for calibration facilities, especially as these factors apply to gas and oil custody transfer applications
• Describe effective procedures for the recalibration of flowmeters by type
• Describe effective procedures for the recalibration of flowmeters by type
• Provide in-depth profiles of major calibration companies worldwide

Of course, all flowmeters are calibrated to a factory accuracy standard before they are shipped for their intended purpose in the field. But it is precisely at this point in time that calibration questions first arise for operators: Was the installation actually completed per manufacturer instructions in every detail? Will the new flowmeter perform to factory specification or will the process affect its accuracy? Will sensors become coated by the process fluid? Will the lining be subject to wear and affect performance? Does our flowmeter have us in full compliance with our custody transfer contract, and how will we know when we are not?

All of these questions – and many others – emphasize the importance of flowmeter calibration and recalibration.

Flow Recalibration Working Group

Flow Research established a Flow Recalibration Working Group to arrive at a group of criteria that end-users can employ to determine if their flowmeters need to be recalibrated. The goal is to have some tests, programs, or criteria that can be run to determine when a flowmeter needs to be recalibrated.

The idea for this group came out of a series of in-person interviews Flow Research did with end-users of flowmeters in the Middle East in 2009. We interviewed 15 companies from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE about their use of flowmeters. Many of them expressed frustration that there was no generally agreed upon interval when their ultrasonic flowmeters need to be recalibrated. There was also the fact that at that time there was no recalibration facility in the Middle East . These people asked us if we could help them arrive at a standard. I (Jesse Yoder) said that I would do what I could.

Since that time I have spoken to the AGA, which seems to have no interest in taking on this subject. One positive development is that Emerson has built a flow calibration facility in Abu Dhabi, but it is currently limited to four inch liquid recalibrations. Some countries have instituted their own rules about calibration frequency, but these periods vary and seem to differ on a country by country basis.

The series of six studies that Flow Research did in 2012 on gas flow measurement grew out of the Middle East interviews. Since then we have completed a new edition of this series. Flow Research has also completed a study of flow calibration facilities. We have identified 147 such facilities worldwide, and have published two studies that describe these facilities and their capabilities. One study is on liquid recalibration and one is on recalibration of gas flowmeters.

The FRWG first met at the CEESI Custody Transfer Conference, held annually in June.

We held our second meeting of the Flow Recalibration Working Group (FRWG) at the CEESI North American Custody Transfer Conference in San Antonio, Texas held from June 19-21, 2017. The main focus of this meeting was the end-user survey that we decided to conduct at our initial meeting. Flow Research has created a draft of the end-user survey that has been circulated to working group members. At this meeting we agreed to finalize the end-user survey, and then begin to administer it. Members agreed to provide the names of 5-10 end-users who could potentially complete the survey.

The subject of providing funding for our efforts was discussed, but we agreed to wait until completing the end-user survey to pursue this idea.

We aim to get the end-user survey underway at the beginning of 2018. Flow Research will be circulating the draft survey towards the end of 2017 so that we can begin the survey early in 2018. Our hope is to have some solid results by the time of our third meeting at the CEESI Custody Transfer conference in June 2018.

On June 14, 2018, the group held its third meeting. We began by reviewing the activities of the past year. In our 2017 meeting, we had agreed to finalize the end-user questionnaire that was circulated to members prior to the 2017 meeting. Flow Research received comments on this survey during the second half of 2017. On February 9, 2018, and again on February 24, Flow Research sent out a reminder to FRWG members to review the questionnaire prior to its being sent out. We received some additional comments after these reminders. Finally, on March 18, 2018, an email was sent to FRWG members announcing that the user survey questionnaire was complete.

Flow Research conducted the end-user survey on behalf of the FRWG. Several thousand surveys were emailed out, and several hundred hardcopy versions. By the time of our third meeting, we had relatively few completed questionnaires. We discussed those results at the meeting. However, as a result of continued efforts in reaching out to end-users, by September we had substantially more returned and completed questionnaires.

The FRWG agreed to use the completed questionnaires as data to help create whitepapers on recalibration of the main types of flowmeters. We decided to begin with ultrasonic, then go to Coriolis and turbine. Our goal was to have some whitepapers in draft form to discuss at the fourth FRWG meeting on June 20, 2019.

This working group is strictly a volunteer effort, and so far has no official sanction. However, our hope is that if we do succeed in coming up with a usable set of recalibration guidelines, we can approach some of the organizations like AGA and API for approval of the guidelines. Short of this, we can publish our report and circulate it among interested manufacturers and end-users. Since no one has to our knowledge attempted this before, we think the results will be met with quite a lot of interest.