Measuring total use of a welding process gas
Measuring total use of a welding process gas
(OP)
Please redirect if I am in the wrong forum,
I am starting a project that I have been asked to accurately determine how much process gas (Argon/CO2 blend) we use at any given time. The scope is to be able to walk up to the meter and read a display reflecting the total usage since last read. Could you take a minute and suggest a brand name to consider or your experience in dealing with similar applications. In the short amount of time I have spent, I've learned it's not as simple as I thought and there's a great deal of things to consider.
Thank you
I am starting a project that I have been asked to accurately determine how much process gas (Argon/CO2 blend) we use at any given time. The scope is to be able to walk up to the meter and read a display reflecting the total usage since last read. Could you take a minute and suggest a brand name to consider or your experience in dealing with similar applications. In the short amount of time I have spent, I've learned it's not as simple as I thought and there's a great deal of things to consider.
Thank you





RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
I'd do something like that with mass readings at T2-T1, as in weigh the tank, but that might get a little troublesome if the Ar is in a huge pressure tank on site, or something, so I suggest you read the pressure and temperature and convert that to a mass, or to the Standard Gas Volume contained in the tank each time you make a reading. Then subtract the latest reading from the previous to find out how much has been used. Should be pretty easy to do with a little knowledge of Ar compressibility factors. Some more details about the way this gas is stored would help.
What would you be doing, if you knew that you could not fail?
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
What would you be doing, if you knew that you could not fail?
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
You do not say what your application is.
Are your tanks on individual machines, or do you have a manifold system supplying the whole shop?
This could be as simple as a flowmeter in the supply line, or as Mike says you will need to keep track of your tanks.
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
RE: Measuring total use of a welding process gas
Doing this as a stepwise batch calc is trivial. Capturing flow rates after the gas has left the tank is borderline impossible.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
www.muleshoe-eng.com
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.