Agilent Technologies
Agilent Flow Tracker Series 1000/2000
Reference Manual
Page 1: ...Agilent Technologies Agilent Flow Tracker Series 1000 2000 Reference Manual ...
Page 2: ...chnologies Inc 2850 Centerville Road Wilmington DE 19808 1610 USA Safety Notices CAUTION A CAUTION notice denotes a haz ard It calls attention to an operat ing procedure practice or the like that if not correctly performed or adhered to could result in damage to the product or loss of important data Do not proceed beyond a CAUTION notice until the indicated conditions are fully understood and met ...
Page 3: ...table instrument The Flow Tracker 1000 has two operating modes Flow mode and Gas Chromatography GC mode The Flow Tracker 2000 has an additional Leak Detector mode and incorporates a separate built in sampling pump and probe The Flow Tracker data presentation format uses a multi line LCD display that allows simultaneous viewing of all parameters associated with the current operating mode Selected p...
Page 4: ...11 These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in an installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy If not installed and used in accordance with the instructions this device may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception This can be determined by turning the equipment off and on The user is encouraged t...
Page 5: ...racker Series 1000 2000 Reference Manual 5 This ISM device complies with Canadian ICES 001 Cet appareil ISM est conforme a la norme NMB 001 du Canada This device is CE marked for ISM Group 1 Class A equipment ...
Page 6: ...nal structure it is recommended that a 20 micron filter be installed upstream of the flowmeter The unit is packaged with simple plastic hose barbs for your convenience however any fitting that is appropriate for the application can be substituted Figure 1 Connections RS 232 plug Leak sampling probe Flow Tracker 2000 only AC adapter plug Exhaust Flow Sample exhaust Flow Tracker 2000 only Probe rece...
Page 7: ...puter is female the flowmeter can simply be plugged into your serial port via the included 8 pin mini DIN to DB 9 serial adapter cable If the serial port on your computer is male you will need a common double ended female adapter cable CAUTION When installing fittings into the NPT ports do not exceed 12 ft lbs of torque NOTE Use of pipe dopes and sealants on the NPT ports can cause permanent damag...
Page 8: ...east 100 mA is required To install the batteries 1 Remove the flexible boot from the flowmeter housing 2 Remove all three screws from the back cover 3 Carefully remove the back cover to expose the battery housing 4 Install the batteries as shown on the back cover 5 Replace the back cover and re install the screws 6 Replace the flexible boot pushing the bottom end of the flowmeter into the boot fir...
Page 9: ...uring devices in laminar flowmeters the relationship between pressure drop and flow is linear The underlying principle of operation of the Agilent Flow Tracker Series flowmeters is known as the Poiseuille Equation Since π r and L are constant this equation can be rewritten as The second equation shows the linear relationship between volumetric flow rate Q differential pressure P and absolute visco...
Page 10: ...arameters are either active or passive Active parameters are directly affected by the flow and are constantly changing These parameters can be moved to the primary display by pushing the button associated with them Passive parameters are usually variables that require input from the user The buttons associated with passive parameters are used to select the value of the variable A quick overview of...
Page 11: ...Ref Passive Sets ref to present flow Gas GAS Passive Toggles through gas list Operating mode MODE Passive Toggles through modes Table 3 Leak mode Flow Tracker 2000 only Parameter Label Active Passive Button action Leak rate Rate Active Primary display default Thermal conductivity Cond Active Primary display Relative conductivity Rel Active Primary display Sound Sound Passive Toggles sound on or of...
Page 12: ...as presently being measured The viscosity of the selected gas is used in the calculation of flow NOTE Should the unit ever fail to come on as expected push the OFF button and then press and hold the ON button NOTE If possible it is helpful to zero the unit near the expected operating pressure by positively blocking the flow downstream of the flowmeter prior to pushing the ZERO button Zeroing the u...
Page 13: ...ow GC and Leak in the Flow Tracker 2000 5 Press the OFF button to turn the unit power off from any operating mode Table 4 Selectable gases Gas Label Air default Air Nitrogen N2 Carbon dioxide CO2 Methane CH4 Hydrogen H2 95 Argon 5 Methane mix 95 Ar 5 CH4 Helium He NOTE The Agilent Flow Tracker Series flowmeters can also measure gases that are not listed here See the GC mode section for more inform...
