This is the home page of Charlie Seviour
Wind Turbine Control
March 21, 2009
Abstract: Control systems are an essential part of mechanical engineering design. In the design and operation of wind turbines good control allows for a maximal cost effective output, whilst always operating the turbine in a safe manner. This report analyses the system control design process and examines a selection control systems available and in common use in modern wind turbines. More
Glen Kinglas Hydro Scheme
Interdisciplinary Design Project
15/07/2010
Abstract: This report assesses the potential improvement of the hydroelectric project located in Glen Kinglas. The design has been optimised in order to present a design which has a competitive performance, including improvement on profit, payback, carbon intensity and environmental impact. The reader gains an understanding of the extent of the options considered in the design process.
Windsurfing on the River Forth, near Edinburgh Scotland, behind me is the Forth Rail Bridge
Influence of Upstream Bend Disturbances on the Measurement Error by a DN 25 Optiswirl Vortex Flow Meter
Aims: Produce a measurement error correction table. Empirical verification of simulation results. Find a relationship between the disturbed velocity profile and the measurement error. More
THE UNIVERSITY
of EDINBURGH School of Engineering
MEng Mechanical Engineering with Renewables - Industrial Placement 2009 – 2010
Joint project between the University of Duisburg-Essen and the flow metering company Krohne GmbH
Chapter 1
Introduction
This Report documents my 6
month (January-July 2010) Meng European Placement 4 in Duisburg,
Germany.
The city of Duisburg lies in the west of the Ruhr area and is part of a
renowned industrial region
known particularly for its steel industry and the largest inland harbour
in the world.
The motivation for this report is to fulfil the
main assessment criteria for this placement set by my university
(University of Edinburgh). As a result, the document includes chapters
on the economic and social context
of the project as well as my personal and professional development.
Since these chapters are of little interest
to future students continuing research in this direction, a 2nd edition
of this report has been produced for
Krohne GmbH and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The 2nd edition, has
been written in a condensed
form as a reference document for future research from Duisburg-Essen
University and Krohne research
departments.
The test rig. In the foreground on the trolley is a 1D bend with 0d inlet length test configuration.
In the background is the calibration rig.
The placement was under the the European initiative; ERASMUS. It was
conducted at the University of
Duisburg-Essen and at the research headquarters of Krohne GmbH in
Duisburg. Krohne is a world leader
in flow meter devices, has branches in every continent and a turnover of
273 million Euros (2007). Amongst their
large portfolio of devices is the vortex flow meter.
My supervisors were Professor von Lavante from the
University of Duisburg-Essen and Mr Toullion from
Krohne GmbH.
Chapter 2 Aim and Motivation
2.1 Aim
The objective of the project was to quantify the effect of pipe bends on
the measurement accuracy of the
Optiswirl vortex meter. Standard bend disturbances were to be
investigated according to the definitions in
Technische Richtlinien der PTB (1989) and of Legal Metrology (1989). I
must produce a table of correction
values for calibration of the flow meter at various distances downstream.
This was to be achieved through
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, verified by experiment.
Particle image velocimetry experiments at Duisburg-Essen University
2.2 Motivation
The placement leads on from previous work at Krohne GmbH. However until
now bend disturbances according
to the OIML standards have not been investigated at Krohne GmbH. I have
found a significant error (as
much as 4.5%) in the vortex meter measurement after various bend
configurations. This is important for a
number of reasons. A fundamental reason is that the customer requires
accurate flow metering. Details of
the target market are provided in Section 4.1.1, however for an
understanding of the motivation of this project
a simple example suffices.
Germany imported $50billion of natural gas in 2004, with a 4.5% measurement error this corresponds to $2.5billion. Clearly with such large sums involved it is important that both importers and exporters can be sure of what exactly they are buying/selling. Currently the Optiswirl vortex meter handbook recommends that the meter is placed 30 pipe diameters downstream of a double bend. This is inconvenient for large diameters as illustrated in Figure 2.1, a pipeline in Ukraine with a diameter of circa 0.2m. In this case a straight section of 6m would be required but a not uncommon pipeline diameter of 1m would need 30m of straight pipe.
My work is necessary to reduce the recommended upstream length without compromising on the measurement accuracy. Although my results won't be used directly for the large pipe diameters, as further research is required to understand how my results can be scaled up, they are a vital first step. Also the results for the DN25 shall be useful for a large fraction of the consumers as the DN25 is the best selling meter size at Krohne GmbH.