Primary Flow Signal Installs Halmi Venturi Flow Meter To Improve Water Quality In The Potomac River

Highly Accurate Meter Key Part of Upgrade Strategy for Water Authority

Primary Flow Signal, the leading designer and manufacturer of innovative, durable, and accurate flow-metering solutions, has successfully installed a rectangular Halmi Venturi Flow Meter used to accurately measure sewage discharge from the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Washington, DC.

According to the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest of its kind in the world with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day (MGD), a peak capacity of 1.076 billion gallons per day and covering 150 acres. The plant provides wastewater collection and treatment services to more than two million Washington metro area customers.

Primary Flow Signal collaborated with Black & Veatch to assess the authority’s flow metering requirements for treatment of sewage that will eventually flow back into the Potomac River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Due to the unique upstream configuration and extremely lowpressure within the channel (5 psi), Primary Flow Signal performed scale model testing that validated the projected accuracy and head loss of the meter despite the significant physical, dimensional, and low-pressure challenges of the flow channel. The model work shed light on potential pitfalls, but Primary Flow Signal’s hydraulic engineering expertise and decades of experience ensured that the full size meter’s accuracy would not be impacted.

Ultimately, a full size rectangular Halmi Venturi Flow Meter was manufactured in the company’s Rhode Island facility and installed by Ulliman Schutte Construction with assistance from Primary Flow Signal personnel. Once installed, grouting and concrete work ensured a smooth flow through the meter. This was vitally important as the low pressure in the channel made headloss a significant concern for maintaining accuracy.

“The Blue Plains project presented an opportunity for us to collaborate with the authority’s internal engineers and Black &Veatch to come up with what is, frankly, the only solution possible for this particular application,” said Gary Gilbert, Senior Principal Engineer at Primary Flow Signal. “From initial planning, model testing, manufacturing, installation, to final acceptance, this important project validated our approach to ensure the meter will meet and exceed its projected performance.

” Halmi Venturi Flow Meters are rugged, reliable, differential pressure measurement devices, designed to measure full pipe flow of gases or liquids over extreme temperature ranges, as well as contaminated liquids, sludges, slurries, and sewage. Halmi Venturi Flow Meters are available in a variety of materials, including a cast iron pressure vessel, fabricated (welded) metal pressure vessel, plastic insert style, welded insert, and welded-in pressure vessel. Additionally, the Halmi Venturi Flow Meters is offered cast in place (usually concrete and typically rectangular) depending upon application requirements.

PFS’s metering solutions are designed and manufactured in the United States by the industry’s largest team of specialized hydraulic engineers, backed by extensive laboratory and field testing, ISO 9001-2008 certification, ASME S, U and R certifications and efficient vertically-integrated facilities. PFS’s products deliver a level of differential metering accuracy, reliability, and versatility, coupled with unparalleled engineering support, simply not available from other metering solutions.

About Primary Flow Signal
PFS is a vertically integrated, global resource providing design, engineering, calibration, manufacturing, and application support for a wide range of differential producer type flow primaries in numerous markets and industries including oil & gas, power, municipal water/wastewater, process control, and diesel gas flow measurement. PFS is part of an operating unit, which delivers proven differential and turbine meters, and fire suppression solutions. Our U.S. offices are located in Rhode Island (headquarters); Houston and Odessa-Midland, TX; Tulsa and Altus, OK; Seneca, SC; Bakersfield, CA. We also have offices in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Beijing, China; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit www.primaryflowsignal.com.