Page 14: ... hard vacuum and accurately reads line pressure both above and below local atmospheric pressure This parameter is located in the upper left corner of the display under the dynamic label PSIA The engineering unit associated with absolute pressure is pounds per square inch absolute PSIA This can be converted to gauge Figure 2 Flow mode screen buttons GAS MODE OFF ON ZERO Gas select Power off Mode Mo...
Page 15: ...dle portion of the display under the dynamic label C Volumetric flow rate The volumetric flow rate is determined as described in the Flow Measurement Operating Principle section The engineering unit associated with the volumetric flow rate is milliliters per minute mL min This parameter is located in the lower left corner of the display over the dynamic label Vol In order to get an accurate volume...
Page 16: ... Selecting methane and measuring natural gas for instance will result in a fairly decent reading but it is not highly accurate because natural gas contains small and varying amounts of other gases such as butane and propane that result in a viscosity that is somewhat different than pure methane NOTE Absolute viscosity changes very little with pressure therefore a true volumetric reading does not r...
Page 17: ...g was used to fill balloons with 250 mL of helium but the incoming line ran near a furnace that cycled on and off intermittently heating the incoming helium Because the volumetric flowmeter simply measures the volume of gas flow all of the balloons would initially be the same size However if all the balloons are placed in a room and allowed to come to an equilibrium temperature they would generall...
Page 18: ...s minute SCCM standard cubic centimeters minute or SmL M standard milliliters minute This means that mass flow rate is calculated by normalizing the volumetric flow rate to some standard temperature and pressure STP By knowing the density at that STP one can determine the mass flow rate in grams per minute kilograms per hour etc STP is usually specified as the sea level conditions however no singl...
Page 19: ...er of the display appears if the batteries run below a certain voltage level that can affect the accuracy of the flowmeter Flow mode indicator This indicator located in the lower right corner of the display signals that the unit is in Flow mode The operating mode can be changed by pushing the MODE button 0 C and 14 695 PSIA 25 C and 14 695 PSIA 0 C and 760 torr mmHG 70 F and 14 695 PSIA 68 F and 2...
Page 20: ... the capillary This parameter is located in the upper left portion of the display under the dynamic label LinVel The engineering unit associated with the linear velocity is centimeters per second cm sec The calculation is as follows Linear Velocity Volumetric Flow Rate Capillary Area Figure 3 GC mode screen buttons GAS MODE OFF ON ZERO Gas select Power off Mode Mode indicator Low battery indicator...
Page 21: ...memory and the fixed value is shown above the dynamic label The engineering unit associated with this parameter is milliliters per minute mL min In gas chromatography this is normally used to store the main column flow rate prior to attaching the flowmeter to the split vent so that a running split ratio can be calculated and displayed Split ratio The split ratio is the ratio of the present volumet...
Page 22: ...ue that can be displayed here is 655 35 Gas select The selected gas is shown in the upper right hand corner of the display Available gases are listed in Table 4 Low battery indicator LO BAT The low battery indicator located just above the mode indicator in the lower right corner of the display appears if the batteries run below a certain voltage level that can affect the accuracy of the flowmeter ...
Page 23: ...te from the main flow metering portion of the device It consists of a sample suction probe internal flow channel with thermal conductivity sensors an internal suction pump and an exhaust port Figure 4 Leak detector mode screen buttons GAS MODE OFF ON ZERO Gas select Power off Mode Mode indicator Low battery indicator Sound on off Leak rate Thermal conductivity Relative conductivity Primary display...
Page 24: ...heated by a constant current and a second unheated sensor located upstream of the heated sensor as shown in Figure 5 If the identity and thus the thermal conductivity of the gas being sought are known then a leak rate can be inferred from the known constant flow rate and the temperature difference measured between the two sensors This rate is subject to several limitations For instance if the leak...
