Marine Automation

0bjectives
• States and compare the principles of
measurement and features of the
following:

i. U – Tube Manometer
ii. Inclined – Tube Manometer
iii. Fixed Cistern Barometer
iv. Well Manometer
v. Bell type Manometer
vi. McLeod Gage
 U – Tube Manometer

• It is used for small differences in pressure.

• The U shape tube serves a the reservoir for the liquid.
• It is filled with a liquid, such as water, oil, or mercury.

• When the pressure on both opening of the tube is of

the same pressure, the level in the tube is at the
same height, this level is marked zero.

• This device indicates the difference between two

pressures (differential pressure), or between a single
pressure and atmosphere (gage pressure), when one
side is open to atmosphere.
Vertical U-Tube Manometer
• The pressure difference in a
vertical U-Tube manometer
can be expressed as

pd = γ h (1)

• where:
• pd = pressure
• γ = specific weight of the
fluid in the tube (kN/m3,
lb/ft3 )
• h = liquid height (m, ft)
• The specific weight of
water, is 9.8 kN/m3 or 62.4
lb/ft3.
 Example
• One leg of a water manometer is connected to
the air side of the turbocharger and the other is
open to the atmosphere. The difference in height
of the water column is 10 mm.

• The pressure difference head can then be expressed as:

pd = [9.8 (kN/m3) * 103 (N/kN)] * [10 (mm) * 10-3 (m/mm)]

= 98 N/m2 (Pa)
Examples
 legend
• Fig. 2-1. With both ends of the tube open, the liquid is at
the same height in each leg.

• Fig. 2-2. When positive pressure is applied to one leg,

the liquid is forced down in that leg and up in the other.
The difference in height, "h," which is the sum of the
readings above and below zero, indicates the pressure.

• Fig. 2-3. When a vacuum is applied to one leg, the liquid

rises in that leg and falls in the other. The difference in
height, "h," which is the sum of the readings above and
below zero, indicates the amount of vacuum.
 Inclined – Tube Manometer

• Many applications require accurate measurement of low

pressure such as drafts and very low differentials,
primarily in air and gas installations.

• In these applications the manometer is arranged with the

indicating tube inclined, as in Figure 4, therefore
providing an expanded scale.

• Advantage:
• Small changes in pressure will cause greater movement of liquid in
the column.
• This makes it possible to measure very small changes in pressure.
• This arrangement can allow 12" of scale length to represent 1" of
vertical liquid height. With scale subdivisions to .01 inches of liquid
height, the equivalent pressure of .000360 PSI per division can be
read using water as the indicating fluid.
Example
• The pressure difference in a
inclined u-tube can be
expressed as

pd = γ h sin(θ) (2)

• Where:
• θ = angle of column relative
the horizontal plane

• γ = specific weight of the

fluid in the tube (kN/m3,
lb/ft3 )

• Inclining the tube manometer

will increase the accuracy of
the measurement
 Example
• One leg of a water manometer is connected to the air side of
the turbocharger and the other is open to the atmosphere. The
difference height of the water column is 10 mm and the tube is
inclined to 45o

• The pressure difference head can then be expressed as:

• pd = [9.8 (kN/m3) * 103 (N/kN) ] * [10 (mm) * 10-3

(m/mm)]*sin(45)

= 69.3 N/m2 (Pa)

 Fixed Cistern Barometer
• A Mercury barometer in which the lower mercury surface is
larger in area than the upper surface.

• The basic construction of a cistern barometer is as follows:

• A glass tube 1 m in length, sealed at one end, is filled with mercury,

and then inverted.
• The tube is mounted so that its mouth penetrates the upper surface of
a reservoir of mercury called the cistern of the barometer.
• Cistern barometers are classified according to whether the cistern is
fixed in volume or variable in volume.

• Kew barometer – has a fixed volume.

• No adjustment is made for the variation of the level of the mercury in

the cistern as pressure changes occur; rather, a uniformly contracting
scale is used to determine the effective height of the mercury column.
 Well Manometer

• Has a reservoir that is filled with liquid.

– It is usually enclosed with the connection
point attached to the source in order to
measure its pressure.
 A transparent column is attached to the
reservoir.
• However the manometer has been arranged in other forms to
provide greater convenience and to meet varying service
requirements.

• The well type manometer is one of these variations.

• As illustrated in Figure 3, if one leg of the manometer is

increased many times in area to that of the other, the volume of
fluid displaced will represent very little change of height in the
smaller area leg.

• This condition results in an ideal arrangement whereby it is

necessary to read only one convenient scale adjacent to a
single indicating tube rather than two in the U-type.

• The larger area leg is called the "well".

• For this reason, the well type lends itself to use of direct
reading scales graduated in meaningful units for the process or
test variable involved.
Operational requirements not found
with the U-type
• The higher pressure source being measured
must always be connected to the well
connection "P".
• A lower pressure source must always be
connected to the top of the tube, and a
differential pressure must always have the
higher pressure source connected at the well
connection "P".
• In any measurement the source of pressure
must be connected in a manner that will cause
the indicating fluid to rise in the indicating tube.
 Bell Type Manometer
• A type of liquid- sealed manometer

• The operation depends on the force developed by the

differential pressure acting on the bell being opposed by
the spring.

• The movement of the bell is directly related to the

pressure differential.

• Since the bell is a force amplifier a small pressure

differential can generate a force great enough to drive
and the readout mechanism
 McLeod Gage
• Is considered the standard for low-pressure
(vacuum) measurements, where the pressure is
below 10-4 torr (10-4 mmHg, 1.33×10-2 Pa, 1.93×10-6
psi).
•
• It work by taking a sample of low pressure gas to a
sufficiently high pressure, obtains the compressed
pressure from a standard manometer, and then
calculates the original low pressure through Boyle's
law.

• The compression is passed through a dense, nearly-

incompressible, low vapor pressure fluid, such as
mercury.
• The error in typical McLeod gage measurements is
usually larger than 1% and may be much larger, due to
the possibility of gas to liquid (or solid) phase change
during compression, and to the contamination by
mercury vapors.

•
• Boyle's Law
• Boyle's Law, proposed by Robert Boyle in 1662, states that for a
closed isothermal (constant temperature) system, the product of the
pressure (P) and volume (V) is a constant,

P * V = constant
• Equivalently, the product at two different states must be the same,

P1 * V1 = P2 * V2

McLeod Gages
• Suppose that initial pressure and volume in a McLeod Gage are given
by,
P1 = Pi

V1 = V + A·h0

• where V is the reservoir volume and A is the cross-sectional area of

the sealed tube, as shown schematically in the next page.
• Suppose that the final compressed pressure and volume
are given by,
P2 = Pgage
V2 = A·h

• According to Boyle's law, we have,

P1* ( V + A* ho) = Pgage * (A * h)

• For a typical manometer, Pgage = pgh – P1. The

unknown pressure Pi can be reduced to a function of the
height difference h,

pgh2
• P1=
V + A(h – ho)
 Sources
• http://www.transcat.com/TechReference/Newsletters/Manometer_M
erium.htm

• http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Communities&template=/
TaggedPage/DetailDisplay.cfm&ContentID=14940

• www.dwyer-inst.com/htdocs/ pressure/ManometerIntroduction.cfm

• http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=adjustable-
cistern-barometer1

• W.G. Andrew and H.B. Williams, Applied Instrumentation in

Process Industries, pp. 146