Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Understanding Sight Glasses

A sight glass, also called sight flow indicator, is a tool designed to provide a method of observing fluid flow in a pipeline. Sight glasses are primarily used for two functions – for indication and for inspection.

As an indicator, sight glasses are used to identify whether the fluid is flowing correctly or not. They are used to determine blocked valves, steam traps, strainers, and other pipeline equipment. If the steam trap is leaking steam, the sight glass can also show this. On the other hand, sigh glasses can also be used for inspection or when observing the color of a product at different stages of the production process.

Using Sight Glasses

When sight glasses are used to indicate the correct functioning of blast discharge type steam traps, they are required to be positioned at least 1 meter downstream from the trap. For other types of traps, the device should be positioned immediately after the trap.

Sight glasses do not exactly provide a method of monitoring the function of steam traps. In practice, a thorough knowledge of the upstream steam system is required and the diagnosis is often subjective, depending on the experience of the observer.

Sight glasses have generally been replaced by electrical devices such as conductivity sensors, which detect flooding upstream of the steam trap or leaking traps. These devices do not require steam trap expertise and produce a consistently accurate result.

Characteristic of Sight Glasses

The sight glass often features a smooth concentric reduction in the inlet connection, promoting turbulence in the sight glass when fluid is flowing through it. The turbulent flow inside the sight glass allows fluid to be detected and monitored.

There are several types of sight glasses according to viewing windows. There are single, double, and multi-viewing windows sight glasses.Some sight glasses may even be installed with a light source, making it useful when the sight glass is used in an area of low ambient lighting.

To know more about a sight glass and its uses, visit http://questtecsolutions.com/sight-glass-for-liquid-level-gauges.

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