INTRODUCTION

The object of this chapter is to assist the reader in specifying a proposed flowmeter's operational requirements as fully as possible and hence to enable the reader to select the right flowmeter. The reason for wishing to select a flowmeter may be obvious: a flow rate to be measured. However, the reason in some cases may be less obvious. If you are a flowmeter manufacturer, or prospective manufacturer, you may wish to identify a type and design that would meet a particular market niche. If you are a member of an R&D team, you may be exploring measurement areas that are inadequately covered at present.

In preparing this chapter, I have developed earlier ideas (Baker 1988/9, Baker and Smith 1990), but I have also benefited from the ideas of others such as Endress et al. (1989). Baker (1988/9) was the best distillation I could offer in the late 1980s. There is much there that I would still endorse. In Baker and Smith (1990), we took a different line. We provided the means to specify the user's needs in as much detail as possible. We then provided a form for communication with the manufacturer.

Many people have attempted to provide a means of selecting a flowmeter. A glance at only a few of the many books on flow measurement in the bibliography will indicate this. I used to feel that the way forward was to write an expert system to do the job.