Page 25: ...ated if the appropriate gas is selected Table 5 Thermal conductivities Gas Absolute thermal conductivity cal sec cm2 C cm x 10 6 Detectable Temp Air 62 20 No 80 F 26 7 C Nitrogen 62 40 No 80 F 26 7 C Carbon dioxide 39 67 Yes 80 F 26 7 C Methane 81 83 These gases are technically detectable however this device is not rated for use in hazardous areas 80 F 26 7 C Hydrogen 433 92 80 F 26 7 C 95 5 Argon...
Page 26: ...ractice to allow the detector to purge away from the suspected leak for 1 2 minutes between leak detections 4 Press GAS to select the gas to be detected If desired the sound can be toggled on at this point by pressing the SOUND button Normal no leakage conditions are indicated by slow intermittent ticks As the conductivity varies from that of air when leaks are detected the tick frequency and pitc...
Page 27: ...as is a measure of its ability to conduct heat The absolute thermal conductivity of the gas presently being sampled is located in the upper middle of the display under the dynamic label Cond The engineering units associated with the thermal conductivity shown are the value x 10 6 cal sec cm2 C cm Because of the excessive length of the units they are not shown on the display Relative conductivity i...
Page 28: ...ally a slow intermittent tick sound that becomes more frequent with a change either positive or negative in the thermal conductivity from air When measuring gross leaks the tick sounds merge into a constant tone indicating a large leak Gas select The selected gas is shown in the upper right hand corner of the display Available gases are listed in Table 4 on page 13 Low battery indicator LO BAT The...
Page 29: ...tems 2 Select Properties from the file menu 3 Click on the Configure button under the Connect To tab Be sure the program is set for 19 200 baud and an 8 N 1 None 8 Data Bits No Parity 1 Stop Bit and no Flow Control protocol 4 Under the Settings tab make sure the Terminal Emulation is set to ANSI 5 Click on the ASCII Setup button and be sure the Send Line Ends with Line Feeds box is not checked and...
Page 30: ...y simply disconnecting there are two telephone symbol icons at the top of the HyperTerminal screen for connecting and disconnecting immediately after the event in question The scroll bar can be driven up to the event and all of the data associated with the event can be selected copied and pasted into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel Flow mode Flow Air PSIA C Vol Mass 13 37 25 78 2 0 2...
Page 31: ... HyperTerminal or from a text file can be pasted directly into Excel When the data is pasted it will all be in the selected column 1 Copy the data from HyperTerminal 2 Select Text to Columns under the Data menu in Excel 3 Make sure that Fixed Width is selected under Original Data Type when the Text to Columns Wizard dialog box appears Click Next 4 Set the column widths as desired in the second dia...
Page 32: ... old or worn batteries 1 Remove the flexible boot from the flowmeter housing 2 Remove all three screws from the back cover 3 Carefully remove the back cover to expose the batteries 4 Carefully remove the old batteries 5 Install new batteries as shown on the back cover 6 Replace the back cover and re install the three screws 7 Replace the flexible boot pushing the bottom end of the flowmeter into t...
Page 33: ...k of the flowmeter under the flexible cover lists the recalibration due date The flowmeter should be returned to an approved repair recalibration center for recalibration before the listed due date For repairs and re calibrations locate the serial number on the back of the unit and visit the Agilent web site for instructions on where to send your flowmeter ...
Page 34: ...ents Temp Integrated circuit absolute temperature sensor No RTD s Press Solid state absolute pressure sensor Calibration NIST traceable multi point calibration certificate included Calibrated gases Nitrogen hydrogen helium air carbon dioxide methane 95 argon 5 methane blend Modes Flow gas chromatography leak detection Flow Tracker 2000 only Display Dynamically labeled multi function 7 line LCD wit...
Page 35: ...conductivity detector low power consumption for extended battery life Response time 1 second Sensitivity 1 67 x 10 3 cc sec for He 8 3 x 10 4 cc sec for H2 Gases All calibrated gases as above with a thermal conductivity significantly different than air Detection Thermal conductivity relative conductivity inferred leak rate audible signal After 7 8 minute warm up Recommended for gross leaks Other g...
Page 36: ...36 Reference Manual Flow Tracker Series 1000 2000 References 1 Weast Robert C CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 61st ed 1980 CRC Press ...
